The Yuan Dynasty was defined by Qubilai Qa’an’s adoption of many elements of Chinese administration and his successful conquest of south China; however, the qa’an’s later decades were spent in efforts at further conquests that strained even his immense wealth and delayed the integration of the newly conquered territories. Under his successor and grandson, Temür, the empire turned to a more sustainable style of laissez-faire rule. From Temür’s death in 1307 on, however, the regime was roiled by succession conflicts, often pitting steppe-based candidates against those with more experience in the south. In these conflicts, the legacy of Qubilai Qa’an became a useful tool for those opposed to further adoption of Chinese-style methods. These conflicts exhausted the regime’s coffers and left it vulnerable to severe climate change in the mid-fourteenth century; the resulting unrest toppled the dynasty. Still, the Yuan left a legacy of unification for China’s succeeding Ming dynasty.

Chapter 2, “Daidu’s Fall,” traces the fate of Mongol political and military power in eastern Eurasia during the decades following the Yuan ruling house’s flight to the steppe in 1368. This chapter examines the Yuan court’s efforts to maintain legitimacy in the eyes of former subjects and allies, which included Chinese, Mongol, Turkic, Jurchen, Korean, and Central Asian populations, by drawing on political emblems developed during the empire’s glory years. This chapter also explains the Yuan’s military and administrative strategies to come to terms with its new position in eastern Eurasia. After 1368, the Great Yuan court remained a powerful actor on the international stage; the Ming court was never the sole political patron available to ambitious individuals and communities.