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The Mongols & China
• The Mongols were a pastoral culture
from the area now known as Mongolia.
• Temujin united the Mongolians and was
elected Genghis Khan in 1206 AD.
• He conquered much of Eurasia
establishing the largest land empire ever
in history.
Genghis Khan
• Died in 1227
• His heirs split up the empire so that each
got a piece of it.
• The empire was divided into several
smaller khanates.
• Conquests continued, but Europe was
spared.
• Mongols attacked the Song around 1260
Kublai Khan
• Genghis’ grandson
• Conquered the Song in 1279
• Established the Yuan Dynasty in China
• Conquered Vietnam for a short time
• Marco Polo (the same one who visited the
Song) lived in China during much of Kublai
Khan’s reign.
• Ruled until he died in 1294
End of the Yuan Dynasty
• Eventually the Yuan Dynasty suffered the
same fate as all previous large empires
1. Overextended resources
2. Corruption
3. Instability caused by discontent citizens
• In 1368 a peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang
gathered an army to overthrow the Yuan, and
established the Ming Dynasty
Religion & Government
• The Han Dynasty was founded upon the
principals of Confucianism
• By the time China was reunited under the
Sui Dynasty, Buddhism had been
introduced by missionaries from India.
• During the Sui and early Tang Dynasties
Buddhist institutions were supported by
the government.
The Tang Withdraw Government
Support of Buddhism
• By the later Tang Dynasty there was a
movement against Buddhism because:
1. The wealthy monasteries were corrupt,
being misused by people who were
in it for the money not the religion.
2. Buddhism was a foreign religion.