REUCHLIN CHARLES FAUSTINO
8 MALDIVES
Explore The Yuan Dynasty SOCIAL STRUCTURE
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Social Structure of The Yuan Dynasty
Although the Mongols were mighty, they had the shortest rule in Chinese history. ending in 1368 CE. While they ruled China they instituted a social structure that was much different than preceding dynasties. For example, the Yuan Dynasty mingled with foreigners (something dynasties before and after didn't do). The famed Venetian explorer Marco Polo was a huge figure in the Yuan court and held sway with Kublai Khan, his family, and his government. Polo lived among the Yuan court for many years, and became one of Kublai Khan's most important advisers and bureaucrats during his conquest of China.
The Yuan government was centralized in that the force behind their empire, was always in the hands of the Khan. The Khan would break the government into portions in which powerful agents (like Polo) would rule, with the Khan's approval in all things.Â
The social structure between the Yuan and the Chinese was always contentious, based on an 'us and them' mentality, that played a large role in the brevity of the Yuan Dynasty. Kublai Khan cemented this fractious relationship between the Yuan and the Chinese in his Four Class System.
