Week 5: China under Mongol Rule

“Storm from the East”

I. Rise of the Mongols

  1. The settings—Mongolian steppe . . . 12th-century subsistence crisis
  2. Chinggis (Genghis) (c. 1162–1227)—”Great Khan” (1206) . . . militarization

II. The Mongol Empire

  1. Ögödei (r. 1227–1241)
  2. Batu (r. 1224–1255)—Khanate of the Golden Horde (southern Russia)
  3. Hülegü (r. 1256–1265)—Il-Khan Empire of Iran
  4. Jagadai (r. 1227–1242)—Khanate of Central Asia

III. Khubilai Khan (reign 1260–1294)

  1. Rise to power
  2. Khubilai’s court
  3. Yuan administration

Yuan Society (1271–1368)

I. “A Horse and Groom in the Wind” (1280s)

  1. Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322)—”Eight Talents of Wuxing ” . . . Hanlin Academy

II. Chinese Society during the Yuan Period

  1. Economy—trade . . . agriculture . . . Grand Canal
  2. Social conditions—Mongols . . . Semu (“Color-Eyed”) . . . Han . . . Southerners . . . occupational groups . . . civil service examinations (1315)
  3. Community of learning

III. Impacts of Mongol Rule

  1. Foreign contacts
  2. Reaffirmation of the cultural tradition

 

 

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