Khubilai Khan Mongol Empire

Superior Essays
Sabrina Peters
HIST 1016
Mr. Haug
November 9, 2014

“The Many Faces of Khubilai Khan and the Mongol Empire”

Khubilai Khan was born in 1215 and he was the grandson of the infamous Chinggis Khan. Khubilai Khan was described in various ways and Rossabi had stated that “ he is represented as a Mongol in formal Chinese paintings; as a typical Muslim potentate, with the dress and physical features of a caliph, in Persian miniatures; and as a European king, with a Caucasian appearance, in manuscripts of Marco Polo’s account of his travels. Each civilization depicted Khubilai in its own light” (Rossabi, pg. xvii). Many historians have tried to discover who the real Khubilai Khan is, was he more Mongol or was he more Chinese? Although he represented both, evidence has suggested that he was more Mongol than Chinese. One of the ways that some have argued that proves Khubilai Khan was more Chinese than Mongol was the fact he instituted a centralized administration, something that the Mongols never had. The centralized administration included ministries but more specifically it had: The Ministry of Personnel, which was responsible for overseeing civilian officials; the Ministry of Revenue, which was responsible for censuses, collected taxes and tribute, and regulated money; the Ministry of Rites, which were responsible for court ceremonies, festivities, music, sacrifices, and entertainment; the Ministry of War, which was responsible for military commands, colonies, postal stations, requisitioned military supplies, and trained the army; the Ministry of Justice, which enforced laws and administered prisons; and the Ministry of Public Works, which repaired fortifications, managed dams and public lands, and devised rules for artisans.
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(Lecture, HIST 1016, 10/27/14)
Some historians believe that Khubilai Khan was more Chinese because of the written language and Chinese paintings he took interest in and made important in his rule. The first time that a “written language” was recorded in Mongol history was a Mongol script during Chinggis Khan’s reign (Lecture, HIST 1016, 10/29/14). However, the language was not really conductive to the Mongols, because the script was based on Uighur language until 1269 ‘Prags- pa lama, a Tibetan Buddhist lama, offered to describe a new script that was based on the Tibetan language (Lecture, HIST 1016, 10/29/14). Another way some argue that Khubilai Khan was Chinese was the fact he created a Navy, which is something that the Mongols never have done before because they do not deal with water, their main source of transportation and war was on small horses. In fact, if anything, Khubilai Khan built the navy in order to defeat the southern Song, which is without a doubt a trait of the Mongols. Khubilai Khan was determined to conquer the southern Song, which started under Möngke Khan (Lecture, HIST 1016, 10/27/14), and he was also determined to unite China one way or another (Lecture, HIST 1016, 10/27/14). In the past those trying to conquer southern Song had problems invading China. Over the years, Khubilai Khan had sent envoys over to the Song, which they were rejected and continued to make threats of invading. However, things began to change win 1265 in the Battle of Taio-yüshan where Möngke died and the Mongols captured 146 ships, this led to the siege of Hsiang-yang which was about the access of the Han and Yangtze Rivers and to do this it required the control of the sea and siege warfare, which led to the creation of Khubilai Khan’s Mongol navy and led to the Mongols the attempt of conquering Japan(Lecture, HIST 1016, 10/27/14). The desire and obsession of conquering Japan shows yet another Mongol trait that Khubilai Khan showed. The Mongols did not take no or losing at all. They would constantly fight for what they wanted and the consistent effort to try and conquer Japan. Khubilai Khan began the attempt to conquer and invade Japan in 1274 and again in 1281 and both attempts were unsuccessful because typhoons, or further
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Khubilai Khan: His Life and times. Berkeley: U of California, 1988. Print.
Haug, Robert, HIST 1016: Themes in World History: Playing the Game of Thrones, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Polo, Marco. "The Travels of Marco Polo/Book 1/Chapter 61." Wikisource. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

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