Decline of the Mongols in China
The Mongol Empire did not last long. Lacking a unity of culture in terms of its size, The Mongol Empire disintegrated quickly. Mongols were forceful and successful fighters, however they had little experience with administration and relied upon other people. Bringing foreigners into China to avoid reliance on Chinese and thus discriminating and suspending Chinese made the Empire even more segregated. All in all, there were four main reasons that cause the declined of the Mongols in China:
- Economic decline: the Mongols continued to use the paper money that the Chinese has introduced during the Tang and Song dynasties, but they failed to maintain adequate reserves of gold and silver that backed up paper notes. The general population soon lost confidence in paper money, and prices rose sharply as a reflection of its diminished value.
- Factional divisions: factions and infighting hastened Mongol decline in China. Being the richest land conquered by the Mongols, China attracted the attention of ambitious warriors. From the 1320s power struggles, imperial assassinations, and civil wars convulsed the Mongol regime in China.
- Bubonic Plague/ Black Death: by facilitating trade and communications throughout Eurasia, the Mongols had to face the onslaught of the Bubonic Plague. The plague caused serious depopulation and labour shortage in China that weakened the Mongol regime.
- Peasant rebellions: the Mongols also faced a rebellious subject population in China. Starting in the 1340s southern China became a hotbed of peasant rebellion and banditry, which the Mongols could not control. In 1368 rebel forces captured Khanbaliq, after which the Mongols departed China.