82 China in World History
of productivity. Intense warfare greatly reduced the population, and
the spread of infectious diseases, such as bubonic plague, from Central
Asia to China produced several terrible epidemics that killed millions
in the mid-fourteenth century (and eliminated one-fourth of Europe’s
population soon thereafter). The wars destroyed farmland and irriga-
tion works, and in places Mongol princes and generals turned rice-pro-
ducing land into parks and pastures. The combined effects of war and
disease greatly reduced the tax base. The Yuan government responded
by printing more money, which only fueled infl ation and further under-
mined the economic health of the dynasty.
Following their conquest of southern China, the Mongols ambi-
tiously undertook naval expeditions of conquest against Japan in 1274
and 1281 and against the kingdom of Java in the southern Pacifi c in
1292–1293. They also launched attacks on Vietnam and Burma, failing
in both cases but winning the symbolic “submission” of those countries
to the “Son of Heaven,” Khubilai Khan. These wars were a serious
drain on the state’s resources and only served to delay the economic
recovery of the Yuan from the dislocations of their early years.
Despite the hardships imposed on the Chinese population during the
Yuan dynasty, Chinese life was not greatly changed. The Mongols did
not interfere with Chinese customs or religious practices. The Venetian
merchant Marco Polo claimed to have spent twenty years (1275–1295)
in China during Mongol rule and wrote a bestselling account of his trav-
els. Although some have cast doubt on the truthfulness of his story, many
of his observations have been confi rmed by other sources. He accurately
reported, for example, that relations between Han Chinese and their
Mongol rulers were very strained but also that south China was far more
economically advanced than any country in Europe at the same time.
Because of the Yuan imperial government’s discrimination against
the southern Chinese literati, many southerners had to fi nd ways to
make a living outside of government service. Some went into medical
practice, with benefi ts to the long-term development of Chinese med-
icine. Others became lowly clerks with poor pay and no chance for
advancement. Others maintained the lifestyle and traditions of the Song
literati and worked as scholars, painters, and poets.
Some Chinese literati refused to work in the service of the Mon-
gol conquerors. One famous scholar-general, Wen Tianxiang, won the
admiration of many subsequent generations by his refusal to surrender
to the Mongol armies long after any chance of success had disappeared.
He was captured in 1275 but escaped and continued to lead troops, only
to be defeated again and to witness the capture of many members of his