Dynasties of ChinaYuan dynastyYuan dynasty lineage
Zhongtong · Zhiyuan · Reign 1260—1294
The establishment of the Central Unification of the Yuan Dynasty, the establishment of Dadu as the capital, and the destruction of the Southern Song laid the foundation for the provincial system and the basic pattern of today's territory.
Kublai Khan is the fourth son of Luhetieni, his mother is Suo Luhetieni. After his elder brother Möngke Khan came to the throne in 1251, he was ordered to take charge of the Monan Han area. He opened a mansion in Jinlianchuan and recruited Han Confucian scholars such as Liu Bingzhong, Yao Shu, Xu Heng, etc., and invited Tibetan Buddhist monks such as Ba Siba to participate in the consultation. In 1253, he led an expedition to Dali and pacified Yunnan the following year. In 1259, Möngke Khan died at the foot of Diaoyu City. He returned from Ezhou to the north. In 1260, he established himself as Great Khan in Kaiping and established the Central Government of the Yuan Dynasty. He competed with A Libuge, who was supported in Mobei, for four years. In 1264, A Libuge was defeated and surrendered.
He imitated the Han system and established the Zhongshu Province, the Privy Council and the Yushitai. In 1271, he took the meaning of "Great Qianyuan" in the "Book of Changes" and established the country as Dayuan. The following year, he established the capital at Dadu. He invaded Lin'an in 1276 and destroyed the Southern Song in Yashan in 1279, ending the split since the end of the Tang Dynasty. During his reign, he implemented the provincial system, established the Xuanzheng Yuan to govern Tibet, issued banknotes, dug canals, compiled a time-granting calendar, and attached great importance to farming and mulberry farming, and promulgated the "Nongsang Mulberry Collection".
Kublai Khan launched many foreign wars in his later years, and his expeditions to Japan, Annan, Champa, Burma, and Java all suffered heavy losses; he also used A Hema and Sangko to manage finances, which caused dissatisfaction between the government and the opposition. Crown Prince Zhenjin died of illness in 1286. He died in Dadu in the first month of 1294 at the age of eighty. He was buried in Qi Nian Valley and was succeeded by Temür, the emperor's grandson.
Kublai Khan ruled the Han region with Han law, established provinces, established the capital, and unified the country and the country, making China's territory unprecedentedly vast. The provincial system, the Grand Canal, the ownership of Tibet, and the layout of Beijing were all deeply affected by it. However, his rule was also marked by a clear national hierarchy. The cost of using foreign troops was heavy, and the heavy use of financial ministers such as A Hema and Sang Ge increased the burden on the people. He reigned for thirty-four years. He was not only the founder of Yuan Dynasty, but also planted the roots of subsequent administrative and financial crises.
PoliticsCommander-in-Chief Monan
After Möngke Khan came to the throne, he was appointed to take charge of the military and civilian affairs of the Monan Han region. He established the shogunate in Jinlianchuan, hired Liu Bingzhong, Zhang Wenqian, Yao Shu, Xu Heng, etc., and rectified the official administration and farming in Xingzhou, Henan, and Guanzhong.
Militarypacify Dali
Under the orders of Möngke Khan, he led an expedition and crossed the Jinsha River to capture Dali City. After that, Yunnan tribes gradually surrendered, and Mongolia encircled the Southern Song from the southwest, and Yunnan was also included in the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty.
PoliticsBuild Kaiping City
Liu Bingzhong was ordered to choose a site near Jinlianchuan to build a city. It was completed in three years and was originally named Kaiping. In 1263, it was promoted to Shangdu as a place to stay in summer.
Lasting legacyThe Shangdu ruins of the Yuan Dynasty are located in Zhenglan Banner of present-day Inner Mongolia. They were included in the World Cultural Heritage List in 2012. They are witnesses of the integration of grassland nomadic civilization and Central Plains farming civilization.
PoliticsJianyuan Zhongtong
In March, he became the Great Khan in Kaiping. He was named Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty and established the reign title Zhongtong. This was the first time that a Mongol Khan used a Chinese-style reign title. He also established the Zhongshu Province and appointed Wang Wentong and others as prime ministers to implement Han law.
EconomyIssuing Zhongtong banknotes
The Yuan Dynasty Yuanbao banknotes were issued based on silk and later the Zhongtong Yuanbao banknotes based on money. The circulation of gold, silver and copper coins was prohibited. They were printed and issued by Zhongshu Province and were prepared with silver. They were Yuan dynasty's main currencies circulating throughout the country.
PoliticsPingding A Libuge
A Libuge was defeated in Mobei and went to Kaiping in July of the same year to surrender. Kublai Khan stabilized the throne, but the northwest khanates were no longer under the control of the Great Khan, and the Mongol Empire was actually divided into several relatively independent khanates.
PoliticsXuanzhengyuan governs Tibet
Kublai Khan respected Ba Siba as his national advisor and established the General Council to take charge of national Buddhism and Tubo affairs. In 1288, it was renamed the Xuanzheng Council. It stationed troops and set up post stations and conducted household registration checks. From then on, the Tubo area was officially included in the administrative jurisdiction of Yuan dynasty.
Lasting legacyYuan Dynasty's effective jurisdiction over Tibet is an important historical basis for the Chinese government's sovereignty over Tibet today; Sakya Monastery still preserves Yuan Dynasty cultural relics.
PoliticsBuild a metropolis
Liu Bingzhong, Guo Shoujing and others planned to build Dadu, which was designated as the capital in 1272. The city is centered on Jishui Pond and Taiye Pond, with streets criss-crossing like a chessboard, with the palace in the south and the city in the north. The layout follows the "Zuozu on the left and the community on the right, facing the market" in the Rites of Zhou.
Lasting legacyThe central axis and street pattern of today's Beijing city were based on the Yuan Dynasty. There are still a large number of hutongs in Beijing that still bear the names of the Yuan Dynasty.
PoliticsJianguo Dayuan
In November, an imperial edict was issued to establish the country and name it Dayuan, taking the meaning of "Great Qianyuan" in the "Book of Changes". Later, in honor of the ancestors, the Ancestral Temple was built. The following year, Zhongdu was renamed Dadu and became the capital of Yuan Dynasty.
PoliticsThe provincial system was established
Saidianchi Gansiding was appointed as the political official of Pingzhang of Yunnan Province and moved his administrative office to Zhongqing (today's Kunming). Yuan dynasty established ten Xingzhongshu provinces outside the hinterland, and the provinces were transformed from temporary institutions into permanent local supreme administrative regions.
Lasting legacyThe provinces of the Yuan Dynasty were an important source of the provincial system in later generations, but the origins of the names of each province are different from the naming date range. For example, Liaoyang Province was established in the Yuan Dynasty, and the name of present-day Liaoning Province began in 1929 when Fengtian Province was renamed.
Sources:Liaoning Provincial Development and Reform Commission: Construction History (checked 2026-10-16)
MilitaryTwo expeditions to Japan
In the Battle of Wenyong in 1274 and the Battle of Hong'an in 1281, the Yuan army marched eastward to conquer Japan, but were defeated by typhoons and Japanese resistance. The second time, nearly 140,000 troops were almost wiped out. After that, Kublai Khan still wanted to conquer Japan again but failed.
Lasting legacyThe coast of Hakata Bay in Kyushu, Japan still retains the remains of the "Yuan Kou Fort" built to resist the Yuan army; the Japanese word "kamikaze" comes from this.
DiplomacyMarco Polo comes to China
The Venetian merchant Marco Polo arrived in Yuan Dynasty with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, and was received by Kublai Khan. He stayed in Yuan Dynasty for seventeen years. According to his account, he was ordered to go on missions and visit various places.
MilitaryCapture Lin'an
Bo Yan led his army into Lin'an, and the Southern Song Emperor Gong surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty. After that, the Yuan army continued to pursue the remaining forces of the Song Dynasty, and Wen Tianxiang, Zhang Shijie and others continued to resist on the southeast coast.
MilitaryYashan destroyed the Song Dynasty
Zhang Hongfan led his army to defeat the Song army at Yashan. Lu Xiufu carried the young emperor on his back and threw himself into the sea, and Southern Song perished. Yuan dynasty unified the whole country, and its territory extended to Mobei in the north, Yunnan in the southwest, and the lower reaches of Heilongjiang in the northeast.
Science & technologyPublication of time calendar
Guo Shoujing, Wang Xun and others set up 27 observation stations to conduct the "Four Sea Test" and compiled the "Time Calendar", which was promulgated in 1281. One year is 365.2425 days, which is the same as the average calendar year of the current Gregorian calendar and has been used for more than 360 years.
Lasting legacyThe 365.2425 days of the year set by the Time Calendar are the same as today's Gregorian calendar (Gregorian calendar), but are about three hundred years earlier than the latter.
EconomyShipping and Tonghui River
Zhu Qing and Zhang Xuan were ordered to open up water transportation from the south of the Yangtze River to transport grain to Dadu by sea; they also dug the Jeju River and the Huitong River successively. In 1293, the Tonghui River presided over by Guo Shoujing was completed.
Lasting legacyThe basic direction of today's Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was formed in the Yuan Dynasty. It was listed as a World Cultural Heritage in 2014. The source site of the Grand Canal in Tongzhou, Beijing, is related to the Tonghui River.
PeopleA Hema was stabbed
A Hema, a powerful official who had been in charge of finance for a long time, was framed and killed by Wang Zhu of Yidu Qianhu and others because of his excessive accumulation and clique for personal gain. Kublai Khan was furious at first. After discovering A Hema's crime, he ordered the confiscation of his property.
PeopleWen Tianxiang died
The captured Wen Tianxiang was imprisoned in Dadu for three years. He refused Kublai Khan's personal persuasion to surrender. He died calmly in Chaishi in December. Before his execution, he composed "Song of Righteousness". Kublai Khan lamented that he was a "good man".
Lasting legacyThe Wen Tianxiang Temple in Dongcheng District, Beijing, is located near the place where he was imprisoned and sacrificed. It is a national cultural relic protection unit.
EconomyIssued to Yuan banknotes
Sang Ge of Shangshu Province presided over the change to Yuanbao banknotes, which have always been equivalent to five guans of Zhongtong banknotes and circulated throughout the country. Sang Ge was strict in managing finances and was impeached, dismissed and executed a few years later.
MilitaryExpedition to Java
Kublai Khan sent Shi Bi and Gao Xing to lead more than 20,000 troops from Quanzhou to attack Java. They lost the local army in the early stage. Later, they were counterattacked by the Majapahit Kingdom and were forced to withdraw their troops. The use of overseas troops came to an end.
PoliticsMost of them died of illness
He died of illness in Dadu in the first month of the year at the age of eighty and was buried in Qinan Valley, Mobei. The emperor's grandson Temür (Chengzong) ascended the throne in Xanadu.
He was originally a monk. After entering the Kublai Khan shogunate, he participated in the formulation of the imperial ceremonial official system, presided over the construction of Xanadu and Dadu, and suggested that the country be named "Dayuan".
His courtesy name is Zhongping, and scholars call him Mr. Lu Zhai. Received courtesy from Kublai Khan, he presided over Guozi studies, spread Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and participated in the revision of the time granting calendar. He was one of the founders of Yuan Dynasty studies.
An eminent monk of the Sakya sect, he was respected as the national teacher and the emperor's teacher by Kublai Khan. He led the Zhiyuan and was in charge of Tibetan affairs. He was also ordered to create new Mongolian characters, which was promulgated in 1269.
He created astronomical instruments such as simple instruments and high tables, presided over the "Four Sea Test" and compiled a time-telling calendar. He also presided over the construction of the Hui River and dredged water transportation in Dadu.
Hui Huiren served as Pingzhang's political affairs, and was in charge of finance for nearly twenty years. He increased the country's revenue, but he also amassed excessive amounts of money and appointed private individuals. He was assassinated by Wang Zhu in 1282.
Hui Hui was appointed as the political minister of Pingzhang of Yunnan Province in 1274, moved to Kunming, built water conservancy, advocated Confucianism, built Confucian temples, and had a profound influence on the construction of the Dianchi Lake area.
A member of the Eight Neighbor Tribes of Mongolia, he led his army south to attack the Song Dynasty in 1274. He entered Lin'an and surrendered in 1276. He was the first official to destroy the Song Dynasty. Later, he suppressed the rebellions of Haidu, Naiyan and others.
He arrived in Xanadu in 1275 and stayed in Yuan Dynasty for seventeen years. In 1291, he accompanied the mission from Quanzhou to escort Princess Kokozhen to the sea and returned to Venice via Persia. His travel notes have long been the main source of European understanding of the East.