History of Mongol Invasion of China and Its Impacts

Consider the impact of the Mongol invasions on either China, Korea or Japan from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. What kinds of cultural legacies remain of these experiences today?

The most successful conquest of China is by the Mongols. The invasion stretched over seven decades.[1] Many non-Chinese groups had gained control of north China throughout the history but Mongol was the first to secure control of the territories south of the Yangzi River.[2] The conquest of China was always separated by the north and south of China, only Mongol conquested entire China, from Jin and Xia dymasties to southern Song. By 1279, the last pretender to the Song throne had drowned off the southeast coast, and the Mongols had completed their conquest of China.[3] Yuan dynasty was casted as the Mongol’s state in China in 1271. Among China’s ancient dynasties, the Yuan dynasty was the only established by northern nomadic people to rule over the whole of China.[4]

Leading by the Great Khan Kublai China’s trading was more stabled and exporting products were more refined which set up the trading for the future dynasties. Yuan dynasty also focused on strengthening the centralisation of China by adding a new higher level, the province, which had the authority to handle much of government business on its own, without seeking approval from the central government.[5] The Yuan dynasty kept the traditional Chinese County and prefectural and added “province” which are all still in use today. Seeing the need to symbolically mark the new government as the successor to Chinese tradition, Beijing was named by Kublai as Dadu (or Tide, “Great Capital”, Turki. Khanbalik).

It became one of the largest and richest cities in Eurasia as it was attracting trade visitors from many countries and maintained a high profile in the next two dynasties.[7] The famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo also visited Beijing during that period. Although today’s Beijing may not be the most forward city in China, but is still one of the top cities in China and still remained as the capital city of China till today (except between 1912 to 1949 when China was ruled by the Nationalist). Kublai Khan was the first person in the history of China who proclaimed Khanbalik or Dido – great capital, renamed at mines in China, the main city of China, which he remains today. [8]

Not only did the Mongols help with the centralisation system – the province was further developed during the Ming and Qing dynasties and kept till today – but also culturally, through language and art, the Mongols influenced the trends of China’s historical development.[9] Stimulated by the correction of the Chinese, calendar in 1267 where the Persian astronomer, Jamal ad-Din proposed “Vannyan Do” (“Calendar of ten thousand years calculus”) – a new, more accurate calendar -- Kublai Khan did not limit himself in the cultural construction.[10]

Due to a number of shortcomings in the Mongolian language Uyghur, Kublai Khan asked the Tibetan Lama Pagba to create a new script for the Mongolian language, the square script. It was immediately used in China but died down in the Ming dynasty. However, although square script existed in a short time, it influenced the creation of the Korean alphabet. [11] Kublai Kahn’s foucs on the language suggested the importance culture to him.

Although Kublai Khan was paying much attention to writing, which he saw as a sign of soveeignty in the field of culture,[12] Mongolian culture was not developed in the Yuan dynasty. Instead, Chinese art became influential and popular. The best documented instance in the Mongolian era is the deep and enduring Chinese influence on Persian painting, which is manifest in the growing importance of landscape.[13] Not only in Persia, Chinese artisanship can not be found among West Europea, in the Latin West and Muslim East. Everything foreign and clever was now assumed to be Chinese.[14] Historians and art historians had always recognised the Mongol empire era as devoid of artistic and cultural merit. However, they changed their minds when they saw the landmark 1968 exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art – “Chinese Art under the Mongols”. [15] This was when people realised that the Mongols were the ones who helped set the stage for the world-known “china” – the shorthand term for Chinese-style earthen ware and porcelain tableware.[16] Although the Mongols were not the artists or arttisans making the porcelains, without them being the mediator, “china” would not make it into the history nor would it be so precious today.

No one would ever thought that the famous Chinese blue-and-white porcelain was from the Yuan dynasty nor would they know that without the Mongols, the Chinese blue-and-white porcelain would not exist. It is understandable as most collctions of the Chinese blue-and-white porcelains today are from the Ming dynasty, the era of greatest production, as well as greatest exansion of trade with West Asia, in blue-and-white wares.[17] However, because the Mongols could see the values of Chinese porcelains in trade, they introdued the imported cobalt blue to the Chinese potters to incooperate into their porcelain making. By the fourteenth century (and perhaps even earlier), the Chinese produced blue-and-white porcelains, with some meant for trade with West Asia.[18]

China was already trading Chinese ceramics with West Asia and North Africa before the Mongoal invasions, but they followed the traditions of Chinese instead of adpating to the foreign tastes. The Mongols changed that by having a Mongoal commissioner supervising the ipmortant site – Jingdezhen, the centre of blue-and-white porcelain production.[19] A speicalist who describe the Yuan advances in Chinese porcelain, writes that the ‘Mongols’ greates contribution [was] that for the most party they remained aloof, neither apparently imposing standards, nor making exacting demands in terms of form or style.[20]

The Mongols were not exactly aloof, instead, they had the importantrole as a mediator. Without them travelling between West Asia and China, providing Chinese potters with information on the West Asian tastes, the shapes and decorative motifs which were appealing to the distanted customers, how would the blue-and-white porcelains be as famous and valueable as they are today? Yes, the Mongols were not the artist or the artistians, nor were they demanding and controling over the making of the porcelains, but one could not unsee what they had done to refine the quality of the porcelains and to set up the trading for the future dynasties. Without the hard work of the Mongols, the Chinese blue-and-white porcelain would not be famours nor precious in today’s art industry and Chinese culture.

Although to conquer China, the Mongols had slaughter many Chinese people and downgraded Han ethnic people, especially intellectuals by have a ten-level social hierarchy,[21] KublaiKhan helped with centralisation of the country and maintain the values within Chinese culture. Chinese ceramis were refine, especially the blue-and-white porcelains. Whether the Mongol’s initial purpose was for commerce or not, the trading of the porcelains in the future dynasties were great and in today’s world, the blue-and-white porcelain is high-valued and treasured. This shows that the Mongol’s contribution not only permitted artists to pursue their rafts of their own volition,[22] but also set up the stage for gorwing European openness and appetite for “china”,[23] enabling the artisanship to continue to today.