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Mongol forces first entered China under Kublai's grandfather Genghis Khan, defeating the [[Jurchen]] [[Jin Dynasty]] which had controlled northern China since [[1127]]. Under Kublai Khan, they pressed further south, and began threatening the [[Southern Song Dynasty]]. The riverine environment, Mongol unfamiliarity with boats, and sub-tropical climate presented difficulties; while the Mongols were unmatched on the grassy steppes to the north, here many of their warriors succumbed to malaria, and their horses to the heat. Their armies pressed forward, however, and were eventually successful in taking the steppes of southwestern China, from which they then attacked China's economic heartland from the west, taking it too, in part thanks to superior use of the Song's own gunpowder weapons.<ref name=elman/>

Mongol forces first entered China under Kublai's grandfather Genghis Khan, defeating the [[Jurchen]] [[Jin Dynasty]] which had controlled northern China since [[1127]]. Under Kublai Khan, they pressed further south, and began threatening the [[Southern Song Dynasty]]. The riverine environment, Mongol unfamiliarity with boats, and sub-tropical climate presented difficulties; while the Mongols were unmatched on the grassy steppes to the north, here many of their warriors succumbed to malaria, and their horses to the heat. Their armies pressed forward, however, and were eventually successful in taking the steppes of southwestern China, from which they then attacked China's economic heartland from the west, taking it too, in part thanks to superior use of the Song's own gunpowder weapons.<ref name=elman/>

Kublai Khan declared the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty in [[1271]], establishing a new capital at Dadu (大都, lit. "Great Capital"; this city would later become [[Beijing]]). He would spend the next eight years completing his conquest of China, capturing the Southern Song capital of [[Hangzhou]] in [[1276]]. The Empress Dowager Xie and the child emperor, [[Emperor Gong of Song]], were escorted to Dadu, where they were treated with honors. Meanwhile, the Song dynasty continued briefly with a succession of two emperors reigning in exile, before they too were killed and the Song Dynasty came to its ultimate end in [[1279]].

Kublai Khan declared the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty in [[1271]], establishing a new capital at Dadu (大都, lit. "Great Capital"; this city would later become [[Beijing]]). He would spend the next eight years completing his conquest of China, capturing the Southern Song capital of [[Hangzhou]] in [[1276]]. The Empress Dowager [[Xie Daoqing]] and the child emperor, [[Emperor Gong of Song]], were escorted to Dadu, where they were treated with honors. Meanwhile, the Song dynasty continued briefly with a succession of two emperors reigning in exile, before they too were killed and the Song Dynasty came to its ultimate end in [[1279]].

The Yuan thus became the first non-[[Han Chinese]] dynasty to rule all of [[China proper]]. It was also the first to not have a uniform legal code to apply to all subjects, as Kublai Khan carefully balanced his adoption of Chinese practices with maintenance of Mongol ones. He lived in a permanent capital, rather than in a nomadic collection of yurts, and took a Chinese posthumous imperial name, Shizu, retroactively naming his grandfather Emperor Taizu of Yuan, and [[Ogodei Khan]] Emperor Taizong of Yuan. Kublai Khan's law codes separated Mongols and Chinese, banning their intermarriage, restricting their interactions, and holding them to different law codes.<ref>Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 225.</ref>

The Yuan thus became the first non-[[Han Chinese]] dynasty to rule all of [[China proper]]. It was also the first to not have a uniform legal code to apply to all subjects, as Kublai Khan carefully balanced his adoption of Chinese practices with maintenance of Mongol ones. He lived in a permanent capital, rather than in a nomadic collection of yurts, and took a Chinese posthumous imperial name, Shizu, retroactively naming his grandfather Emperor Taizu of Yuan, and [[Ogodei Khan]] Emperor Taizong of Yuan. Kublai Khan's law codes separated Mongols and Chinese, banning their intermarriage, restricting their interactions, and holding them to different law codes.<ref>Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 225.</ref>