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Kublai Khan (1215-1294) was the greatest of the Mongol emperors after Genghis Khan and founder of the Yüan dynasty in China. Though basically a nomad, he was able to rule a vast empire of different nations by adapting their traditions to his own government.
Genghis Khan was succeeded by his third son Ögödei (1229-1241); after Ögödei's death his widow, Töregene, ruled until 1246, when his eldest son, Güyük, was elected khan. Güyük died 2 years later, and from 1248 to 1252 his widow, Oghul Khaimish, was regent of the empire. The election of Möngkë (or Mangu), the eldest son of Tulë (or Tolui, 1192-1232, the youngest son of Genghis), in 1251 restored the khanship to Tulë's line, but not without strong opposition from Ö gödei's descendants, who regarded themselves the legitimate successors to Genghis's empire.
Kublai Khan was the fourth son of Tulë, one of the four sons of Genghis by his favorite wife, Bourtai. Strong, brave, and intelligent, Kublai was Genghis's favorite grandson; when he was only a lad, he had accompanied his father, Tulë, in campaigns. Kublai was 17 when his father died. In tribute to his younger brother's service, Ö gödei assigned the Chen-ting principality (modern Hopei) to Tulë's widow, Soryagtani-bäki. The widow was an ambitious woman who had a natural liking for Chinese culture and had recruited Chinese scholars to administer her domain.
First Contact with the Chinese
In his early years, through frequent contacts with the Chinese, Kublai became aware of the potential of the Chinese literati as his future political allies. As early as 1242, he had begun to summon men of culture to his quarters in Karakorum in the Gobi Desert to offer counsel on political affairs, including the famous Buddho-Taoist Liu Ping-chung, who advised him on the Confucian principles of government and the application of Chinese methods for administrative and economic reforms. The opinions of these cultured people became dominant in Kublai's thinking as he began to ascend in national politics.
When Möngkë succeeded to the khanship in 1251, Kublai was entrusted with the administration of the Chinese territories in modern Chahar in the eastern part of the empire. In this and the following year Kublai invited Liu Ping-chung to organize a corps of Chinese advisers and to introduce administrative and economic reforms in his territories. The success of the reforms subsèquently introduced in Hsing-chou in 1252, largely based on the Chinese model, further convinced Kublai of the feasibility of restoring the indigenous institutions in the consolidation of his domain. In 1253 he received the district of Ch'ang-an (Sian) in the Wei River valley (in modern Shensi) as a personal fief and began to establish a permanent territorial administration. Many of the Chinese advisers became his key administrators.
Kublai was also entrusted by Möngkë to take command of expeditions aiming at the unification of China under the Mongol emperor. The primary target was the subjugation of the Southern Sung dynasty, whose capital was at Lin-an (modern Hangchow); however, Kublai delayed action against South China until after he became emperor. Meanwhile, he waged a campaign against the western province of Szechwan and took the provincial city Chengtu in 1252. From there his armies marched south and without much difficulty conquered the Thai kingdom of Nanchao in modern Yunnan Province. Kublai returned north in 1254, leaving the war to his trusted lieutenant Uriyangqadai, whose forces subsequently penetrated into Tonkin and subdued the kingdom of Annam.
In 1257, displeased with the progress of the war against Sung China, Möngkë led an expeditionary force in person into western China but succumbed to the Chinese defense when he tried to capture Ho-chou in Szechwan in August 1259. Möngkë's unexpected death not only brought the war to a complete halt but precipitated a crisis of succession. In June 1260, supported by the pro-Chinese faction, Kublai was elected by the Mongol assembly as Möngkë's successor, but his younger brother, Ariq Böge (died 1266), bolstered by the conservative faction, disputed the election and proclaimed himself khan at Karakorum. In the following years Kublai fought his rebellious brother, defeating him in 1264. Meanwhile another pretender, Kai-du, a grandson of Ö gödei, revolted in 1268 and retained his independence in parts of Turkistan until his death in 1301.
Administration of the Khanate
Kublai preoccupied himself with the reorganization of government, aiming at greater political control and effective economic exploitation of the country. In the following decade the Mongol administration adopted a Sinicized bureaucracy. The new central administration of the Chinese territory consisted of the secretarait, the privy council, and the censorate in charge of state, military, and censorial affairs. Local administration was subdivided into four different levels of responsibility: the province, prefecture, secondary prefecture, and district. A system of recruitment of civil servants was introduced, while government officials, civil and military alike, were recruited through regular channels and received a fixed salary. The traditional Chinese features of government, such as Confucian rites, music, and calendar, were also restored.
Following this reorganization, a new capital city was constructed at Yen-ching (present-day Peking) in 1267; first called Chung-tu, it was renamed Ta-tu (or Daidu, "great capital") in 1272. From then on, the Emperor spent his summer in Shang-tu (or Xangdu, "upper capital") in southern Mongolia and his winter in the new capital. Finally, a Chinese national title, Yüan, was adopted in 1271. In the context of the Book of Changes Yüan means "the primal force (of the Creative)," or "origin (or beginning) of the Universe."
In the eyes of Kublai, the restoration of Chinese institutions and customs was a tactical maneuver rather than a capitulation to the Chinese political style. In reality, outside the bureaucracy, much of the Mongol practice still prevailed. The Mongols, especially the military, were organized on their traditional patterns and preserved their nomadic identity. Even within the Chinese bureaucracy, where the Mongols were susceptible to Sinicization, Chinese influence was kept in check by the predominance of the Mongols and central Asians. The presence of an institutional duality under Kublai earmarks the complexity of the Mongol rule in China.
Campaigns toward Asian Hegemony
Meanwhile, Kublai proceeded with his operation against the Southern Sung which had been delayed by internal feuds. After 5 years of siege, Kublai captured the twin cities of Hsiang-yang and Fan-ch'eng on opposite sides of the Han River in 1273. Thereafter Kublai entrusted the command to Bayan, his most gifted general, who captured the Sung capital, Lin-an, in 1276. The young emperor of Sung, Kung-tsung, and his mother were taken captive and sent as prisoners to Kublai's court.
Sung resistance continued with two young princes successively proclaimed emperor by the loyalists of the throne. But their efforts were finally nullified by defection from their ranks, and in a heated naval encounter off the coast of Kwangtung in February 1278 the Sung forces were annihilated and the last emperor perished in the sea, thus ending the Sung dynasty. By this time Kublai had been acknowledged as the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire by his brother Hulagu in Persia and the Mongol dominion in southern Russia (Golden Horde), and Kublai's empire stretched from Korea to the Arabian Desert and eastern Poland, across 2 continents.
As emperor of China, Kublai conformed with the Chinese tradition by demanding allegiance and tributary gifts from its neighboring vassals. Some of these, such as Annam and Korea, had already submitted. To others, Kublai dispatched envoys asking for submission and launched campaigns if his demands were ignored. Many of these expeditions, however, ended in failure. Twice between 1274 and 1281 Kublai's armies against Japan were either destroyed by storm or annihilated by the Japanese because of the Mongols' inability to fight sea battles and the poor quality of their naval forces.
Kublai suffered another setback when he attempted to subdue the Malay kingdom of Champa in Indochina (1283-1287), securing, after a long war, only nominal allegiance from the Cham king. Three expeditions against Burma (1277, 1283, 1287) brought the Mongol forces to the Irrawaddy delta, but again Kublai had to be content with the acknowledgment of a formal suzerainty. The Khmer kingdom of Kambuja, however, submitted in 1294. During the last years of his reign Kublai launched a naval expedition against the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit (1293), but the Mongol forces were compelled to withdraw after considerable losses. Kublai also sent envoys to southern India but used no force as Chinese interests in these parts had always been purely commercial.
Consolidation of the Empire
Under Kublai, the Mongol ruling oligarchy adopted divide-and-rule tactics. The Mongols and central Asians remained unassimilated and separate from Chinese life; the social and economic fabric of the Chinese was left basically unchanged. The rule of the Mongol minority was assured by discriminating legislations. The whole population of China (about 58,000,000 in 1290) was divided into a hierarchy of four social classes: the Mongols; the central Asians; the northern Chinese, Koreans, and Jürchen; and the southern Chinese.
The first two classes enjoyed extensive administrative, economic, and judicial privileges; the third class held an intermediate position; whereas the fourth, the most numerous of all, was practically excluded from state offices. Separate systems of law were maintained for Chinese and for Mongols and also for the Moslem collaborators. The central Asians enjoyed exceptional political privileges because of their contribution as managers of finance for the ruling elite, and at times they were the chief rivals against the Chinese for top administrative positions.
Treatment of Chinese
For tactical and practical reasons, Kublai adopted a conciliatory policy toward the Chinese. He revived the state cult of Confucius, ordered the protection of the Confucian temples, and exempted the Confucian scholars from taxation. Though Kublai had a rather limited knowledge of Chinese and had to rely on interpreters, he had provided a literary education for his heir apparent, Jingim (1244-1286), and other Mongol princes, allowing gradual, though limited, Sinicization. On the other hand, Kublai was equally aware of the political potential of the Chinese literati, and though he had appointed their leading scholars to key administrative posts, he always treated them with caution.
The 1262 rebellion of Li T'an, the governor of Shantung, and the involvement of a high-ranking Chinese official marked the turning point in Kublai's relations with his Chinese ministers. In later years Kublai relied more on his central Asian administrators for support. As to the Chinese from the South who had resisted his rule, Kublai viewed them with apprehension from the very beginning. He did not seek out talents for government service from the South and deliberately suppressed their entry to official careers by enacting legislation making it much more difficult for them than for their northern counterparts. The alienation of the southern Chinese contributed much to the general resentment against the Mongol rule in the mid-14th century.
Kublai was well known for his toleration of foreign religions. The Mongol rulers had been reputed for their acceptance and patronage, embracing Islam in Persia and Nestorian Christianity in central Asia. Under Kublai, religious establishments of the Buddhist, Taoist, Nestorian, and Islamic orders were all exempted from taxation, and their clergy acquired local land rights and economic privileges. The Chinese indigenous religion, Neo-Taoism, was popular under Kublai, although it faced continuous challenge from the Buddhists.
The Mongols, however, ingratiated themselves with a debased form of Buddhism from Tibet called Lamaism. Kublai himself was a convert of Lamaist Buddhism. In 1260 he invited a young Tibetan lama, 'Phags-pa, to his court, honoring him with the title of Imperial Mentor and making him the high priest of the court. In 1269 Kublai entrusted him to devise a new alphabet for the Mongol language based on the Tibetan script but written vertically like Chinese. This new alphabet, known as 'Phags-pa script, however, never supplanted the modified Uighur alphabet for written Mongolian. Under Kublai's patronage, the number of Buddhist establishments rose to 42,000 with 213,000 monks and nuns, a great many of them being Lamaists.
Kublai also had some temporary success in fostering the economic life of China, although the extent of achievement is disputable. In contrast to North China, the landholding elements of the Southern Sung were not dispossessed and generally acquiesced in the change of authority. Trade between North and South China was stimulated by the development of the new capital in Peking. To provide food for the capital's swelling population, the government had to transport grain from the fertile rice-growing lower-Yangtze basin. Kublai inaugurated a system of sea transport around the hazardous Shantung coast and also developed the inland river and canal routes. The problem of transporting food to the capital was eventually solved by extending the Grand Canal system north to Peking from the Yellow River. This resulted in the construction of a new section in the Grand Canal known as "Connecting Canal"; when completed in 1289, it ran through western Shantung north of the modern course of the Yellow River.
Contact with the West
Under Kublai, the opening of direct contact between China and the West, made possible by the Mongol control of the central Asian trade routes and facilitated by the presence of efficient postal services, was another spectacular phenomenon in the Mongol Empire. In the beginning of the 13th century, large numbers of Europeans and central Asians - merchants, travelers, and missionaries of different orders - made their way to China. The presence of the Mongol power also enabled throngs of Chinese, bent on warfare or trade, to make their appearance everywhere in the Mongol Empire, all the way to Russia, Persia, and Mesopotamia.
There were several direct exchanges of missions between the Pope and the Great Khan, though each with a different motive. In 1266 Kublai entrusted the Venetian merchants, the Polo brothers, to carry a request to the Pope for a hundred Christian scholars and technicians. The Polos arrived in Rome in 1269, receiving an audience from Pope Gregory X, and they set out with his blessing but no scholars.
Marco Polo, Niccolo's son, who accompanied his father on this trip, was probably the best-known foreign visitor ever to set foot in China. It is said that he spent the next 17 years (1275-1292) under Kublai Khan, including official service in the salt administration and trips through the provinces of Yunnan and Fukien. Although the flaws in his description of China have tempted modern historians to dispute his sojourn in the Middle Kingdom, the popularity of his journal, Description of the World, was such that it subsequently generated unprecedented enthusiasm in Europe for going east.
Marco Polo had his East Asian counterpart in Rabban Sauma, a Nestorian monk born in Peking. He crossed central Asia to the Il-Khan's court in Mesopotamia in 1278 and was one of those whom the Mongols sent to Europe to seek Christian help against Islam. There must have been countless numbers of unknown others who crossed the Continent, spreading information about their land and bringing with them artifacts of their culture. Under Kublai, the first direct contact and cultural interchange between China and the West, however limited in scope, had become a reality never before achieved.
After a glorious reign of 34 years, Kublai died in Ta-tu in February 1294. In conformity with the Chinese tradition, Temür, Kublai's grandson and successor, bestowed on Kublai the posthumous temple title Shih-tsu (regenerating progenitor) after Genghis Khan, who was known as T'ai-tsu (grand progenitor). Temür reigned until his death in 1307 and is known in Chinese history as Yüan Ch'eng-tsung.
Assessment of His Reign
Kublai must be regarded as one of the great rulers in history. He showed natural magnanimity and imagination, and he was able to transcend the narrow nomad mentality of his ancestors and to administer a huge state with an ancient civilization. He was a vigorous, shrewd, and pragmatic ruler and was close in spirit to Genghis Khan. While his achievement ranked him second to Genghis among the Mongol rulers, he was not unpopular among the Chinese, enjoying the esteem of even the Chinese orthodox historians. During his lifetime he was acknowledged as the Great Khan of the Mongol confederacy, though in effect his authority was confined to China and its peripheral territories.
Nevertheless, Kublai was not content to be a sage emperor in the Chinese fashion; rather, he aspired to be the all-embracing ruler of the entire Mongol Empire in the footsteps of his grandfather. His partial adoption of Chinese political traditions and his divide-and-rule tactics were ingenious devices in the administration of a complex, populous empire.
Unfortunately, Kublai's policy fell short of the anticipation of the conservative elements, who gradually became alienated from the predominately Sinicized Mongol court. As Kublai and his successors steeped themselves deeper in the Chinese tradition, there was a widening schism between the Mongol rulers of China and those of the other khanates within the Mongol confederacy. They preferred to maintain their nomad identity instead of looking toward China for leadership; this estrangement, while weakening the Mongol solidarity, ironically helped to uphold and perpetuate the Mongol heritage after the fall of the Yüan dynasty in 1368.
Further Reading
There is no satisfactory biography of Kublai Khan in English. Useful, though outdated, chapters on him are in general texts on Mongol history such as Sir Henry Hoyle Howorth, History of the Mongols (4 vols., 1876-1927), and Michael Prawdin, The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy (1940). For other scholarly contributions to Kublai's period see Herbert Franz Schurmann, ed. and trans., Economic Structure of the Yüan Dynasty (1956); Leonardo Olschki, Marco Polo's Asia (1957; trans. 1960); Ch'ên Yüan, Western and Central Asians in China under the Mongols, translated by Luther Carrington Goodrich (1966); and Igor de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans (1970). Recommended for general historical background are René Grousset, The Rise and Splendour of the Chinese Empire (1942; trans. 1952), and Edwin O. Reischauer and John K. Fairbank, A History of East Asian Civilization, vol. 1 (1960)
Columbia Encyclopedia:
Kublai Khan |
Bibliography
See J. J. Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests (1971); M. Rossabi, Khubilai Khan (1988).
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Kublai Khan |
| Kublai Khan | |
|---|---|
| Khagan of the Mongol Empire Founder of the Yuan Dynasty Emperor of China |
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 |
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| Portrait of Kublai Khan during the Yuan era. | |
| Reign | May 5, 1260 – February 18, 1294 (33 years, 289 days) |
| Coronation | May 5, 1260 |
| Predecessor | Mongke Khan |
| Successor | Temur Khan |
| Consort | Tegulen, Chabi, Nambui |
| Full name | |
| Mongolian： ᠻᠬᠦᠪᠢᠯᠠᠢ Chinese： 忽必烈 Setsen Khan (Цэцэн хаан) |
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| Era dates | |
| Zhongtong (中統) 1260–1264 Zhiyuan (至元) 1264–1294 |
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| Posthumous name | |
| Emperor Shengde Shengong Wenwu (聖德神功文武皇帝) |
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| Temple name | |
| Shizu (世祖) | |
| Dynasty | Yuan |
| Father | Tolui |
| Mother | Sorghaghtani Beki |
| Born | 23 September 1215 |
| Died | 18 February 1294 (aged 78) Dadu (Khanbalic) |
| Burial | Burkhan Khaldun, Khentii province |
Kublai Khan (
/ˈkuːblə ˈkɑːn/; Mongolian: Хубилай хаан, Xubilaĭ xaan; Middle Mongolian: Qubilai Qaγan, "King Qubilai"; September 23, 1215 – February 18, 1294),[1][2] born Kublai (Mongolian: Хубилай, Xubilaĭ; Middle Mongolian: Qubilai; Chinese: 忽必烈; pinyin: Hūbìliè; also spelled Khubilai) and also known by the temple name Shizu (Chinese: 元世祖; pinyin: Yuán Shìzǔ; Wade–Giles: Yüan Shih-tsu), was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China.
As he was the second son of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki, and a grandson of Genghis Khan, he claimed the title of Khagan of the Ikh Mongol Uls (Mongol Empire) in 1260 after the death of his older brother Möngke in the previous year, though his younger brother Ariq Böke was also given this title in the Mongolian capital, Karakorum. Kublai won the battle against Ariq Böke in 1264 and the succession war marked the beginning of disunity in the empire.[3] Kublai's real power was limited to China and Mongolia (which was the Yuan Dynasty, or the Mongol Dynasty) after the victory over Ariq Böke, though his influence still remained in the Ilkhanate and, to a far lesser degree, in the Golden Horde in the western parts of the Mongol Empire.[4][5][6] If one counts the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, his realm reached from the Pacific to the Urals, from Siberia to modern day Afghanistan – one fifth of the world's inhabited land area.[7]
In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China and some adjacent areas, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. By 1279, the Yuan forces had overcome the last resistance of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Kublai became the first non-Chinese Emperor to conquer all of China. He was also the only Mongol khan after 1260 to win new conquests.[8]
The summer garden of Kublai Khan at Xanadu is the subject of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1797 poem Kubla Khan. Coleridge's work and Marco Polo's book brought Kublai and his achievements to the attention of a wider audience, and today Kublai is a well-known historical figure.
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Kublai was the second son of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki. As his grandfather Genghis Khan advised, Sorghaghtani chose as her son's nurse a Buddhist Tangut woman whom Kublai later honored highly. On his way home after the conquest of the Khwarizmian Empire, Genghis Khan performed a ceremony on his grandsons Mongke and Kublai after their first hunt in 1224 near the Ili River.[9] Kublai was nine years old and with his eldest brother killed a rabbit and an antelope. His grandfather smeared fat from killed animals onto Kublai's middle finger in accordance with a Mongol tradition.
After the Mongol-Jin War, in 1236, Ogedei gave Hebei Province (attached with 80,000 households) to the family of Tolui, who died in 1232. Kublai received an estate of his own, which included 10,000 households. Because he was inexperienced, Kublai allowed local officials free rein. Corruption amongst his officials and aggressive taxation caused large numbers of Chinese peasants to flee, which led to a decline in tax revenues. Kublai quickly came to his appanage in Hebei and ordered reforms. Sorghaghtani sent new officials to help him and tax laws were revised. Thanks to those efforts, many of the people who fled returned.
The most prominent, and arguably the most influential component of Kublai Khan's early life was his study and strong attraction to contemporary Chinese culture. Kublai invited Haiyun, the leading Buddhist monk in North China, to his ordo in Mongolia. When he met Haiyun in Karakorum in 1242, Kublai asked him about the philosophy of Buddhism. Haiyun named Kublai's son, who was born in 1243, Zhenjin (True Gold in English).[10] Haiyun also introduced Kublai to the former Taoist and now Buddhist monk, Liu Bingzhong. Liu was a painter, calligrapher, poet and mathematician, and became Kublai's advisor when Haiyun returned to his temple in modern Beijing.[11] Kublai soon added the Shanxi scholar Zhao Bi to his entourage. Kublai employed people of other nationalities as well, for he was keen to balance local and imperial interests, Mongol and Turk.
In 1251, Kublai's eldest brother Möngke became Khan of the Mongol Empire, and Khwarizmian Mahmud Yalavach and Kublai were sent to China. Kublai received the viceroyalty over North China and moved his ordo to central Inner Mongolia. During his years as viceroy, Kublai managed his territory well, boosted the agricultural output of Henan and increased social welfare spendings after receiving Xi'an. These acts received great acclaim from the Chinese warlords and were essential to the building of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1252 Kublai criticized Mahmud Yalavach, who was never highly valued by his Chinese associates, over his cavalier execution of suspects during a judicial review and Zhao Bi attacked him for his presumptuous attitude toward the throne. Mongke dismissed Mahmud Yalavach, which met with resistance from Chinese Confucian-trained officials.[12]
In 1253, Kublai was ordered to attack Yunnan, and he asked the Kingdom of Dali to submit. The ruling family, Gao, resisted and killed Mongol envoys. The Mongols divided their forces into three. One wing rode eastward into the Sichuan basin. The second column under Subotai's son Uryankhadai took a difficult route into the mountains of western Sichuan.[13] Kublai went south over the grasslands and met up with the first column. While Uryankhadai travelled along the lakeside from the north, Kublai took the capital city of Dali and spared the residents despite the slaying of his ambassadors. The Mongols appointed King Duan Xingzhi as the local ruler and stationed a pacification commissioner there.[14] After Kublai's departure, unrest broke out among certain factions. By 1256, Uryankhadai had completely pacified Yunnan.
Kublai was attracted by the abilities of Tibetan monks as healers. In 1253 he made Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, of the Sakya order, a member of his entourage. Phagpa bestowed on Kublai and his wife, Chabi (Chabui), a Tantric Buddhist initiation. Kublai appointed Uyghur Lian Xixian (1231–1280) the head his pacification commission in 1254. Some officials, who were jealous of Kublai's success, said that he was getting above himself and dreaming of having his own empire by competing with Mongke's capital Karakorum (Хархорум). The Great Khan Mongke sent two tax inspectors, Alamdar (Ariq Böke's close friend and governor in North China) and Liu Taiping, to audit Kublai's officials in 1257. They found fault, listed 142 breaches of regulations, accused Chinese officials and executed some of them, and Kublai's new pacification commission was abolished.[15] Kublai sent a two-man embassy with his wives and then appealed in person to Mongke, who publicly forgave his younger brother and reconciled with him.
The Taoists had obtained their wealth and status by seizing Buddhist temples. Mongke repeatedly demanded that the Taoists cease their denigration of Buddhism and ordered Kublai to end the clerical strife between the Taoists and Buddhists in his territory.[16] Kublai called a conference of Taoist and Buddhist leaders in early 1258. At the conference, the Taoist claim was officially refuted and Kublai forcibly converted 237 Taoist temples to Buddhism and destroyed all copies of the Taoist texts[17][18][19][20]. Kublai Khan and the Yuan dynasty, clearly favored Buddhism, meanwhile his counterparts in the Chagatai Khanate, Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate would convert to Islam.
In 1258, Möngke put Kublai in command of the Eastern Army and summoned him to assist with an attack on Sichuan. As he was suffering from gout, Kublai was allowed to stay but he moved to assist Möngke. Before Kublai arrived in 1259, word reached him that Möngke had died. Kublai decided to keep the death of his brother secret and continued to attack Wuhan, near Yangtze. While Kublai's force besieged Wuchang, Uryankhadai joined him.[citation needed]
The Song Dynasty minister Jia Sidao secretly approached Kublai to propose terms and asked whether the Song could pay an annual tribute of 200,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk, in exchange for the Mongols agreement that the Yangtze River should be the frontier between the states.[21] Kublai first declined but reached a peace agreement with Jia Sidao. Kublai returned north to the Mongolian plains because he received a message from his wife that Ariq Böke had been raising troops.[22]
He soon received news that Ariq Böke had held a political and military council, called a kurultai, at Karakorum and was pronounced Great Khan by Mongke's officials. Most of Genghis Khan's descendants favored Ariq Böke as Great Khan; however, his two brothers Kublai and Hulegu opposed this. Kublai's Chinese staff encouraged Kublai to ascend the throne, and almost all of the senior princes in North China and Manchuria supported his candidacy.[23] Upon returning to his own territories, Kublai summoned his own kurultai. Few members of the royal family supported Kublai's claims to the title, though the small number of attendees included representatives of all the Borjigin lines except that of Jochi. This kurultai proclaimed Kublai Great Khan, on April 15, 1260, despite Ariq Böke's apparently legal claim.
This led to warfare between Kublai and Ariq Böke, which resulted in the destruction of the Mongolian capital at Karakorum. In Shaanxi and Sichuan, Mongke's army supported Ariq Böke. Kublai dispatched Lian Xixian to Shaanxi and Sichuan, where they executed Ariq Böke's civil administrator Liu Taiping and won over several wavering generals.[24] To secure the southern front, Kublai attempted a diplomatic resolution and sent envoys to Hangzhou, but Jia broke his promise and arrested them.[25] Kublai sent Abishqa as new khan to the Chagatai Khanate. Ariq Böke captured Abishqa, two other princes and 100 men and had his own man, Alghu, crowned khan of Chagatai's territory. In the first armed clash between Ariq Böke and Kublai, Ariq Böke lost and his commander Alamdar was killed at the battle. In revenge, Ariq Böke had Abishqa executed. Kublai cut off supplies of food to Karakorum with the support of his cousin Khadan, son of Ogedei Khan. Karakorum quickly fell to Kublai's large army, but following Kublai's departure it was temporarily re-taken by Ariq Böke in 1261. Yizhou governor Li Tan revolted against Mongol rule in February 1262 and Kublai ordered his Chancellor Shi Tianze and Shi Shu to attack Li Tan. The two armies crushed Li Tan's revolt in just a few months and Li Tan was executed. These armies also executed Wang Wentong, the father-in-law of Li Tan who had been appointed the Chief Administrator of the Zhongshusheng ("Department of Central Governing") early in Kublai's reign and became one of Kublai's most trusted Han Chinese officials. The incident instilled in Kublai a distrust of ethnic Hans. After becoming emperor, Kublai banned the titles of and tithes to Han Chinese warlords.[citation needed]
The Chagatayid Khan Alghu declared his allegiance to Kublai and defeated a punitive expedition sent by Ariq Böke against Alghu in 1262. Ilkhan Hulegu also sided with Kublai and criticized Ariq Böke. Ariq Böke surrendered to Kublai at Xanadu on August 21, 1264. The rulers of western khanates acknowledged Kublai's victory and rule in Mongolia.[26] When Kublai summoned them to organize another kurultai, Alghu Khan demanded security for his illegal position from Kublai in return. Despite tensions between them, both Hulegu and Berke, khan of the Golden Horde, at first accepted Kublai's invitation.[27][28] However, they soon declined to attend the new kurultai. Kublai pardoned Ariq Böke, although he executed Ariq Böke's chief supporters.
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The suspicious deaths of three Jochid princes in Hulegu's service, the Battle of Baghdad and unequal distribution of war spoils strained the Ilkhanate's relations with the Golden Horde. In 1262, Hulegu's complete purge of the Jochid troops and support for Kublai in his conflict with Ariq Böke brought open war with the Golden Horde. Kublai reinforced Hulegu with 30,000 young Mongols in order to stabilize the political crises in the western regions of the Mongol Empire.[29] When Hulegu died on 8 February 1264, Berke marched to cross near Tiflis to conquer the Ilkhanate but died on the way. Within a few months of these deaths, Alghu Khan of the Chagatai Khanate also died. In the new official version of his family's history, Kublai refused to write Berke's name as the khan of the Golden Horde because of Berke's support for Ariq Böke and wars with Hulegu; however, Jochi's family was fully recognized as legitimate family members.[30]
Kublai Khan named Abagha as the new Ilkhan (obedient khan) and nominated Batu's grandson Mongke Temur for the throne of Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde.[31][32] The Kublaids in the east retained suzerainty over the Ilkhans until the end of their regime.[33][34] Kublai also sent his protege Baraq to overthrow the court of Oirat Orghana, the empress of the Chagatai Khanate, who put her young son Mubarak Shah on the throne in 1265, without Kublai's permission after her husband's death. Ogedeid prince Kaidu declined to personally attend the court of Kublai. Kublai instigated Baraq to attack Kaidu. Baraq began to expand his realm northward; he seized power in 1266 and fought Kaidu and the Golden Horde. He also pushed out Great Khan's overseer from the Tarim basin. When Kaidu and Mongke Timur together defeated Kublai, Baraq joined an alliance with the House of Ogedei and the Golden Horde against Kublai in the east and Abagha in the west. Meanwhile, Mongke Temur avoided any direct military expedition against Kublai's realm. The court of the Golden Horde promised Kublai her assistance to defeat Kaidu whom Mongke Temur called the rebel.[35] This was apparently due to the conflict between Kaidu and Mongke Temur over the agreement they made at the Talas kurultai. The armies of Mongol Persia defeated Baraq's invading forces in 1269. When Baraq died the next year, Kaidu took control of the Chagatai Khanate and recovered his alliance with Mongke Temur.
Meanwhile, Kublai tried to stabilize his control over Korea by mobilizing another Mongol invasion after he appointed Wonjong (r. 1260–1274) as the new Goryeo king in 1259 in Kanghwa. Kublai forced two rulers of the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate to call a truce with each other in 1270 despite the Golden Horde's interests in the Middle East and Caucasia.[36] Kublai called two Iraqi siege engineers from the Ilkhanate in order to destroy the fortresses of Song China. After the fall of Xiangyang in 1273, Kublai's commanders, Aju and Liu Zheng, proposed a final campaign against the Song Dynasty, and Kublai made Bayan the supreme commander.[37] Kublai ordered Mongke Temur to revise the second census of the Golden Horde to provide resources and men for his conquest of China.[38] The census took place in all parts of the Golden Horde, including Smolensk and Vitebsk in 1274–75. The Khans also sent Nogai to the Balkans to strengthen Mongol influence there.[39]
Kublai renamed the Mongol regime in China Dai Yuan in 1271, and sought to sinicize his image as Emperor of China in order to win control of millions of Chinese people. When he moved his headquarters to Khanbalic, also called Dadu, at modern-day Beijing, there was an uprising in the old capital Karakorum that he barely contained. Kublai's actions were condemned by traditionalists and his critics still accused him of being too closely tied to Chinese culture. They sent a message to him: "The old customs of our Empire are not those of the Chinese laws... What will happen to the old customs?".[40][41] Kaidu attracted the other elites of Mongol Khanates, declaring himself to be a legitimate heir to the throne instead of Kublai, who had turned away from the ways of Genghis Khan.[42][43] Defections from Kublai's Dynasty swelled the Ogedeids' forces.
The Song imperial family surrendered to the Yuan in 1276, making the Mongols the first non-Chinese people to conquer all of China. Three years later, Yuan marines crushed the last of the Song loyalists. The Song Empress Dowager and her grandson, Zhao Xian, were then settled in Khanbalic where they were given tax-free property, and Kublai's wife Chabi took a personal interest in their well-being. However, Kublai later had Zhao sent away to become a monk to Zhangye. Kublai succeeded in building a powerful Empire, created an academy, offices, trade ports and canals and sponsored science and the arts. The record of the Mongols lists 20,166 public schools created during Kublai's reign.[44] Having achieved real or nominal dominion over much of Eurasia, and having successfully conquered China, Kublai was in a position to look beyond China.[45] However, Kublai's costly invasions of Burma, Annam, Sakhalin and Champa secured only the vassal status of those countries. The Mongol invasions of Japan (1274 and 1280) and Java (1293) failed. At the same time, Kublai's nephew Ilkhan Abagha tried to form a grand alliance of the Mongols and the Western European powers to defeat the Mamluks in Syria and North Africa that constantly invaded the Mongol dominions. Abagha and Kublai focused mostly on foreign alliances, and opened trade routes. Khagan Kublai dined with a large court every day, and met with many ambassadors, foreign merchants.
Kublai's son Nomukhan and his generals occupied Almaliq from 1266–76. In 1277, a group of Genghisid princes under Mongke's son Shiregi rebelled, kidnapped Kublai's two sons and his general Antong and handed them over to Kaidu and Mongke Temur. The latter was still allied with Kaidu who fashioned an alliance with him in 1269, although Mongke Temur had promised Kublai his military support to protect Kublai from the Ogedeids.[46] Kublai's armies suppressed the rebellion and strengthened the Yuan garrisons in Mongolia and Uighurstan. However, Kaidu took control over Almaliq.
In 1279–80, Kublai decreed death for those who performed Islamic-Jewish slaughtering of cattle, which offended Mongolian custom.[47] When the Ahmad Teguder seized the throne of the Ilkhanate in 1282, attempting to make peace with the Mamluks, Abagha's old Mongols under prince Arghun appealed to Kublai. After the execution of Ahmad, Kublai confirmed Arghun's coronation and awarded his commander in chief Buqa the title of chingsang.[citation needed]
Kublai's niece, Kelmish, who married a Khunggirat general of the Golden Horde, was powerful enough to have Kublai's sons Nomuqan and Kokhchu returned. Three leaders of the Jochids, Tode Mongke, Konchi, and Nogai, agreed to release two princes.[48] The court of the Golden Horde returned the princes as a peace overture to the Yuan Dynasty in 1282 and induced Kaidu to release Kublai's general. Konchi, khan of White Horde, established friendly relations with the Yuan and the Ilkhanate, and as a reward received luxury gifts and grain from Kublai.[49] Despite political disagreement between contending branches of the family over the office of Khagan, the economic and commercial system continued.[50][51][52][53]
Kublai Khan considered that China was his main base; he realized within a decade of his enthronement as Great Khan that he needed to concentrate on governing China.[54] From the beginning of his reign, he adopted Chinese political and cultural models and worked to minimize the influences of regional lords, who had held immense power before and during the Song Dynasty. Kublai heavily relied on his Chinese advisers until about 1276. He had many Han Chinese advisers, such as Liu Bingzhong and Xu Heng, and employed many Uyghur Turks, some of whom were resident commissioners running Chinese districts.[55]
Kublai also appointed Phagspa Lama his state preceptor (Guoshi), giving him power over all of the empire's Buddhist monks. In 1270, after Phagspa created the Square script, he was promoted to imperial preceptor. Kublai established the Supreme Control Commission under Phagspa to administer affairs of Tibetan and Chinese monks. During Phagspa's absence in Tibet, the Tibetan monk Sangha rose to high office and had the office renamed the Commission for Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs.[56][57] In 1286, Tibetan Sangha became the dynasty's chief fiscal officer. However, their corruption later embittered Kublai, after which Kublai relied wholly on younger Mongol aristocrats. Antong of the Jalayir, and Bayan of the Baarin served as grand councillors from 1265, and Oz-temur of the Arulad headed the censorate. Borokhula's descendant, Ochicher, headed a kheshig (Mongolian imperial guard) and the palace provision commission.
In the eighth year of Zhiyuan (1271), Kublai officially created the Yuan Dynasty, and proclaimed the capital to be at Dadu (Chinese: 大都; Wade–Giles: Ta-tu, lit. "Great Capital", known as Daidu to the Mongols, at modern-day Beijing) the following year. His summer capital was in Shangdu (Chinese: 上都, "Upper Capital", a.k.a. Xanadu, near what today is Dolonnur). To unify China,[58] Kublai began a massive offensive against the remnants of the Southern Song Dynasty in the 11th year of Zhiyuan (1274), and finally destroyed the Song Dynasty in the 16th year of Zhiyuan (1279), unifying the country at last.
Most of the Yuan domains were administered as provinces, also translated as the "branch Secretariat", during his reign, each with a governor and vice-governor.[59] This included China proper, Manchuria, Mongolia and a special Zhendong branch Secretariat that would extend into the Korean Peninsula.[60][61] The Central Region (Chinese: 腹裏) was separate from the rest, consisted of much of present-day North China, was considered the most important region of the dynasty and was directly governed by the Zhongshusheng (Chinese: 中書省, "Department of Central Governing") at Dadu. Tibet was governed by another top-level administrative department called the Xuanzheng Yuan (Chinese: 宣政院).
Kublai promoted economic growth with the rebuilding of the Grand Canal, repaired public buildings, and extended highways. However, his domestic policy included some aspects of the old Mongol living traditions, and as his reign continued, these traditions would clash increasingly frequently with traditional Chinese economic and social culture. Kublai decreed that partner merchants of the Mongols should be subject to taxes in 1263 and set up the Office of Market Taxes to supervise them in 1268. After the Mongol conquest of the Song, the merchants expanded their operations to the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. In 1286, maritime trade was put under the Office of Market Taxes. The main source of revenue of the government was the monopoly of salt production.[62]
The Mongol administration had issued paper currencies from 1227 on.[63][64] In August 1260, Kublai created the first unified paper currency called Chao; bills were circulated throughout the Yuan domain with no expiration date. To guard against devaluation, the currency was convertible with silver and gold, and the government accepted tax payments in paper currency. In 1273, he issued a new series of state sponsored bills to finance his conquest of the Song, although eventually a lack of fiscal discipline and inflation turned this move into an economic disaster. It was required to pay only in the form of paper money. To ensure its use in circles, Kublai's government confiscated gold and silver from private citizens and foreign merchants. But traders received government-issued notes in exchange. Kublai Khan is considered to be the first of fiat money makers. The paper bills made collecting taxes and administering the empire much easier and reduced the cost of transporting coins.[65] In 1287, Kublai's minister Sangha created a new currency, Zhiyuan Chao, to deal with a budget shortfall.[66] It was non-convertible and denominated in copper cash. Later Gaykhatu of the Ilkhanate attempted to adopt the system in Persia and the Middle east, which was a complete failure, and shortly afterwards he was assassinated.
Kublai encouraged Asian arts and demonstrated religious tolerance. Despite his anti-Taoist edicts, Kublai respected the Taoist master and appointed Zhang Liushan as the patriarch of the Taoist Xuanjiao order.[67] Under Zhang's advice, Taoist temples were put under the Academy of Scholarly Worthies. The empire was visited by several Europeans, notably Marco Polo in the 1270s who may have seen the summer capital Shangdu.
Despite that Kublai restricted the functions of the kheshig, he created a new imperial bodyguard, at first entirely Chinese in composition but later strengthened with Kipchak, Alan (Asud), and Russian units.[68][69][70] Once his own kheshig was organized in 1263, Kublai put three of the original kheshig's four shifts under the charges the descendants of Genghis Khan's four assistants, Borokhula, Boorchu and Muqali. Kublai began the practice of having the four great aristocrats in his kheshig sign all jarliqs (decree), a practice that spread to all other Mongol khanates.[71] Mongol and Chinese units were organized using the same decimal organization that Genghis Khan used. The Mongols eagerly adopted new artillery and technologies. Kublai brought siege engineers, Ismail and Al al-Din, from present-day Iraq and Iran. [72] Kublai and his generals adopted an elaborate, moderate style of military campaigns in South China. Effective assimilation of Chinese naval techniques allowed the Yuan army to quickly conquer the Song.
Kublai's foreign policy was similar to those of his predecessors, whose foreign policy might be considered as imperialistic. He invaded Goryeo (Korea) and made it a tributary vassal state in 1260. After another Mongol intervention in 1273, Goryeo came under even tighter control of the Yuan.[73][74][75][76][77] Goryeo became a Mongol military base and several myriarchy commands were established there. The court of the Goryeo supplied Korean troops and ocean-going naval force for the Mongol campaigns. Despite the opposition of some of his Confucian-trained advisers, Kublai decided to invade Japan, Burma, Vietnam and Java, following the suggestions of some of his Mongol officials. The attempts of subjugation also included peripheral lands such as Sakhalin, where its indigenous people eventually submitted to the Mongols by 1308, after Kublai's death. These costly conquests and the introduction of paper currency caused inflation. From 1273 to 1276, war against the Song Dynasty and Japan made the issue of paper currency expand from 110,000 ding to 1,420,000 ding.[78]
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Kublai Khan twice attempted to invade Japan. It is believed that both attempts were thwarted by bad weather or a flaw in the design of ships that were based on river boats without keels, and his fleets were destroyed. The first attempt took place in 1274, with a fleet of 900 ships. After the first Mongol attack on Japan, Japanese pirates known as Wokou raided Korea, but Mongol-Korean forces pushed them back, and the Wokou pirates decreased their activity due to the increased military preparedness of the Goryeo and the Kamakura. In 1293 the Yuan navy captured 100 Japanese people from Okinawa.[79]
The second invasion occurred in 1281 when Mongols sent two separate forces; 900 ships containing 40,000 Korean, Chinese, and Mongol troops were sent from Masan, while a force of 100,000 sailed from southern China in 3,500 ships, each close to 240 feet (73 m) long. The fleet was hastily assembled and ill-equipped to cope with maritime conditions. In November, they sailed into the treacherous waters that separated Korea and Japan by 110 miles. The Mongols easily took over Tsushima Island about halfway across the strait and then Ika Island closer to Kyushu. The Korean fleet reached Hakata Bay on June 23, 1281 and landed its troops and animals, but the ships from China were nowhere to be seen.
The samurai warriors, following their custom, rode out against the Mongol forces for individual combat but the Mongols held their formation. The Mongols fought as a united force, not as individuals, and bombarded the samurai with exploding missiles and showered them with arrows. Eventually, the remaining Japanese withdrew from the coastal zone inland to a fortress. The Mongol forces did not chase the fleeing Japanese into an area about which they lacked reliable intelligence.
Marine archaeologist Kenzo Hayashida led the investigation that discovered the wreckage of the second invasion fleet off the western coast of Takashima. His team's findings strongly indicate that Kublai rushed to invade Japan and attempted to construct his enormous fleet in one year, a task that should have taken up to five years. This forced the Chinese to use any available ships, including river boats. Most importantly, the Chinese, under Kublai's control, built many ships quickly in order to contribute to the fleets in both of the invasions. Hayashida theorizes that, had Kublai used standard, well-constructed ocean-going ships with curved keels to prevent capsizing, his navy might have survived the journey to and from Japan and might have conquered it as intended. In October 2011, a wreck, possibly one of Kublai's invasion craft, was found off the coast of Nagasaki.[80] David Nicolle wrote in The Mongol Warlords, "Huge losses had also been suffered in terms of casualties and sheer expense, while the myth of Mongol invincibility had been shattered throughout eastern Asia." He also wrote that Kublai was determined to mount a third invasion, despite the horrendous cost to the economy and to his and Mongol prestige of the first two defeats, and only his death and the unanimous agreement of his advisers not to invade prevented a third attempt.[81]
Kublai Khan also twice invaded Đại Việt. When Kublai became the Great Khan in 1260, the Vietnamese Trần Dynasty sent tribute every three years and received a darugachi.[82][83] But their king soon declined to attend the Mongol court in person. The first incursion (the second Mongol invasion of Đại Việt) began in December 1284 when the Mongols under the command of Toghan, the prince of Kublai Khan, crossed the border and quickly occupied Thăng Long (now Hanoi) in January 1285 after the victorious battle of Omar in Vạn Kiếp (north east of Hanoi). At the same time the Sogetu from Champa moved northward and rapidly marched to Nghe An in the north central region of Vietnam where the army of the Trần Dynasty under general Tran Kien surrendered to him. However, the Trần kings and the commander-in-chief Trần Hưng Đạo changed their tactics from defence to attack and struck against the Mongols. In April, General Trần Quang Khải defeated Sogetu in Chuong Duong and the Trần kings won a battle in Tây Kết where Sogetu died. Soon after, general Trần Nhật Duật also won a battle in Hàm Tử (now part of Hưng Yên) and Toghan was defeated by General Trần Hưng Đạo and Kublai failed in his first attempt to invade Đại Việt. Toghan hid himself inside a bronze pipe to avoid being killed by the Đại Việt archers; this act brought humiliation upon the Mongol Empire and Toghan.
After his first failure, Kublai wanted to install Nhan Tong's brother Tran Ich Tac - who had defected to the Mongols - as king of Annam, but hardship in the Yuan's supply base in Hunan, and Kaidu's invasion forced Kublai to abandon his plans. In 1285 the Brigung sect rebelled and attacked monasteries of Paghspa's sect in Tibet. The Chagatayid Khan, Duwa, helped the rebels and laid siege to Kara-Kocho and defeated Kublai's garrisons in the Tarim basin.[84] Kaidu destroyed an army at Beshbalik and occupied the city the following year. Many Uyghurs abandoned Kashgar for safer bases back in the eastern Yuan. After Kublai's grandson Buqa-Temur crushed the resistance of the Brigung sect, killing 10,000 Tibetans in 1291, Tibet was fully pacified.
The second Mongol invasion began in 1287 and was better organized than the previous effort; a large fleet and plentiful stocks of food were used. The Mongols, under the command of Toghan, moved to Vạn Kiếp from the north west and met the infantry and cavalry of Kublai's Kipchak commander Omar (coming by another way along the Red River) and quickly won the battle. The naval fleet rapidly attained victory in Vân Đồn near Ha Long Bay but they left the heavy cargo ships, stocked with food, which General Trần Khánh Dư quickly captured and the Mongols in Thăng Long (modern-day Hanoi) suffered an acute shortage of food. With no news about the supply fleet, Toghan ordered his army to retreat to Vạn Kiếp. The Đại Việt army began their general offensive and recaptured a number of locations occupied by the Mongols. Groups of Đại Việt infantry were ordered to attack the Mongols in Vạn Kiếp. Toghan had to split his army into two and retreat.[citation needed]
In early April the naval fleet, led by Omar and escorted by infantry, fled home along the Bạch Đằng river. As bridges and roads were destroyed and attacks were launched by Đại Việt troops, the Mongols reached Bạch Đằng without an infantry escort. Đại Việt's small flotilla engaged in battle and pretended to retreat. The Mongols eagerly pursued the Đại Việt troops and fell into their pre-arranged battlefield. Thousands of small Đại Việt boats quickly appeared from both banks, launched a fierce attack and broke the Mongol's combat formation. The Mongols met a sudden and strong attack and tried to withdraw to the sea in panic. The Mongols' boats were halted, and many were damaged and sank. At that time, a number of fire rafts quickly rushed toward the Mongols, who were frightened and jumped down to reach the banks where they were dealt a heavy blow by an army led by the Trần king and Trần Hưng Đạo. The Mongol naval fleet was totally destroyed and Omar was captured. At the same time, Đại Việt's army continuously attacked and smashed to pieces Toghan's army on its withdrawal through Lạng Sơn. Toghan risked his life to take a shortcut through thick forest in order to flee home. Nevertheless, the Đại Việt and the Kingdom of Champa had recognized Kublai's supremacy in order to avoid more conflicts.[83][85]
Three expeditions against Burma, in 1277, 1283 and 1287, brought the Mongol forces to the Irrawaddy delta, and they captured Bagan, the capital of Pagan Kingdom in Burma, and established their government.[86] Kublai had to be content with the establishment of a formal suzerainty but Burma finally became tributary state and sent tributes to the Yuan court until the Mongols were expelled from China in the 1360s.[87] The Khmer kingdom of Cambodia and small states in Malay and South India submitted to Kublai's rule between 1278–1294. Mongol interests in these areas were commercial and tributary relationships.
During the last years of his reign, Kublai launched a naval punitive expedition of 20–30,000 men against the Javanese kingdom of Singhasari (1293), but the invading Mongol forces were forced to withdraw by the Majapahit Dynasty after considerable losses of more than 3,000 troops. Nevertheless, by 1294, the year that Kublai died, two Thai kingdoms of Sukhotai and Chiangmai had become vassal states of the Yuan Dynasty.[86]
Under Kublai, direct contact between East Asia and the West was established, made possible by the Mongol control of the central Asian trade routes and facilitated by the presence of efficient postal services. In the beginning of the 13th century, large numbers of Europeans and Central Asians – merchants, travelers, and missionaries of different orders – made their way to China. The presence of the Mongol power allowed large numbers of Chinese, intent on warfare or trade, to travel to other parts of the Mongol Empire, all the way to Russia, Persia, and Mesopotamia.[citation needed]
Marco Polo, Niccolo Polo's son, accompanied his father and his uncle Maffeo Polo, on their second trip to China starting in 1271. Marco Polo was probably the best-known foreign visitor to China and Mongolia. After reaching China in 1275, he spent the next 17 years (1275–1292) under the administration and patronage of Kublai, including official service in the salt administration and trips through the provinces of Yunnan and Fukien.[citation needed]
After Kublai Khan was proclaimed Khagan at his residence in Shangdu on 5 May 1260, he began to organize the country. Zhang Wenqian, a central government official and a friend of Guo, was sent by Kublai in 1260 to Daming where unrest had been reported in the local population. Guo accompanied Zhang on his mission. Guo was interested in engineering, was an expert astronomer, a skilled instrument maker and understood that good astronomical observations depended on expertly made instruments. Guo began to construct astronomical instruments, including water clocks for accurate timing and armillary spheres which represented the celestial globe. Turkestani architect Ikhtiyar al-Din (also known as Igder) designed the buildings of the city of Khagan or Khanbalic.[88] Kublai also employed foreign artists to build his new capital; one of them, a Nepalese named Arniko, built the White Stupa which was the largest structure in Khanbalic/Dadu.[89]
Zhang advised Kublai that Guo was a leading expert in hydraulic engineering. Kublai knew the importance of water management for irrigation, transport of grain and flood control, and he asked Guo to look at these aspects in the area between Dadu (now Beijing) and the Yellow River. To provide Dadu with a new supply of water, Guo found the Baifu spring in the Shenshan Mountain and had a 30 km channel built to move the water to Dadu. He proposed connecting the water supply across different river basins, built new canals with sluices to control the water level and achieved great success with the improvements which he was able to make. This pleased Kublai and Guo was asked to undertake similar projects in other parts of the country. In 1264 he was asked to go to Gansu province to repair the damage that had been caused to the irrigation systems by the years of war during the Mongol advance through the region. Guo travelled extensively along with his friend Zhang taking notes of the work which needed to be done to unblock damaged parts of the system and to make improvements to its efficiency. He sent his report directly to Kublai Khan.[citation needed]
During the conquest of the Jin, Genghis Khan's younger brothers received large appanages in Manchuria.[90] Their descendants strongly supported Kublai's coronation in 1260, but the younger generation desired more independence. Kublai enforced Ogedei Khan's regulations that the Mongol noblemen could appoint overseers and the Great Khan's special officials, in their appanages, but otherwise respected appanage rights. Kublai's son Manggala established direct control over Singan and Shansi in 1272. In 1274, Kublai appointed Lian Xixian to investigate abuses of power by Mongol appanage holders in Manchuria.[91] The region called Lia-tung was immediately brought under the Khagan's control, in 1284, eliminating autonomy of the Mongol nobles there.[92]
Threatened by the advance of Kublai's bureaucratization, Belgutei's fourth generation descendant, Nayan (not confused with Temuge's descendant Nayan), instigated a revolt in 1287. Nayan tried to join forces with Kublai's competitor Kaidu in Central Asia.[93] Manchuria's native Jurchens and Water Tatars, who had suffered a famine, supported Nayan. Virtually all of the fraternal lines under Hadaan, a descendant of Hachiun, and Shihtur, a grandson of Hasar, joined Nayan's rebellion,[94] and because Nayan was popular prince, Ebugen, a grandson of Genghis Khan's son Khulgen, and the family of Khuden, a younger brother of Guyuk Khan, contributed troops for this rebellion.[95]
The rebellion was crippled by early detection and timid leadership. Kublai sent Bayan to keep Nayan and Kaidu apart by occupying Karakorum, while Kublai led another army against the rebels in Manchuria. Kublai's commander Oz Temur's Mongol force attacked Nayan's 60,000 inexperienced soldiers on June 14, while Chinese and Alan guards under Li Ting protected Kublai. The army of Chungnyeol of Goryeo assisted Kublai in battle. After a hard fight, Nayan's troops withdrew behind their carts and Li Ting began bombardment and attacked Nayan's camp that night. Kublai's force pursued Nayan, who was eventually captured and executed without bloodshed, a traditional way of executing princes.[95] Meanwhile, the rebel prince Shikqtur invaded the Chinese district of Liaoning but was defeated within a month. Kaidu withdrew westward to avoid a battle. However, Kaidu defeated a major Yuan army in Khangai and briefly occupied Karakorum in 1289. Kaidu had ridden away before Kublai could mobilize a larger army.[96]
Widespread but uncoordinated uprisings of Nayan's supporters continued until 1289; these were ruthlessly repressed. The rebel princes' troops were taken from them and redistributed among the imperial family.[97] Kublai harshly punished the darugachis appointed by the rebels in Mongolia and Manchuria.[98] This rebellion forced Kublai to approve the creation of the Liaoyang Branch Secretariat on December 4, 1287, while rewarding loyal fraternal princes.
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Kublai Khan dispatched his grandson Gammala to Burkhan Khaldun in 1291. Because Kublai wanted to ensure that he laid claim to the sacred place (Ikh Khorig), Burkhan Khaldun, where Genghis was buried, Mongolia was strongly protected by the Kublaids. Bayan was in control of Karakorum and was re-establishing control over surrounding areas in 1293, so Kublai's rival Kaidu did not attempt any large-scale military action for the next three years. From 1293 on, Kublai's army cleared Kaidu's forces from the Central Siberian Plateau.[citation needed]
Kublai's original choice of successor was his son Zhenjin, who became the head of Zhongshusheng ("Department of Central Governing"), and actively administrated the dynasty according to Confucian fashion. Nomukhan, after he returned from captivity in the Golden Horde, expressed resentment that Zhenjin had been made heir apparent but was banished to the north. An official proposed that Kublai should abdicate in favor of Zhenjin in 1285, a suggestion which angered Kublai, who refused to see Zhenjin, who died soon afterwards in 1286, eight years before his father. Kublai regretted this and remained very close to his wife, Bairam (also known as Kokejin). When Chabi died, Kublai began to withdraw from direct contact with his advisers, and issued instructions through one of his other queens, Nambui. Only two of Kublai's daughters are known by name; he may have had others. Unlike the formidable women of his grandfather's day, Kublai's wives and daughters were an almost invisible presence, possibly because Chinese court etiquette demoted females to inferior status.[citation needed]
Kublai became increasingly despondent after the deaths his favorite wife and his chosen heir Zhenjin. The failure of the military campaigns in Vietnam and Japan also haunted him. Kublai turned to food and drink for comfort, became grossly overweight and suffered gout and diabetes. The emperor overindulged in alcohol and the traditional meat-rich Mongol diet, which may have contributed to his gout. Kublai sank into depression because of the loss of family, his poor health and advancing age. Kublai tried every medical treatment available, from Korean shamans to Vietnamese doctors, and remedies and medicines, but to no avail. At the end of 1293, the emperor refused to participate in the traditional New Years' ceremony. Before his death, Kublai passed the seal of Crown Prince to Zhenjin's son Temür, who would become the next Khagan of the Mongol Empire and the second ruler of the Yuan Dynasty. Seeking an old companion to comfort him in his final illness, the palace staff could choose only Bayan, more than 30 years his junior. Kublai weakened steadily, and on 18 February 1294 he died at the age of 78. Two days later, the funeral cortège took his body to the burial place of the khans in Mongolia.[citation needed]
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Kublai first married Tegulen but she died very early. Then he married Chabi Khatun of the Khunggirat, who was was his most beloved empress. After Chabi's death in 1286, Kublai married Chabi's young cousin, Nambui, in accordance with Chabi's wish.
Kublai and his wives' children included:
Kublai's seizure of power in 1260 pushed the Mongol Empire into a new direction. Despite his controversial election, which accelerated the disunity of the Mongols, Kublai's willingness to formalize the Mongol realm's symbiotic relation with China brought the Mongol Empire to international attention. Kublai and his predecessors' conquests were largely responsible for re-creating a unified, militarily powerful China. The Mongol rule of Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia proper from a capital at modern Beijing were the precedents for the Qing Dynasty's Inner Asian Empire.[100]
General note: Dates given here are in the Julian calendar. They are not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
Weatherford, Jack 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World' pg.210–211
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Kublai Khan
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| Preceded by Möngke Khan |
Great Khan of the Mongol Empire 1260–1294 |
Succeeded by Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong |
| Preceded by Möngke Khan (posthumously promoted) |
Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty 1271–1294 |
|
| Preceded by Emperor Bing of Song Dynasty |
Emperor of China 1279–1294 |
|
| Khagans of the Mongol Empire (1206–1370) |
|---|
 |
| The Kublaid Great Khans |
| Temür Khan (1294–1307) • Külüg Khan (1307–1311) • Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan (1311–1320) • Gegeen Khan(1320–1323) • Yesün Temür Khan (1323–1328) • Ragibagh Khan (1328) • Jayaatu Khan (1328–1329) • Khutughtu Khan (1329) • Jayaatu Khan(1329–1332) • Rinchinbal Khan (1332) • Ukhaantu Khan (1333–1370) |
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Copyrights:
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 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. Gale Encyclopedia of Biography. © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Kublai Khan. Read more |
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