Yuan dynasty Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids

Great Yuan

大元
ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨ ᠤᠯᠤᠰ

1271–1368

Yuan dynasty circa 1294
The situation of Goryeo was disputed

Provinces of Yuan in 1330

Status

Khagan-ruled division of the Mongol Empire
Conquest dynasty in China

Capital

Khanbaliq (Beijing)

Common languages

Mongolian
Chinese

Religion

Buddhism (Tibetan Buddhism as de facto state religion), Heaven worship, Shamanism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion, Chinese Nestorian Christianity, Roman Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Chinese Manichaeism, Islam, Legalism

Government

Monarchy

Emperor

• 1260–1294

Kublai Khan

• 1333–1368

Toghon Temür

Chancellor

Historical era

Postclassical Era

• Genghis Khan founds Mongol Empire

Spring, 1206

• Formal proclamation of the Yuan dynasty

5 November 1271

• Battle of Xiangyang

1268–1273

• Conquest of Southern Song

4 February 1276

• Battle of Yamen

19 March 1279

• Red Turban Rebellion

1351–1368

• Fall of Khanbaliq

14 September 1368

• Formation of Northern Yuan dynasty

1368–1388

Area

1310

11,000,000 km² (4,200,000 sq mi)

Population

• 1290

77000000

• 1293

79816000

• 1330

83873000

• 1350

87147000

Currency

Predominantly Paper Currency (Chao), with a small amount of Chinese cash in use

Preceded by

Succeeded by

	Mongol Empire
	Song dynasty

Northern Yuan dynasty
Ming dynasty

The Yuan dynasty was a Mongol dynasty that ruled Mongolia and China from 1271 to 1368. Before this dynasty, China was ruled by the Song dynasty. After the Yuan dynasty, the Ming dynasty ruled China. Genghis Khan and his army of Mongols conquered many parts of China. His grandson Kublai Khan added more parts of China to his kingdom. He founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271.

In the year of 1206, Genghis Khan ruled the Mobi tribes(a part of a country) to establish the Mongol country at the Onon River. Jin was the main race in Mongolia, but Jin and Xia were in decline, Mongolia had attacked the Western Xia and Jin in August 1227, and Jin lost, so Mongolia occupied the whole north of China in March 1234.

In 1259, Möngke Khan died after the Song Yuan dynasty war. His brothers all wanted to be king. His fourth brother, Kublai, and his seventh brother, Ali Khan, fought to rule the Mobi tribes. And finally in 1264, Kublai won. Kublai made the name "DaYuan" in 1271 and proclaimed the Yuan Dynasty and said its founder was his grandfather Genghis. In 1276, Yuan ruled southern of Song, so yuan ruled the whole China in this year. In 1279, the Kublai subdued southern Song dynasty. The Yuan dynasty ruled China and brought different parts of China together that had been split since the late Tang dynasty. They were the first foreign dynasty to rule just about all of China.

For centuries, most of what the West knew about China came from the book by Marco Polo about his visit to Kublai's empire. The Yuan dynasty ended in 1368 when the Ming dynasty took control.

History of China

Notes

Images for kids

Mongol successor khanates
Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty
Painting of a 14th-century Yuan dynasty junk
White stupa in Miaoying Temple
The Bailin Temple Pagoda of Zhaoxian County, Hebei Province, built in 1330 during the Yuan dynasty.
A Yuan dynasty jade belt plaque featuring carved designs of a dragon
Yuan Dynasty era Celadon vase from Mogadishu.
A plate made of lacquer, wood, and paper from the Yuan dynasty. The Chinese were able to perfect a method of making lacquer. Decorating this plate are parrots and peonies. The parrot was a symbol of fidelity; because of its ability to mimic human speech, it was believed to be a suitable companion to a woman whose husband was away from home. The bird would be able to inform each person of the other's activities. The peony was a symbol of female virtue. When shown in full bloom, it is a token of love, affection, and feminine beauty. Birmingham Museum of Art.
Yuan dynasty coinage
A diagram of Pascal's triangle in Zhu Shijie's Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns, written in 1303
Yuan dynasty banknote with its printing plate, 1287
Blue-and-white Covered Jar with Fretwork Floral Design in Red and Blue Glaze, excavated in Baoding.
Painting of Kublai Khan on a hunting expedition, by Chinese court artist Liu Guandao, c. 1280
Wine jar with fish and aquatic plants, 14th century. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue decoration. Brooklyn Museum
Manichaean Diagram of the Universe, a painting describing Yuan period Manichaean cosmology.
A Yuan Qingbai porcelain statue of Guanyin, a bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism
Brown-glazed Jar with Design of Three Fish. Yuan dynasty. Excavated from Hancheng City
Jinan Great Southern Mosque was completed during the reign of Temür Khan (the Emperor Chengzong of Yuan)
Administrative divisions of the Yuan dynasty.
Magic square in Arabic numerals (Yuan dynasty)
smelting machines (Yuan dynasty)
Water wheel (Yuan dynasty)
Water hammer (Yuan dynasty)
Weaving machine (Yuan dynasty)
water mill gear (Yuan dynasty)
loom (Yuan dynasty)
Yuan painting (Zhao Mengfu)
Chuangzi Nu (Yuan dynasty)
Military costume.
Yuan painting of a legendary figure riding on a dragon.
Yuan cavalry
Yuan Mongol soldier
Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan during his youth
Mongol warrior on horseback, preparing a mounted archery shot.
Chinese stone inscription of a Nestorian Christian Cross from a monastery of Fangshan District in Beijing (then called Dadu, or Khanbaliq), dated to the Yuan Dynasty

Yuan dynasty facts for kids

Related pages

Images for kids

See also