Yuan dynasty a guerrilla war of resistance that was costly to China Finally, in 1427, three years after Yongle’s death, a peace agreement was reached whereby Annam ruled itself but acknowledged Chinese overlordship Between 1405 and 1422 Yongle sent six huge naval expeditions under a eunuch admiral named Zheng He (Cheng Ho) that showed the Chinese flag from Southeast Asia, across the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, to East Africa and brought about trade and acknowledgment of Chinese overlordship from numerous small states throughout the region Nanjing was an unpleasant memory to Yongle, who rebuilt the Yuan capital Dadu (T’a-tu); named it Beijing (Peking), meaning Northern Capital; and moved his government there in 1421 He built its imposing city wall, the imperial palace (residence and office) of over 9,000 rooms, the Temple of Heaven, many temples, and a huge mausoleum for himself outside the city In government he continued and expanded institutions and practices begun by his father, which became the fixed pattern of administration through the dynasty The examination system continued to produce talented men for the government, the best among whom were recruited to the Hanlin Academy, which helped the monarch to draft laws, process documents, and deal with problems Highly educated and author of philosophical essays, he gathered more than 2,000 scholars who worked for five years to produce a work called the Yongle Dadian (Yung-lo t’a-tien) comprising 11,469 large volumes and over 50 million words It was an encyclopedia of knowledge in all fields His sponsorship of intellectual life resulted in many other literary projects and publications, printed in large numbers and widely distributed, this half a century before Johann Gutenberg’s first printed book Yongle’s accomplishments earned for him the posthumous title on Chengzu (Ch’eng-tsu), which means “successful progenitor.” See also Le dynasty of Annam Further reading: Chan, David B The Usurpation of the Prince of Yen, 1398–1402 San Francisco: Chinese Materials Center, 1976; Dreyer, Edward L Early Ming China: A Political History, 1355–1435 Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Yuan dynasty Yuan was the first non-Chinese dynasty to rule the entire area of the Chinese civilization (1279–1368) 437 Kubilai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan) proclaimed this rule in 1271, but because South China was not then under his control, historians did not formally recognize it as the ruling dynasty of China until the Southern Song (Sung) dynasty was destroyed in 1279 Up to this time all dynasties had taken the name of the geographic region of its founder’s family Since Mongolia was not part of China culturally, Kubilai chose Yuan (Great Originator), a word from the Chinese classic the Book of Changes Kubilai Khan (r 1260–94) was the fifth grand khan of the Mongol empire, but his election was disputed and despite victory over his challengers, his leadership was never fully recognized, and he spent years fighting wars with his kinsmen Kubilai Khan, the greatest Yuan ruler, fought wars to enlarge his empire, unsuccessfully only against Japan and Java He and his successors ruled directly over Mongolia, China (including Manchuria and Tibet), and indirectly over vassal states that included Korea, Burma, Siam, Annam (North Vietnam), and Champa (South Vietnam) MONGOL CASTE SYSTEM AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Although Kubilai had a much greater appreciation of Chinese culture than his predecessors and many of his contemporaries in the clan of Genghis Khan, he did not read or write Chinese Even though his conquest of Southern Song did not feature the wholesale massacres practiced by his predecessors, his regime was nevertheless one of military occupation with Mongols the chief beneficiaries The Mongol government divided the people into four castes or categories as follows: The first caste were Mongols, who enjoyed the highest positions and most privileges; the second caste were called se-mu (light-eyed) people, who were Middle Easterners, and other non-Chinese including Europeans such as Marco Polo; the third caste were northern Chinese and assimilated nomads; and the fourth and lowest were southern Chinese from the conquered Southern Song lands (who were the most numerous group) The Mongol rulers trusted their non-Chinese subjects precisely because they were not Chinese and were therefore unconditionally loyal; many served the Mongol masters as ruthless tax collectors and moneylenders The most numerous group, the southern Chinese, were most distrusted and exploited Mongols strenuously resisted assimilation to Chinese culture Many preferred to live in yurts (tents), even in the capital palace grounds, and trekked to Mongolia to