Yuan Dynasty
Since the late period of the 12th century, an ethnic minority group called Mongolian had grown up in the northern areas of China. In 1204, one of the leaders of the Mongolian tribes, Tie Muzhen, unified all the internal tribes. Two years later, Tie Muzhen was honored as Genghis Khan (meaning – the ruler of the world) and soon established the Mongolian Empire. Successively, it captured West Xia and the Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234), after which the combative Mongolian army sent its military forces into Central Asia and Europe.
By the mid-thirteenth century, the Mongols had subjugated north China, Korea, and the Muslim kingdoms of Central Asia and had twice penetrated Europe. With the resources of his vast empire, Kublai Khan (1215-94), a grandson of Genghis Khan (1162-1227) and the supreme leader of all Mongol tribes, began his drive against the Southern Song. Even before the extinction of the Song dynasty, Kublai Khan had established the Yuan Dynasty(1279-1368).
The Mongols were culturally very different from the Chinese. This made ruling them very difficult. The Mongols and the Chinese spoke different languages, had a different form of dress and many different customs. These background differences proved impossible to overcome. Despite attempting to rule in a Chinese custom, the government of the Yuan Dynasty had virtually no Chinese. Mongols and other foreigners were given all government positions. The cultural gap resulted in lighter government than that of previous empires, punishments were much less severe. The Chinese nobility were better educated than the Mongol invaders and the best scholars refused to teach in government schools, rather they founded private academies. The Mongols did not succeed in censoring Chinese literature and drama or in providing intellectual or cultural leadership.
As the Chinese nobility were not allowed to be involved in government, they were free to pursue art and literature. Poetry, while being vastly popular, was not greatly improved upon. The greatest advances in literature were in the forms of theatre and opera. The theatre was a favorite form of entertainment for the emperors and for wealthy families. Educated people began to write librettos for the operas, however they wrote under pseudonyms because playwriting was not an occupation acceptable for scholars. Most of these operas, while their names are known, have been destroyed. Some of the most famous existing ones are The Story of Lute, The Story of the Orphan of Chao, The Romance, and the Western Chamber.
The Yuan regime can be roughly divided into three periods: the early, middle and late periods. The early period began from the reign of Kublai Khan, Yuan Emperor Shizu, until 1294. During this period rulers adopted laws from the Han nationality and set up political, economic and cultural systems that promoted social development.
The middle years (1307 to 1323) marked a period of decline. During this period, social conflicts and the competition for imperial power became intensified and included continuous uprisings all around the country. The New Deal carried out by Emperor Yingzong was like a flash in the pan, but it could not save the Yuan Dynasty from declining. Finally, the New Deal failed and Emperor Yingzong died an unnatural death.
From 1329 in the late-Yuan period, peasant uprisings accelerated the decline of the regime. Zhu Yuanzhang joined a peasant force and later took command to defeat other forces and rebuild the dynasty of the Han nationality, namely the Ming Dynasty.