History of Yuan facts for kids

The History of Yuan (also called Yuán Shǐ) is an important book about the Yuan dynasty of China. It's one of the official Chinese history books known as the Twenty-Four Histories. The Ming dynasty government asked for this book to be written. It was finished in 1370 by a group of historians led by Song Lian.

This book helped to record the official history of the Yuan dynasty, which came before the Ming dynasty. Song Lian and his team created a new way of writing history. They believed that history was just as important as other classic teachings in shaping how human events unfolded.

What's Inside the History of Yuan?

This big history book has 210 chapters. It tells the story of the Yuan dynasty from the time of Genghis Khan (around 1162–1227). It goes all the way to when the last Yuan emperor, Toghon Temür, left his capital city, Khanbaliq, in 1368.

The chapters are divided into different parts:

• 47 chapters are about the lives of the Yuan emperors. These include famous Mongol leaders like Genghis Khan and his successors, Ögedei Khan, Güyük Khan, and Möngke Khan.
• 58 chapters are called Treatises. They explain things like how society and the economy worked, the laws, and important customs.
• 8 chapters are Chronological tables. These are like timelines that show events in order.
• 97 chapters are Biographies. They tell the stories of important people from that time who were not emperors.

The Treatises also include a section on Geography. This part describes the different regions and provinces of the Yuan dynasty. Another section explains the education system and how officials were chosen. It even mentions a rule from 1291 about setting up schools. There's also a section about the different jobs and offices within the Yuan government.

How the Book Was Made

The History of Yuan was first ordered by the Hongwu Emperor in 1369. The historians used old records from the Yuan dynasty. These records were found in Khanbaliq after the city was captured by Xu Da.

A team of 16 people, led by Song Lian, started working on the book. They wrote the first version in just a few months. However, they didn't have enough records for the very last years of the Yuan dynasty. So, they had to stop and find more information.

In 1370, after getting more materials, the History of Yuan was finally finished. It took only 331 days to write all 210 chapters! What's special about this book is that the writers didn't add their own opinions or judgments about the people they wrote about.

Later Versions and Translations

Because the original History of Yuan had some mistakes, people tried to rewrite it later. A historian named Ke Shaomin spent over thirty years creating a new version. He finished his 257-chapter book, called the New History of Yuan, in 1920. This new version was officially recognized in 1921 and became one of the Twenty-five histories.

The History of Yuan has also been translated into other languages. It was translated into Manchu. A Mongolian scholar named Dandaa translated the whole book into Classic Mongolian in the early 1900s.