Entangled Legitimacies: China, Inner Asia, and the Mongol Imperial Project

The inclusion of China within the Mongol imperial project and the founding of the Yuan dynasty (1260-1368) was a turning point in the history of the Middle Ages, bringing Eastern and Western Eurasia closer together. As Emperor of China and Emperor of the Mongols, Qubilai (r.1260-1294) balanced legitimizing narratives from two different worlds, capitalized on preexisting policies and the legacies of previous Chinese and Inner Asian empires, and relied on the advice of a multiethnic religious and bureaucratic staff. China’s interactions with the rest of Eurasia were not only the byproduct of Qubilai’s vision. Even more significant was the so-called middle-Yuan period, when civil wars and succession struggles brought Chinese and Central Asian politics into close interdependence. The paper analyses the entanglement of Chinese and Inner Asian hegemonic strategies and narratives in the 13th and 14th centuries, showing how universalist aspirations and local prerogatives interacted in shaping the Mongol imperial project. It addresses questions of empire and territoriality, competing chronologies, and narratives of legitimation in Eastern Eurasia during this period.