Smarthistory – Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), an introduction
Wu Zhen 吳鎮 (1280–1354), Fishermen, after Jing Hao Handscroll, Yuan dynasty, c. 1341, ink on paper, China, 32.5 x 565.6 cm (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1937.12) Yuan Dynasty, with Goryeo marked as a vassal (the white stripes) (Idh0854, CC BY 3.0) In 1271, the leader of the Mongol empire, Khan (c. 1215–c. 1294), proclaimed the establishment of the Yuan dynasty and declared himself emperor of China, but it was not until 1279 that his conquest of China was completed and the Southern Song dynasty fell. The Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) was the first foreign-ruled dynasty in Chinese history to commandeer all of China. With no experience in the running of such a large and complex empire, the Mongols gradually adopted many Chinese cultural and bureaucratic models. Growing factionalism at court, corruption, and the horrors of natural disasters, however, led relatively shortly to rebellion and, eventually, dynastic collapse.