54 Facts About Yuan dynasty

1.

Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan, was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division.

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2.

In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty.

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3.

Yuan dynasty's realm was, by this point, isolated from the other Mongol-led khanates and controlled most of modern-day China and its surrounding areas, including modern-day Mongolia.

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4.

Some Yuan dynasty emperors mastered the Chinese language, while others only used their native Mongolian language and the 'Phags-pa script.

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5.

The Yuan dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the Yuan dynasty and accorded him the temple name Taizu.

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6.

However, while the claim of supremacy by the Yuan dynasty emperors was at times recognized by the western khans, their subservience was nominal and each continued its own separate development.

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7.

In spite of this, "Yuan dynasty" is rarely used in the broad sense of the definition by modern scholars due to the de facto disintegrated nature of the Mongol Empire.

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8.

Yuan dynasty sought the counsel of Chinese Buddhist and Confucian advisers.

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9.

Yuan dynasty granted his brother Kublai control over Mongol held territories in China.

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10.

Yuan dynasty adopted as his capital city Kaiping in Inner Mongolia, later renamed Shangdu.

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11.

Yuan dynasty bolstered his popularity among his subjects by modeling his government on the bureaucracy of traditional Chinese dynasties and adopting the Chinese era name of Zhongtong.

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12.

Yuan dynasty feared that his dependence on Chinese officials left him vulnerable to future revolts and defections to the Song.

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13.

Yuan dynasty instituted the reforms proposed by his Chinese advisers by centralizing the bureaucracy, expanding the circulation of paper money, and maintaining the traditional monopolies on salt and iron.

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14.

Yuan dynasty restored the Imperial Secretariat and left the local administrative structure of past Chinese dynasties unchanged.

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15.

The name of the Yuan dynasty originated from the I Ching and describes the "origin of the universe" or a "primal force".

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16.

Yuan dynasty supported the merchants of the Silk Road trade network by protecting the Mongol postal system, constructing infrastructure, providing loans that financed trade caravans, and encouraging the circulation of paper banknotes .

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17.

Yuan dynasty welcomed foreign visitors to his court, such as the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who wrote the most influential European account of Yuan China.

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18.

Yuan dynasty renewed a massive drive against the Song dynasty to the south.

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19.

The Yuan dynasty forces commanded by Han Chinese General Zhang Hongfan led a predominantly Han navy to defeat the Song loyalists at the battle of Yamen in 1279.

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20.

Yuan dynasty created a "Han Army" out of defected Jin troops and an army of defected Song troops called the "Newly Submitted Army" .

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21.

The Tran Yuan dynasty which ruled Annam defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Bach Ðang .

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22.

Succession for the Yuan dynasty was an intractable problem, later causing much strife and internal struggle.

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23.

Yuan dynasty made peace with the western Mongol khanates as well as neighboring countries such as Vietnam, which recognized his nominal suzerainty and paid tributes for a few decades.

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24.

Fourth Yuan dynasty emperor, Buyantu Khan was born on Ayurbarwada, and was a competent emperor.

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25.

Yuan dynasty was the first Yuan emperor to actively support and adopt mainstream Chinese culture after the reign of Kublai, to the discontent of some Mongol elite.

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26.

Yuan dynasty made many reforms, including the liquidation of the Department of State Affairs, which resulted in the execution of five of the highest-ranking officials.

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27.

Yuan dynasty continued his father's policies to reform the government based on the Confucian principles, with the help of his newly appointed grand chancellor Baiju.

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28.

Yuan dynasty control began to break down in those regions inhabited by ethnic minorities.

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29.

Yuan dynasty was installed as the emperor in Khanbaliq, while Yesun Temur's son Ragibagh succeeded to the throne in Shangdu with the support of Yesun Temur's favorite retainer Dawlat Shah.

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30.

Yuan dynasty was supposedly killed with poison by El Temur, and Tugh Temur then remounted the throne.

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31.

Yuan dynasty adopted many measures honoring Confucianism and promoting Chinese cultural values.

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32.

Yuan dynasty gave a few early signs of a new and positive direction in central government.

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33.

The reigns of the later Yuan dynasty emperors were short and marked by intrigues and rivalries.

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34.

Yuan dynasty had no choice but to rely on local warlords' military power, and gradually lost his interest in politics and ceased to intervene in political struggles.

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35.

Yuan dynasty fled north to Shangdu from Khanbaliq in 1368 after the approach of the forces of the Ming dynasty, founded by Zhu Yuanzhang in the south.

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36.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a former Duke and commander in the army of the Red Turban Song dynasty and assumed power as Emperor after the death of the Red Turban Song Emperor Han Lin'er, who had tried to regain Khanbaliq, which eventually failed, and who died in Yingchang two years later .

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37.

The Muslims of the Yuan dynasty introduced Middle Eastern cartography, astronomy, medicine, clothing, and diet in East Asia.

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38.

The Yuan exercised a profound influence on the Chinese Ming dynasty.

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39.

Yuan dynasty was the first dynasty founded by non-Han ethnicity that ruled all of China proper.

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40.

Seals with Chinese characters were created by the Ilkhanids themselves besides the seals they received from the Yuan dynasty which contain references to a Chinese government organization.

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41.

Structure of the Yuan dynasty government took shape during the reign of Kublai Khan .

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42.

Yuan dynasty's method is described in the Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns, written in 1303.

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43.

Yuan dynasty was one of the first mathematicians in China to work on spherical trigonometry.

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44.

Chinese medical tradition of the Yuan had "Four Great Schools" that the Yuan inherited from the Jin dynasty.

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45.

The Yuan dynasty government used woodblocks to print paper money, but switched to bronze plates in 1275.

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46.

Marco Polo documented the Yuan dynasty printing of paper money and almanac pamphlets called tacuini.

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47.

Average Mongol garrison family of the Yuan dynasty seems to have lived a life of decaying rural leisure, with income from the harvests of their Chinese tenants eaten up by costs of equipping and dispatching men for their tours of duty.

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48.

Yuan dynasty set up a civilian administration to rule, built a capital within China, supported Chinese religions and culture, and devised suitable economic and political institutions for the court.

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49.

One of the important cultural developments during the Yuan dynasty era was the consolidation of poetry, painting, and calligraphy into a unified piece of the type that tends to come to mind when people think of classical Chinese art.

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50.

The establishment of the Yuan dynasty had dramatically increased the number of Muslims in China.

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51.

Genghis Khan and the following Yuan dynasty emperors forbade Islamic practices like Halal butchering, forcing Mongol methods of butchering animals on Muslims, and other restrictive degrees continued.

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52.

The Yuan dynasty-appointed Governor of Samarqand was a Khitan from the Qara Khitai, held the title Taishi, familiar with Chinese culture his name was Ahai.

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53.

Yuan dynasty started passing anti-Muslim and anti-Semu laws and getting rid of Semu Muslim privileges towards the end of the Yuan dynasty, in 1340 forcing them to follow Confucian principles in marriage regulations, in 1329 all foreign holy men including Muslims had tax exemptions revoked, in 1328 the position of Muslim Qadi was abolished after its powers were limited in 1311.

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54.

Territory of the Yuan dynasty was divided into the Central Region governed by the Central Secretariat and places under control of various provinces or Branch Secretariats, as well as the region under the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs.

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