---
node: kublai_khan
type: person
slug: kublai_khan
title: "Kublai Khan"
lead: "Kublai Khan (1215–1294), grandson of Genghis Khan, founded the Yuan dynasty and became the first non-Han ruler over all of China."
published: 2026-07-09
updated: 2026-07-09
image_file: kublai_khan.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YuanEmperorAlbumKhubilaiPortrait.jpg"
image_author: "Araniko"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Who they were

Great Khan of the Mongols from 1260, he proclaimed the Yuan dynasty in 1271 and fixed its capital at Dadu, modern Beijing.

## What they did

He completed the conquest of the Southern Song by 1279, governing with Chinese-style institutions while keeping Mongol and other non-Han elites on top. His two invasions of Japan, in 1274 and 1281, failed — the second wrecked by a typhoon the Japanese called kamikaze. His court welcomed foreign merchants and travelers; Marco Polo's account claims years in his service.

## Legacy

His reign began Beijing's rise as imperial capital and made all-China rule by a conquest dynasty a repeatable pattern, later followed by the Qing.