LESSON 10.7 What was China like under Mongol rule?
LEARNING INTENTION By the end of this lesson you should be able to: • describe the reign of Kublai Khan as the first Mongol emperor of China (the Yuan Dynasty) • describe the growth of Chinese culture during this time.
Tune in As emperor, Kublai Khan placed the whole of China under Mongol control.
SOURCE1 A thirteenth-century painting of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Yuan dynasty
Compare the character in SOURCE1 with the painting of Genghis Khan ( SOURCE1 , lesson 10.5). These two figures are very similar — why do you think this is?
10.7.1 Yuan government Now the emperor of China, Kublai Khan named his new dynasty Yuan, meaning ‘creative force’. He moved the capital to Beijing and created a government that mixed Mongol and Chinese traditions. This made a state that was bilingual, multicultural and tolerant of different religions. Kublai Khan invited Confucian scholars to help govern and set up a General Secretariat of 14 officials to enforce laws and ensure efficient rule. The people of China were divided into four classes: • Mongols were the elite, holding top government jobs; they didn’t pay taxes and they owned large estates worked by Chinese peasants. • Non-Chinese allies and mercenaries served as government officials across the empire. • Northern Chinese included Khitan, Jurchen and Koreans. • Southern Chinese were former subjects of the Song dynasty. Northern and southern Chinese had fewer rights, faced harsher punishments, couldn’t gather in public and paid high taxes to support the Yuan government.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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