Mongol & Yuan

In 1206 Temüjin united the steppe tribes under the title "Genghis Khan" and founded the Mongol khanate. Mongol horsemen then swept across Eurasia; in 1271 Kublai declared the dynasty Yuan, and eight years later the Southern Song fell and China was one under Mongol rule.

The Yuan realm was vast beyond precedent: post roads ran to the horizon, travellers and goods moved freely, and Marco Polo's tales of Dadu amazed Europe. Qu — drama and verse — rose in the cities: Guan Hanqing's The Injustice to Dou E played out the sorrows and joys of ordinary life.

Graded rule by ethnicity and heavy taxes fed rebellion after rebellion. In 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang's army entered Dadu, the Yuan court rode north to the steppe, and the Ming began.