The Yuan Dynasty (A.D. 127 1 ~ 1368) was a huge dynasty established by Mongols. This is the first national regime ruled by minority rulers in China's history. With its powerful force, the Mongols not only conquered the Central Plains and Jiangnan, but also extended their control to the whole of West Asia, becoming the largest country in China's history.

Mongols are an ancient people, and they have been living a nomadic life. /kloc-Around 0/2 century, an outstanding leader-Temujin appeared in Mongolia. Temujin, as a tribal leader, was called Genghis Khan by various ministries in 1206. Under the leadership of Temujin, the Mongols gradually became stronger. It has become a force to be reckoned with in northern China. It wiped out the Xixia in A.D. 1227 and the Jin Dynasty in A.D. 1234, thus preparing for the unification of China. At this time, Genghis Khan was dead, and Wokuotai, Mongo and Kublai Khan successively succeeded to the throne. In A.D. 12765438, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, was in Dadu. In the past 700 years, Beijing has gradually become the political, economic and cultural center of China. 1276, the Yuan Dynasty sent troops to capture Lin 'an (now Hangzhou), the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and unified the whole territory of China.

After Yuan Shizu Kublai Khan unified China, he did not stop his foreign military action. Since then, the Yuan Dynasty has conquered Japan, Annan (now northern Vietnam) and Myanmar twice, making Korea, Myanmar, Taicheng and Annan subordinate to the Yuan Dynasty. At home, in order to rule the Han people, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty divided the people into four classes, namely, Mongols, Semu people (Xixia, Hui Hui, Western Regions, etc. Han people's status is extremely low, and they have become the object of expulsion by Mongols and Semu people. Therefore, in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, the Han nationality and the southern minorities revolted against Mongolian tyranny many times, but they all failed.

Since Kublai Khan, in order to change this situation, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty replaced animal husbandry production with agricultural production, so the agriculture of the Yuan Dynasty has developed greatly. With the expansion of Yuan Dynasty's territory to West Asia, the exchanges between Europe and China became more frequent and the technical exchanges became more rapid. Economic development has promoted the development of handicrafts and commerce. Cotton planting has been very common in southern China, so the textile industry has also developed, and a group of craftsmen led by Huang Daopo have appeared, which made the cotton textile technology reach a fairly high level at that time. In addition, due to the smooth land and water transportation and the popularity of paper money, the Yuan Dynasty was one of the richest countries in the world at that time. During Yuan Shizu's time, Venetian businessman Kyle Polo went to China, where he wrote The Travels of Marco Polo.

Material abundance made the life of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty gradually luxurious, and at the same time, the power and power struggle within the Mongolian rulers intensified. During the twenty-five years from 1308 to 1333, the Yuan Dynasty experienced eight emperors in Yuan Shundi, namely Wuzong, Renzong, Yingzong, Taiding Emperor, Tianshun Emperor, Wenzong, Mingzong and Ningzong. Every emperor leads a luxurious life. In order to meet their material needs, the rulers constantly levy various taxes on the people, especially the Han people, who are particularly oppressed. So the Han people rose up in various forms to resist the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty. As early as the second year of Taiding (1352), Zhao Chou-si and Guo Bodhisattva in Henan Province revolted, which started the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Later, in the 11th year of Zhi Zhi, Shun Di (135 1), the Red Scarf Army uprising led by Liu Futong swept the whole of China. A number of outstanding generals appeared in the uprising army, among which Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng were the most powerful. From the 16th year of Zhi Zhi (1358) to the 19th year of Zhi Zhi (65438). In 1967, Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng were eliminated one after another, and half of the south of the Yangtze River was unified. In the twenty-seventh year of Zheng Zheng (1367), Zhu Yuanzhang began the Northern Expedition. With the slogan of "expelling Land Rover and restoring China", with the assistance of generals Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, the Yuan Dynasty was captured in 1368, ending its rule.

The Yuan Dynasty was founded by Mongols and existed for 97 years. It is one of the more powerful dynasties in China history. However, due to its discrimination against the Han people, it died prematurely, which became a lesson for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty in the future. In addition, the rule of Yuan Dynasty set a general scope for China's future painting. From the end of Yuan Dynasty to the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the territory of China was based on this.