How successful were Kublai’s political, administrative, economic

and religious policies in terms of consolidation, control and

efficiency?
A Introduction.
Modern historians have suggested that whereas the Mongol invasion of China
caused great human and infrastructural damage, their period of rule had positive
features: the Mongols reunified China adopting the dynastic title ‘Yuan’; Chinese
civilisation was in some ways developed, e.g. arts and scholarship flourished; rule
was in some aspects more humane than that of the Song, and the so called ‘Pax
Mongolica’ (Mongol Peace), which came with the conquests, exposed China to a
wide variety of a beneficial influences.

B Relations with Chinese.

1. Kublai ensured that neither the interests of his fellow Mongols nor his Chinese
subjects were paramount and by doing so he managed to secure support for the
most part from both sections.
a. In order to win the civil war with his brother Ariq Boke Khublai found it
expedient He won the loyalty of his Chinese subjects and army by
proclaiming himself emperor of China in 1260 and calling himself,
Zhongtong that was a Chinese adaption of a Mongolian word.
2. However he realised that without the support of his Mongolian aristocracy he would
be unable to control an alien nation - c. 300,000 v 70 million .Appearing to
adopt exclusively Chinese administrative norms and practices would
alienate the Mongols and make Kublai too dependent on Confucian scholars
and officials.
a. Kublai did not totally reject all traditional nomadism. Sometimes
Kublai and his sons lived in gers (traditional Mongol tents), next to
the palaces. When one of Kublai’s wives was in the later stages of
giving birth, she moved to a ger to have the baby.
b. The Chinese were discriminated against.
i. Kublai was accused by Chinese contemporaries of racial
discrimination on the basis of his most notorious actions- the
division of society in to 4 groups with varying privileges,
obligations and tax burdens. At the top of the social pyramid
were the Mongols, then underneath the foreigner or ‘semu ren’
(westerners and central Asians), followed by the northern
Chinese and at the bottom the southern Chinese of the former
Song dynasty.
ii. He abolished the traditional civil service exams. He believed
the civil service exams were based on the traditional Confucian
classic texts and would give an inbuilt advantage to the
Chinese scholar class, which Kublai wished to avoid.
iii. He appointed foreign and Mongol officials. Kublai and later
emperors employed many foreigners in key positions, allowing
Muslims, westerners and Tibetans all to serve and advance
their careers. The largest and most influential group were the
Turks, a group which included the Uighurs, a large number of
which were employed as top ranking officials. They provided a
bridge between the ruling Mongol class and the mass of
Chinese subjects.
 b. However crucially he also appointed and used Chinese in his
bureaucracy, as Kublai saw the advantages of employing well
qualified Chinese in the bureaucracy and offering them opportunities
to progress. Naturally, the conquered Chinese now had far fewer
opportunities than under the Jin and Song, but they were not
institutionally shut out of the bureaucracy.
i. Kubilai employed Confucian scholars as officials He employed a
number of Chinese advisers, including Xu Heng, a renowned
Confucian scholar, who worked on the basis that he had a duty
to civilise the Mongols.
ii. In addition, another Chinese adviser a Wang E, persuaded
Kublai to set up a history office, on the basis that history of
earlier dynasties provided useful information upon which
Kublai could model his own administration of China.
iii. The rejection of the previous capital of Mongolia, Karakorum,
as his imperial capital was proof of his commitment to his new
subjects, but caused severe ructions with traditional Mongols.
iv. He built temples for his ancestors and performed ceremonies
associated with Chinese ancestor worship.
v. He also restored the Confucian rituals of court music and
dance, accepting the widely held Chinese belief that not
performing such ceremonies would lead to floods, natural
disasters, droughts and earthquakes.
vi. A key signal of his commitment to Confucianism was his
appointment of a Confucian priest to teach Jingim, his son and
successor.

Kublai managed to entrench his rule in China to a certain extent by an astute

balancing of interests between the major racial groupings however it would be
wrong to suggest that he was entirely successful.

Economy
Lu Shih-Jung 1282-1285

1. Lu had been associated with Ahmad’s administration but was promoted by

Kublai to organise his finances with a remit to raise revenue once again. Lu
made a number of controversial taxation proposals including increasing the cost
of licenses for salt merchants, and the resumption of the state monopoly on
alcohol.
2. Other unpopular schemes targeted the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols,
including an 80% tax on animal products. Disastrously for the value of money,
Lu restored to printing money to pay for the Yuan’s court’s expensive policies.
However, this fuelled inflation with adverse consequences for the bullying
power of the currency.
3. Coincidently, he was executed in May 1285, but his death did nothing to
alleviate the rapidly deteriorating financial situation.
Sangha 1287-1291

1. The finances of the Kublai empire was still in a drastic state, so Kublai
appointed the Tibetan Sangha to bring some order to the growing debt pile.
Unfortunately, Sangha faced similar problems to his predecessors- a rapidly
increasing need for revenue and ongoing inflationary pressures in the economy.
2. His solutions were rehashed versions of those promoted by Ahmad and Lu,
including further merchant taxes and big increases in tax imposed on basic
commodities like salt, tea and liquor.
3.
Paper money under Sangha
1. His most controversial plan involved a reform of the paper currency. The amount of
money in circulation was out of balance by the 1280’s. Although the printing of
money remained within reasonable, non-inflationary limits in the 1260’s, the cost
of wars against the Sung and Japanese raised court costs dramatically, forcing the
printing of more paper money.
2. Hyperinflation was such a real threat, that Sangha advised Kublai in 1287 to create
a new currency called the Chih-yuan chao, converting the money into a 5:1 ratio.
This was a massive devaluation and resulted in a consequent huge reduction in
asset values. Most Chinese were incensed at what they believed was terrible
economic mismanagement, and called for Sangha’s removal.

Sangha’s removal

1. Chinese sources criticised Sangha for his sanctioning of the pillaging of the
Southern Song emperors’ tombs. A Buddhist monk opened some of the tombs
stealing treasures to pay for the building of Buddhist temples with Rossabi
estimating that some 101 Confucian temples were plundered.
2. Most seriously, Sangha’s officials desecrated the corpses of the Song imperial
family, causing a massive outcry from the Southern Chinese. Kublai had no option
but to execute Sangha in 1291, but his financial problems continued unabated.

Taxes
1. On a positive note Kublai introduced tax breaks for the impoverished and those
who were affected by natural disasters.
2. He also reformed the tax system to ensure that tax flowed much more directly,
rather than it travelling via a land owner. This certainly helped with regards to
preventing a specific area of corruption.
3. However, despite Kublai's best efforts and intentions corruption was strife. Nobles
and officials were abusive of their powers and despite Kublai's attempts many
decided to break the rules and defy Kublai and the new regime. Many believed
they could do so due to the geographical distance often between them, in places
such as Dadu (Beijing) and Karakorum.

Construction
1. Building of the Great Khans summer residence at Shangdu was a financial
extravagance
2. The construction of a new capital at Dadu left an immense burden on the state
treasury
3. The extension of the Grand Canal was very expensive as well as maintenance costs
4. In places the canal was not passable by big ships therefore reducing commerce and
profits
 5. When Sangha was sacked in 1289, there was no one to argue for on-going
maintenance of the canal
6. The costs of the extension left a heavy burden on the Mongol court throughout the
1280’s and 1290’s

Military campaigns
1. The Japanese wars were hugely expensive and left heavy burdens on tax payers
2. Costs of the conquest of the Southern Song empire were massive, however it
offered valuable economic benefits being a hub of trade with South East Asia, India
and the Middle East.

Agriculture
1. Failure to repair flood defences of the Yellow River led to it bursting its banks in
1344 causing huge damage to agriculture and businesses
2. 1261 Kublai established the ‘Office for the Stimulation of Agriculture’ which helped
peasants make use of their land. Officials from this department built 58 granaries
that could store 9,000 tonnes of grain. This was extremely beneficial to the
farming business.
3.
Commerce.
Measures taken to improve maritime commerce, including improvements to the grand
canal to aid grain supply to Dadu.
Kublai recognised the need for good craftsman and architects to support large
infrastructure projects e.g. the grand canal and Dadu.
The Mongols were a nomadic race and thus relied on foreigners for artisans - Kublai
answered this problem by offering substantial pay, food and clothing rations to highly
skilled technicians, and relieved them of the need to perform forced labour tasks on big
projects for the Yuan empire.
Artisans had benefits (no forced labour, tax remissions and a higher social status) that
encouraged skillful people.

Commerce – Merchants
1. Merchants prospered under Kublai and became a key contribution to burgeoning
commerce along the Silk Road.
2. In this way Kublai made a large change to the way that Merchants had been treated
before in China, as they had had many restrictions placed on them as the all-
powerful Confucian scholar officials had disapproved of trade, they believed
merchants to have parasitic tendencies.
3. Kublai raised the status of merchants by issuing more paper money, offering loans
for those involved in long distance travel, building more roads thus promoting
communication and establishing a postal system that traders could use in business.
4. These measures led to a massive increase in commerce across Eurasia, which
promoted exchange of technological, artistic and cultural ideas across Europe, the
Middle East and the Far East.

Commerce - Pax Mongolia

1. David Morgan puts forward that the Mongols were massively destructive in their
financial burdens and loss of political independence.
2. Professor Daniel Waugh, however, says that the Mongols tried to maintain a Pax
across the whole of their lands to facilitate commerce, after the invasions.
3. Morris Rossabi says that the beneficial exchange of people, ideas and technologies
were due to Pax Mongolia - they could guarantee the security and safety of
travelers.
 4. Craftsmen could move from one part of the empire to the other to produce
porcelain and textiles etc.

Commerce – Failures
1. Ahmad made Kublai less popular by levying higher taxes on merchants to bring in
more revenue and to combat the enormous expenditure brought on by construction
and extensions.
2. Sangha later introduced further taxes on merchants, which was also very
unpopular.

Rebellions and Wars.

1 TOGH TEMUR AND SHIREGI (MONGOLIA,1279)

1. Both MONGOL princes, settled in Mongolia with considerable power, wanted khan
status
2. 1279, they launched attack on Karakorum, wanted it as capital. Neither could
agree on who should be khan – disunity called rashid-al-dinas and key reason for
failure
3. Battle outside Karakorum, Kublai’s troops defeated togh temur but he fled to
shiregi who executed him.
Result
1. Coalition even shakier due to disunity
2. By 1280 the mongol rebels surrendered and acceted Kublai
3. Shiregi executed by bloodless smothering.

2 Nayan’s rebellion (Manchuria,1284-1289)

1. Nayan was a direct descendant of Genghis khan, inherited a large appanage in

Manchuria as successor prince.
2. Kublai took over his appanange once he heard of abuses by Mongol nobility and
governed it from dadu
3. Nayan rejected wishing greater independence = invaded into Jin china
Result.
1. He allied with Khaidu in central Asia, but was eventually defeated in 1289 by bayan
(great general), and executed.
2. These rebellions were prime example of how unsuccessful Kublai’s efforts at gaining
legitimacy were.

FOREIGN EXPEDITIONS AND CAMPAIGNS

Other colonial wars- motives of Kublai. Prestige, legitimacy and tribute
1. With all China in the Mongol’s hands, winnable conquests had reached their limit,
but Kublai wanted to restore China’s prestige and so he engaged in a number of
costly battles which brought nothing in return except disaster. They suffered
disastrous defeat in Burma, Annam and Champa. Particularly in 1274 and 1281 when
fleets sent to Japan were virtually annihilated. For any Khan maintaining military
legitimacy was necessary such as those victories shown by Genghis, Subadei and
other famous generals. Victory was a way of maintaining legitimacy for the dynasty
and its heirs.
 2. Kublai was not discouraged by the loses of these wars nor their expense and many
including Marco Polo suggest Kublai wanted to establish China once more as the
centre of the world.

Was he successful?

1. As the emperor of China, Kublai conformed to Chinese ideals and demanded

allegiance and gifts from vassal countries, some such as Korea agreed. Kublai sent
expeditions to retrieve this from other countries, which ended in failure. Twice
between 1274 and 1281 Kublai’s armies against Japan were destroyed by storm or
beaten by the Japanese due to the Mongols poor navy and inability to fight.
2. Therefore, Kublai failed to address the problem of gaining military legitimacy in
foreign campaigns, unlike other Mongol leaders such as Genghis Khan which not only
damages his legitimacy but also his overall reputation.
Rebellion of Khaidu in Central Asia (1270’s-1280’s)

Causes.

Favouring the Chinese

1. Kublai replaced Karakorum with a new capital called Dadu.
2. It became clear to the mongols that Kublai was abandoning the nomadism tradition
showing his priorities lay with his new Chinese subjects.
3. The layout of the city was designed to be familiar to the Chinese, similar
architecture.
4. The buildings inside the imperial city resembled features of the Chinese capital
5. Kublai was foresaking his Mongol heritage
6. Kublai sometimes lived in his ger.

Kubali was dealing with a different type of threat which could be equally as dangerous as
securing legitimacy. He claimed that he was the rightful heir of the entire Mongol empire.
He was the rightful heir of only China and Mongolia, but not of the Golden horde of Russia
and Central Asia.
1. At the start of the 1970’s Kublai always sent troops to protect the borders of Mongolia
and Northern China against the wrath of Khaidu and his planned raids on his borders.
2. An unofficial standoff was declared in the early 1280’s allowing Khaidu his temporary
reign of central Asia.
3. Kublai was also ford to relinquish his idea of complete ownership of the entire Mongol
empire. This made him desperate, hence his continued attacks on the Japanese in
the late 1280’s.