Front Page News Story

Kublai Khan, Founder of the Yuan Dynasty

By Gabe Gerhske

Kublai Khan was one of the greatest Mongol emperors and founder of the Yuan dynasty. The fourth Great Khan, Mongke Khan of the Mongol empire, died in 1259 while surrounding a city in Chongqing. After Mongke Khan died, China had no one to rule. So Kublai Khan and Ariq Boge, (Kublai Khans younger brother) battled for the throne. For the next couple of years they fought and Kublai Khan finally won making him the next ruler. Trying to control all of China, Kublai Khan decided to attack the Southern Song Dynasty in the early 1270s. Kublai Khan officially took over and began the Yuan Dynasty in 1271.

Opinion/Editorial

IS KABLAI KHAN RIGHT FOR THE THRONE?

By Gabe Gerhske

     Kublai Khan was the fourth son of Tule and the grandson of Genghis Khan,(the founder of the mongol empire). Kublai was Genghis Khans favorite grandson. As a young boy, Kublai would join his father Tule in battle and as Kublai became older his reputation in being a warrior grew. Kublai was only seventeen when his father passed away.Kublai Khan was one of the greatest mongol emperors and was the founder of the Yuan Dynasty. The war against the Chinese Song Dynasty was becoming a problem for Genghis Khan and he was willing to do anything to win the war. He was so desperate that he fought side by side with his fellow soldiers and he died doing so to the hands of the Chinese defenses. Kublai Khan was the next air for the throne but his younger brother did not want him to be the emperor because he wanted it for himself. His younger brother decided to do something about it so they fought for some time and Kublai Khan came out as the victor in 1264.
     

Map

 

This is a map of the Yuan Dynasty. (1279-1368 CE) The brown area on the map is the land 

under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. The green line on the right side of the map is the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal was important because it made transportation easier by connecting north China to south China. The dashed lines are the current boundaries of China and Mongolia. The Yuan dynasty was a lot bigger then both combined because during the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols controlled almost all of China which meant that the land under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty was greatly expanded. The capital is not on this map but it was Dadu but once Kublai Khan became emperor he changed it to Shangdu. Both cities were located a little north of the Grand Canal which made them convenient locations for transportation and trade.

Interview with a "famous" person from your dynasty

Q and A with Kublai Khan

Q: How many classes are there in the Yuan Dynasty and how are they classified?

A: The Mongols were always looked down on as devils in China and we wanted to do something to change that. So in the Yuan Dynasty we made four classes, the Mongols on top, anyone that is not Chinese in second, the North Chinese people were third, and the South Chinese people were looked down on most.


Q: What makes people from southern China on the bottom of the social pyramid?
A:The reason why Southern Chinese people are on the bottom is because they didn't want to give up the Song Dynasty so we had to take it from them and that makes them disliked because they did not cooperate. 


Q: What makes you the great warrior that you are today?
A: What made me the great warrior I am today is my father. When I was young my dad brought me out to war by his side as much as possible and by doing so he built up my warrior spirit and that is how I came to be.


Q: How was the Yuan Dynasty started?
A: Well it wasn't easy, but I had to fight my own brother to take over the Mongol empire and I had to run the Southern Song Dynasty out of China.


Q: Why did you change the capital and how did help the Yuan Dynasty?
A: I changed the capital because I wanted to move it closer to the Grand Canal so we can have better and faster transportation and trading.

Inventions

The Yuan dynasty created this thing called a whistle arrow. The whistle arrow was used in battle to scare away opponents by making a terrifying noise in the air. They also created gers. Gers were Mongolian tent homes that were 9 feet tall and had a 15 feet perimeter, also there was a hole on the top to let smoke come out. Gers were useful because they were portable also, so it was convenient.

Religion/Culture

The Yuan Dynasty was a multi religious dynasty because there was religious freedom. The two original religions of the Mongols were Shamanism and Totemism. There was also Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism and Islam, but the Mongols favored Daoism and Buddhism.

Major Events

• Mongols first attack on Japan was on 1274
• First the Mongols constructed 300 to 600 vessels and got an army of 40,000 men
• Many of the officers were Mongolian but most of the soldiers were Chinese and Koreans
• Japan could get 10,000 men to fight and they were samurai’s and were outmatched by a lot
• The Mongols went to attacked on 1274 in the autumn. First the Mongols went and took over the islands Tsushima and Ike which are the main islands of Japan.
• There were about 300 residents on the islands and the Mongols slaughtered them and then sailed to the east
• The Mongols reached Hakata Bay the samurais were fighting them here
• To make the war more worst for the Japanese the Mongols used poison tipped arrows and catapult launched explosive shells.
• The mongols fought together in unit instead of one man for himself so it was more difficult for the samurai's to kill the Mongols
• 100 reinforcement samurai fighters came for the Japanese and helped them go back a few miles away from the bay so the injured men can get help
• The Mongols then when back to their ships to go further out to sea but something terrifying happened they ran into a typhoon
• Half of the ship was in water and about 13,000 men had drowned so Kublai Khan and his army had to go back home