Yuan dynasty

Timeline

1. 1271Shangdu (Kaiping) · Inner MongoliaDrawing on the phrase 'Great is the Qian's primal force' from the Book of Changes, Kublai renamed the state Great Yuan, formally establishing the Yuan dynastic system and marking the Mongol regime's dynastic transformation in East Asia.
2. 1272–1280Dadu · North ChinaKublai moved the capital to Dadu, combining Chinese-style central offices, Mongol customs, and Semu participation in governance; the Central Secretariat, Bureau of Military Affairs, and Censorate divided civil, military, and supervisory powers, laying the institutional foundation for national unification.
3. 1276–1279Lin'an (Southern Song capital) · East ChinaYuan forces captured Lin'an and ended the Southern Song at the naval battle of Yashan, bringing the Chinese heartland into Yuan territory and completing the key step from steppe empire to a transregional unified regime.
4. c. 1280–1300Central Secretariat directly administered areas and the various provinces · ChinaBranch Central Secretariats were established nationwide as the highest local administrative organs, forming a hierarchy of province–circuit–prefecture–county that became an important source of local administration in the Ming, Qing, and modern China.
5. 1368Dadu · North ChinaMing forces led by Zhu Yuanzhang captured Dadu and the Yuan emperor moved north, ending Yuan rule in the Central Plains; the Northern Yuan regime continued beyond the Gobi, but the Yuan dynasty as a Central Plains dynastic institution ended here.