Beijing (Dadu)

 By 1206, Temujin had united (or conquered) the nomadic Mongol tribes of the steppes, becoming Genghis (Chinggis) Khan: Resolute Ruler. Genghis then conquered the Western (Tanguts) Xia and Jin (Jurchen) dynasties of northern China before swinging west to launch a campaign in Central Asia. It would be up to his successors to complete his conquests in Asia. Ogedei ultimately ended Jin opposition to Mongol rule to conquer northern China in 1234, and Möngke Khan and Kublai led campaigns against the last of the Song Dynasty, ultimately defeating them in 1279 and establishing the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan. In 1272, prior to this final defeat, Kublai Khan declared that the Mandate of Heaven had shifted to him, and he and his successors ruled the Yuan Dynasty—the first non-Han Chinese dynasty to rule over all of China—from 1279 to 1368. Quickly adapting to a settled lifestyle, Kublai declared Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) the Dadu (also spelled Daidu): the Grand Capital of the dynasty. In fact, the name Khanbaliq comes from the words khan (ruler) and balik (town or permanent settlement), so the name Khanbaliq means "City of the Khan."

Of course, the Mongol Empire was first and foremost built by use of force and psychological warfare. As was often the case in medieval warfare, the Mongols slaughtered populations that refused to surrender; and they also adopted both technology and skilled individuals (artisans, engineers, scholars) who could aid in their empire building. When the Mongols invaded the Jin Dynasty of northern China, they were introduced to the gunpowder weapons invented in the Song Dynasty. Realizing their impact, the Mongols quickly adopted gunpowder weapons as part of their retinue for siege warfare, not only in China, but also in their invasions in the Middle East and Europe. They also recruited (some were collaborators, others were forced) Chinese and Muslim engineers to help them build counterweight trebuchets (likely developed during the Crusades) and other siege weapons that further aided the Mongol conquests. 

While Mongol rule in China brought about the first confirmed instances of direct contact between Europe and China, the Polos were not the first Europeans to seek out Mongol lands. In response to the Mongol attacks on Hungary and Poland in 1241, the pope dispatched two Franciscan missionaries—John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck—to try to establish peaceful relations with the Mongols and convert them to Christianity. Though they were not successful in their religious nor diplomatic missions, they were able to bring back the first accurate accounts of the Mongols. Soon, the Polos would also journey to China, where Marco Polo would gain the trust of Kublai Khan and serve as his foreign emissary (ambassador). Thus, Marco Polo will serve as your guide to the city. 

Walking through Kublai's capital city, you are experiencing a truly cosmopolitan city. Following the precedent laid down by Genghis Khan, the Mongols in Yuan China employ foreigners from different regions of the empire. Central Asian Muslims serve as administrators in China while Han people and Khitans from China serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia. Skilled Arabs and Persians were brought to China to work as artisans, astronomers, merchants, and administrators. But even though the Yuan Dynasty was the first foreign dynasty to rule all of China, the Mongols kept much of the traditional Chinese bureaucracy.

Thus, for the most part, you are also seeing a state governed by the typical Chinese bureaucratic structure, with the khan assuming the position of sage emperor and the government divided into the Six Ministries and smaller agencies to help administer the provinces. At the same time, the Yuan government also reflects the empire's diversity: governing methods blended Chinese, Muslim, and Mongol ideas and laws and welcome Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist missionaries and diplomats. The Mongols also implement quotas for the civil service exams, awarding many key positions to Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists from central and western Eurasia because the Mongol rulers distrust the Chinese high officials of the defeated Song Dynasty. 

Visiting Yuan China, you also find yourself subjected to a new social hierarchy. The new Yuan social structure mirrored the changes in government. Instead of the usual Confucian hierarchy of social classes based on economic function, the Mongols have established an ethnically based hierarchy: 

• Mongols 

• Semu (non-Chinese people, such as Europeans and people from Central Asia, including other nomadic peoples)

• Hanren (Chinese people, including Khitans, Koreans, and Jurchens)

• Nanren (subjects of the former Song Dynasty who resisted Mongol invasions)

With their favorable attitude toward trade, the Mongols actually improved the status of merchants in China, who—in the traditional Confucian system—were typically assigned a low status. 

Keeping with Mongol practice, Kublai hired engineers and scientists from other parts of the empire to help with new building projects, including new palace grounds that included artificial lakes, hills and mountains, and parks. He also supported schools for Confucian scholars and local schools to support book publishing.

A government sponsored printing office has also proved particularly useful, as mathematical and scientific texts from Muslim scholars can be translated into Chinese, and Chinese texts, particularly books on medicine, spread to the western portions of the empire. Scientific knowledge from other Mongol states, such as the Persian calendar and Muslim medical and technological advances, also diffused to China; and Kublai Khan has established the Islamic Astronomical Bureau and a Muslim observatory to oversee astronomical studies. Muslim astronomers also brought Arabic numerals to China in the 13th century, and mathematicians like Zhu Shijie made advances in complex algebra. 

Perhaps one of the most important public works projects was Kublai's extension of the Grand Canal so that it now reaches Beijing, connecting the new capital to southern China, where maritime trade continues to flourish, especially since Kublai continues the Song practice of using the navy to protect maritime trade. The extension of the Grand Canal and protection of maritime trade linked Beijing and other Chinese cities directly to the Indian Ocean network, which was surpassing the overland Silk Road as the most important trade system. Goods like spices, cotton, and sugar from South and Southeast Asia now flowed into Yuan China.

Again, Polo tells you of the vast trade taking place in Hangzhou, the southern terminal of the Grand Canal: 

"Salt brings in a great revenue…In this city too they make great quantities of sugar...and the sugar alone again produces an enormous revenue, as do all the goods (like silk) made by craft guilds. All spices and merchandise are taxed 3.3%. But sea-borne goods from India and other distant countries are taxed 10%. 

In addition to all this revenue that could support building projects and expansion, shipments of grain supported a growing population in Beijing. This expansion explains the Khan's decision to create the Office for the Stimulation of Agriculture to not only ensure food stability, but to also prevent peasant discontent that could cause an uprising. The tax system was simplified to get rid of burdensome tax farmers who harassed peasants, and farmers were given funds and assistance to restore productive farmland destroyed during the conquests. Trade with the eastern portions of the empire (like the Ilkhanate in the Middle East and the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia) helped introduce and popularize crops such as carrots, turnips, new varieties of lemons, eggplants, and melons, high-quality sugar, and cotton. 

But despite prosperity, many Chinese resented the ethnic hierarchy that placed Mongols and foreigners above the Han Chinese. This resentment fueled later rebellions as later Mongol rulers struggled to overcome rivalries, natural disasters, and unrest, leading to the fall of the Yuan and rise of the Ming in 1368. 

The end of your stay in Beijing has come, but Kublai Khan is reluctant to let Marco Polo leave. He asks Polo to complete one final duty for him: to escort the Mongol princess Kököchin to Arghun Khan, the khan of the Ilkhanate and Kublai's grand-nephew, who wished to marry the princess. Unlike in Song China, elite Mongol women could hold significant political and economic influence, and marriage arrangements helped forge and maintain political connections. 

 Kublai sends you with a fleet of 14 junk ships to make the journey by sea, giving you a chance to experience the wild world of maritime travel and trade. It also gives you a chance to check out the impressive Yuan navy that accompanies you. One sailor shows you some of the thunder clap bombs (essentially early hand grenades first used by the Song) that had been used during the failed invasion of Japan years earlier. 

Somewhat comforted by the knowledge that there's some artillery on board, you settle in for a long journey.

Unfortunately, you're stuck in Sumatra for 5 months, waiting for the monsoon winds to change direction, but this provides you with the chance to experience the bustling trade through the Strait of Malacca. Polo tells you that the people here used to be Hindu, but that many have now become Muslims through contact with so many Muslim merchants from India and the Middle East. He also tells of nearby Java, where Kublai Khan launched two unsuccessful invasions. His reasons for wanting to conquer Java become clear with Polo's description, as Java is "a very rich island, producing pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, and cloves and all the precious spices…. It is visited by great numbers of ships and merchants who buy a great range of merchandise, reaping handsome profits and rich returns…. It is from this island that the merchants of Zaitun and Manzi [southern China] in general have derived and continue to derive a great part of their wealth, and this is the source of most of the spice that comes into the world’s markets.”

After TWO YEARS you finally reach land. Much of the crew did not survive the voyage, so you're lucky. But you're also only a third of the way done, and your next stop is Tabriz, a major city of the Ilkhanate.