The Mongol Yuan Empire in China

 

1.       The Mongol empire inextricably linked Europe and Asia and ushered in an era of frequent and extended contacts between East and West. This increased trade and world communications.

2.       The Grand Canal was completely renovated. This improved and increased the maritime commerce throughout Asia and into Europe.

3.       Road and water communications were reorganized and improved which helped improve their civilization and way of life. As well as granaries, which helped, protect them from famine. These were built throughout the empire.

4.       Although the Monguls did rule during this time they adopted many Chinese cultures, which is what kept it alive through the Mongolian rule. So even after the Mongol role eeded, the Chinese still had a greater part of their culture left.

5.       During this time great advances on medicine and astronomy were made.

6.       Without a common language or culture it was difficult for there to be Chinese influence in the government, but it made things less harsh. Although the Chinese governmental structure was not used very much at all, it was a positive thing for the common people because it made the law more lenient and punishment less harsh.

7.       During this time period there was a great advance in literature through the forms of theatre and opera.

8.       Canals and palaces were built, which required the peasants supply more tax money and to leave their homes to build them. And although this was tough on the workers it greatly improved their transportation routes, which in turn also helped trade.

9.       The Mongols took a rich China and less than hundred years later left an impoverished nation. This hurt the Chinese civilization greatly because after the Mongols left they had to build their economy back up.

10.     Mongols supported and help advance the many different religions including Islam,. Buddhism~ and even Christianity, helping found mosques,. temples, etc.

 

3 Important Quotes:

1. One major scholar of Chinese history wrote: " Mongols brought violence and

destruction to all aspects of China's civilization. [They were] insensitive to Chinese culturaI values, distrustful of Chinese influences, and inept heads of Chinese government."

 

2.       As a 13th-century Persian historian wrote of the Mongol campaigns: "With one stroke a world which billowed with fertility was laid desolate, and the regions thereof became a desert and the greater part of the living, dead, and their skin and bones crumbling dust, and the mighty were humbled and immersed in the calamities of perdition."

 

3.       "Kubla Khan also set up institutions to rule China that were very familiar to the Chinese, adapting or borrowing wholesale many of the traditional governmental institutions of China.. For example,. the Six Ministries that bad been responsible for carrying out policy were retained by Kubla‘s government, as was the decision-making body. And the provincial administrative structure that organized China into provinces, further divided into districts and counties and so on, was not changed."

 

Three important impacts from this time period:

With the development the new roads canals and improvement on the old ones, china's trade increased. They were able to send things to more places and merchants were able to get in and around better. This increased the Chinese economy and helped build them back up after their devastating experience with the Mongols. The Grand Canal greatly aided in the trade routes as well. It made trade to the rest of Asia and even Europe more possible. Chinese Literature increased greatly in quality during this time period as well. Writing was discouraged,. so they did not grow there, but theatre and opera thrived. Some of the best Chinese pieces of opera and theatre were created during this time period.

 

Mariah Grubb, 2006