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Mongols formed a brutal army full of fierce warriors, so that they could attack and conquer China. They used the Siege Warfare to scare their opponents, which would help them conquer.
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A powerful Khan, named Temujin, conquered his rivals in order to unite the Mongol clans. He took the title, Ghenghis Khan, which means universal ruler. While the Mongols were under his rule, he organized the Mongols into a powerful military machine, enforced strict discipline, and demanded complete loyalty.
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Ghengis Khan dies, but leaves the Mongols with Northern China and Central Asia. The Mongols divided the empire into four regions, with an heir of Ghengis Khan each ruling a different region.
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Ghengis Khan's grandosn, Batu, created a fierce army, called the Golden Horde. With them, Batu conquered Russia, and soon after followed Poland and Hungary. Leaving millions of people dead along with some of their citites.
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Kublai Khan becomes the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. He was determined to comlete the conquest of China.
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The Mongols ruled northern CHina, while the Song Dynasty ruled southern China. The Song resisted the Mongols for many years, but in 1279, the last Song ruler was defeated. Kublai Khan created the new Yuan dynasty and declared himself emperor.
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The Emperor, Kublai Khan, gained loyalty of his Chinese subjects but only because he didn't force the Chinese to adopt the Mongol ways of life, he also gave the dynasty a Chinese name. He promoted foreign trade because he was trying to welcome foreign merchants to China's ports through the Pax of Mongolia. One of the merchant's name was Marco Polo.
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Kublai Khan died. Several power struglles erupted over who would take the throne, thus, weakening the Yuan Dynasty.
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Marco Polo, after 17 years of traveling around China, returned to his home in Venice and soon after becomes captured during a battle and is imprisoned. While in prison, he told stories of his adventures in China to a fellow prisoner, who wrote them down and were later published into a book. His book encouraged many Europeans to travel to China.
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Black Death, a sickness, spread throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Killing millions of people and their families.
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Kublai Khan wanted to conquer Japan, therefor he tried to invade and destroy them, but, a severe storm struck the Mongols, ending their attack against Japan. The Japanese called these winds Kamikaze, meaning the "divine wind". Many different Chinese groups rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty, thus, ending the dynasty.
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An army full of rebels defeated the Mongols. The Mongols fled to Manchuria, ending foreign rule in China.
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Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant, and his rebel army overthrew the last Mongol Emperor ending the Mongol Dynasty. He then changed his name to Hongwu, meaning "vastly martial" and founded the Ming Dynasty. As ruler, he worked to rebuild China, and worked to eliminatee Mongol influences and to bring back the Chinese values and practices.
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Hongwu died leaving the dynasty in a power struggle.
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Hongwu's son Yonglo becomes emperor after the power struggle in China. Yonglo moved the capital to Beijing, a city in the northeast of China. At the center of the city, he built a vast imperial city, which was surrounded by high walls. This city complex became known as the Forbidden City becuase most people were forbidden from entering it. Yonglo also sponsered oversea voyages, to extend China's influence.
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Zheng He, a Chinese Muslim admiral, led seven voyages around the Indian Ocean. To show China's power, Zheng He sailed with huge fleetss and wherever he went, he presented gifts from China, and in return several foreign leaders sent tribute to China's emperor.
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The fleets that Zheng He sailed with included trading ships, called junks, as well as immense treasure ships, each about 400 feet long.
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Yonglo dies and loses his spot as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
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A new emperor takes over and cuts off the supply of money sponsering the oversea voyages because it was very expensive.
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Ming heavily restricted foreign trade and travel to limit outside contact. The Ming wanted to turn China toward isolation from the outside world. One reason why they did this was because of the arrival of European traders and Christian missionaries. The Ming Strongly disliked the influence of the Europeans.
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Due to the trading with the Europeans, many new crops from the Americas, such as corn and sweet potatoes, came to China and increased farm output.
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An Italian Jesuit Priest, named Matteo Ricci, traveled to China and learned the Chinese language and adopted some of their customs. It was there, where he introduced European learning in mathematics and science.
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The Ming were beginning to sense a threat from the Mongols in the north. So in order to improve their defense, they restored China's Great Wall and added more to it making it cover much more land than before.
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The Ming China was weakening due to the taxes and the poor rulers who took the throne.
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The Qing Dynasty was formed from the Manchu. This dynasty will become the last dynasty in 3,500 years of imperial rule in China.
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The Manchu- a people to the northwest in Manchuria- swept into Beijing and took the capital during the Ming's time of despair. The last Ming emperor killed himself to avoid capture. The Manchu then formed their own dynasty.
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The Manchu wanted to remain somewhat separate from the Chinese and placed some restrictions on the Chinese people. Manchu were not allowed to marry Chinese, Manchu women were forbidden to bind their feet as Chinese women did. Chinese males had to wear their hair in the Manchu style- shaved in the front with a queue , or braid, in the back.
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Kangxi became the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He reduced the taxes for peasants and expanded the empire into Central Asia. He supported the arts and enjoyed entertaining Jesuit Priests at court.
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The emperor Kangxi dies and gives the throne to his son, who isn't very important. After his son dies, the throne goes to Kangxi's grandosn, named Qianlong.
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Kangxi's grandson, Qianlong, brought the Qing Dynasty to its height. He expanded the empire to its largest size by conquering Taiwan, Mongolia, and Tibet.
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A British official, named Lord George Macarney, came to CHina to discuss expanding trade. The Chinese found the British good that he brought to be inferior to their own products. In addition, the Chinese demanded that Macartney show respect to Emperor Qianlong by kowtowing- kneeling in front of the emperor and touching the forehead to the ground 9 times. Macarney refused, and the Chinese sent him away.
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The emperor Qianlong dies, and leaves the Qing Dynasty to find a new emperor of China.
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European efforts to open China's closed society would eventually topple the Qing Dynasty- and imperial rule.
