#khubilai khan

[fierce-little-miana]

So, this is how Eiren L. Shea describes the hat Khubilai is wearing in his official portrait you gave as an example above:

“In the portrait of Khubilai attributed to Anige, which forms a pair with a portrait of Chabi, the emperor wears modest attire, a white robe and white hat trimmed with fur.”

The author seems to know her business about historical clothes and materials, and their representations so I am inclined to believe her. So apparently there is fur on Khubilai’s headpiece in this portrait. I guess the black part of his hat must be the fur trim?

She then compares this portrait to earlier portraits of Chinese emperors to show how Khubilai innovated while building on existing iconography:

“However, the headgear of each emperor - Song Taizu wears the official song “spreading wings” hat (zhanchi futou) while Khubilai wears a variant of a Yuan imperial hat with a tight fitting crown and a neck flap (dazi nuanmao) - shows their cultural differences, as does Khubilai’s braided hair.”

Eiren L. Shea gives the spelling in Chinese characters of both zhanchi futou and dazi nuanmao but since I don’t speak chinese I was unable to copy it. If anyone wants a picture of the spelling I might be able to provide it. From the phrasing, I am unsure if dazi nuanmao refers to the entire hat Khubilai is wearing in his official portrait or if it only refers to the neck flap part of it. In any case, it seems like it would be the chinese name for it and not the mongolian one.

Despite the Mongols having a modern reputation for furry hats, we see very little textual or visual references to them in 1200s/1300s. Instead, this style and its variants here is what tends to appear in medieval artwork and texts as the main Mongolian menswear. It may be the style of hat called a saraquj in some sources, but it's unclear if this is a term actually used by the Mongols themselves (since it mostly appears in Mamluk accounts). Rather than fur, feathers were the popular adornment for this hats.

Perhaps some of the Mongolians here can share if they have a specific name for this style of cap?

A few images from Chinese and Persian artwork of late 13th/early 14th century

[whats-in-a-sentence]

The Mongols definitively abandoned their Western wars when one more khan died and his successor, Khubilai, immortalized by the English poet Coleridge's drug-crazed vision of his palace at Xanadu* ("That sunny dome! Those caves of ice!"), finally determined to finish off China.

*This famous name is actually a misunderstanding of the city's Chinese name, normally transliterated as Shangdu. The site of Khubilai's palace is currently under excavation.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[pietroleopoldo]

I was reading about Khubilai Khan's failed attempt to conquer Japan and thought that the story was familiar but I couldn't recall ever studying it in school or uni. Then I realized I knew it from bill wurtz's history of Japan. Revoke my degree

[fearsmagazine]

THE WARRIOR PRINCESS - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Film Movement

SYNOPSIS: Descended from Genghis Khan and skilled in all forms of military combat, Princess Khutulun (Tsedoo Munkhbat) is one of the fiercest warriors in the Mongol Empire. Despite her talents on the battlefield, Khutulun is still expected to marry, and her father, Kaidu Khan, arranges for a union with the prince of Pamir. But on the night when their emissaries meet, Kaidu is ambushed by an assassin sent by his sworn enemy Khubilai, and the Golden Sutra is stolen. Vowing revenge, Khutulun and her clan set out on an epic journey to retrieve the sacred text and restore peace to their homeland. -Press Notes

REVIEW: Based on true events, the Warrior Princess has beautiful landscapes and choreographed fight scenes. I liked the introduction of the princess as a child and how she was able to keep her allies close to her since they were raised together. The children were able to see what a true warrior she was and therefore were loyal to their princess. They became her allies throughout the film, willing to fight to the end with their princess. The cinematography was filled with lush fields and gorgeous mountains. Throughout the film the princess holds her own, showing strength and skill during fights and archery.

The language is Mongolian but the subtitles are clear and easy to follow. They are not distracting nor do they take away from the beauty of the film. The movie does not hold back on the past, showing the depth of how easily betrayal can come to a peaceful tribe.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the scenes with the princess’ grandmother and how she molded her to become the warrior who would honor her family. I also liked that they included the Golden Sutra with the original symbol that is called Khas which was passed down by the great Khans including Gengis Khan. This symbol is a symbol of statehood to the Mongolians. It is also used in Tibetan culture and is very honorable.

This film entranced me with the beauty of the land and the strength of its characters. It made me want to read more about the Mongolian culture and to seek out literature about the great Khans in the past. I would easily add it to my foreign film collection.

CAST: Tsedoo Munkhbat, Altantur Altanjargal, Setgeltuvshin Bayarbat, Tumurtogtokh Davaakhuu. CREW: Directors - S. Baasanjargal & Shuudertsetseg Baatarsuren; Screenplay - Shuudertsetseg Baatarsuren, Boldkhuyag Damdinsuren; Producers - Shuudertsetseg Baatarsuren & Boldkhuyag Damdinsuren; Cinematographer - B. Ganbat; Score - Baidrag Tserendanzan. OFFICIAL: N.A. FACEBOOK: N.A. TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/HdejQ8ly_vY?si=2-7UZjLRl82B1Iry RELEASE DATE: On VOD, Digital Platforms & Film Movement Plus March 8th, 2024

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay), or ���� (Dislike)

Reviewed by Liza Perez

[lightdancer1]

One more book of modern Asian military history to go:

Wrapped up the next, and ultimately the penultimate book in the sequence of Asian histories with this one. As the title says it covers the last phase of the Chinese Civil War in 1946-50 when Mao Zedong's PLA shattered the Guomindang and drove it into Taiwan, where the war has remained frozen ever since. This is a rare book covering the era that at least tries to avoid the idea of hindsight overshadowing the actual events and takes the idea that the PLA could have lost, which it very easily could. And asks why, with all the advantages up to and including Soviet recognition and friendliness never given to the CCP (and the Sino-Soviet split ultimately shows that Stalin was right to distrust Mao all along) Jiang managed to lose the war as decisively as he did.

The ultimate answer in the eyes of the book stem from the PLA developing a military means to face and defeat the Guomindang on terms it set for itself, while the Guomindang encountered the reality that after decades of limited to no formal authority in places having to take charge of it in the immediate aftermath of the war was anything but a blessing. Too, the Guomindang overextended itself and did not take seriously the prospect that the PLA would be able to shift anywhere near as swiftly as it did from guerrilla to conventional warfare. And unlike the PAVN in the Vietnam War the PLA very much did, by 1947-8 develop the means to deal one large-scale asskicking of the Guomindang after another to a point that a regime that briefly looked like it would be the face of the new China imploded so totally that the brief period of illusory triumph was revealed as just that.

The book's last chapter covers the Korean War as an extended aspect of this war in a development that makes no little sense given that it was part and parcel of the slapdash border security of Truman's era and that Mao desperately wanted a victory. And while he got a gruesomely bloody stalemate in the mountains after routing MacArthur's army on the Yalu, merely stalemating the USA after the long and brutal history of China serving as the Washington Generals of Asia was a sufficient victory to expand on the Civil War and underpin the PRC's sense of self-confidence to this day.

An interesting reality it brings into play as well is something that only makes sense. As with the USSR the PRC was born out of a civil war marked with multi-tiered foreign intervention. As with the USSR it began as more of a change of flags and verbiage and not of regime, and some of the histories of the PRC and USSR reflect very specific mirrors. At the flip side unlike in Russia, where the most traditional change of power was dying of 'Romanov Colic' (aka strangulation), China long had the tradition of various warlords securing an empire on horseback and then figuring out how to govern it. Thus, while revolutionary in many ways, the PLA was in others nothing more than Khubilai Khan and Khara Khitai on a much grander scale.

And in that mess of contradictions hinges all the aspects of PRC history from the 1950s to the present.

9/10.

[vitos-ordination-song]

Khubilai Khan is cool

[a-modernmajorgeneral]

Weekly Recap ( 12th – 18th August 2024)

Study

Read 3 articles

Read 4 MGL articles

Read 1 KAZ article

Read 5 UKR articles

Read 1 RUS article

Read 2 Art History articles

Read 2 Native Americans articles

48 shorter readings

Read 3 poems

Watched 1 MGL video

Watched 3 misc videos

Reading (non-fiction)

Read Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet: History's Greatest Naval Disaster – intro, prologue

Read Mongolia: A Preview – ch 7-8

Read SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome – ch 12-16, epilogue

Read The Third Reich in Power – ch 16-17

Read Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages – ch 10-11

Read The Penguin Book of Norse Myths – Myth & Note 4

Read 30,000 Years of Art – Dersenedj the Scribe

Reading (fiction)

Read Banal Nightmare (Halle Butler) – ch 1-2

Writing

Discussed MGL worldbuilding with Mum – political/social themes, calendar, death/mythology

Music

Listened to Vivaldi Opus 4: La stravaganza (Federico Guglielmo & L'Arte dell'Arco)

Exercise

Monday – 1.1km exercycle; 0.4km exercycle; 3km exercycle

Thursday – 3km exercycle

Flat (etc)

Lids & food in fridge (Monday & Thursday)

Put dishes away (Wednesday, Saturday)

Tidied/cleared kitchen bench (Wednesday, Saturday)

Put washing on (Friday)

Other

Rubbed out markings in 1 puzzle book

Library

Shopping list (Friday)

Sorted out MGL plants pdf

Puzzles

17 Killer Sudoku

12 Kakuro

2 Code Crackers (Clueless)

1 Wheel Words (online)

[marcopolo1254]

References

Adams, C. W., George Sarton, and James R. Ware. “Queries and Answers.” Isis 37, no. 1/2 (1947): 68–73. http://www.jstor.org/stable/226165.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Lop Nur." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 25, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/place/Lop-Nur.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Hotan." Encyclopedia Britannica, July 28, 2010. https://www.britannica.com/place/Hotan.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Yarkand." Encyclopedia Britannica, September 24, 2013. https://www.britannica.com/place/Yarkand.

Cartwright, Mark. "Marco Polo." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified February 12, 2019. https://www.worldhistory.org/Marco_Polo/.

Cartwright, Mark. "Xanadu." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified September 18, 2019. https://www.worldhistory.org/Xanadu/.

Encyclopædia Britannica. “Hotan.” Image. March 20, 2024. https://cdn.britannica.com/62/129262-050-2830713C/Ruins-monastery-Melikawat-Hotan-China-Uygur-Autonomous.jpg

Huntington, Ellsworth. “Lop-Nor. A Chinese Lake. Part I. The Unexplored Salt Desert of Lop.” Bulletin of the American Geographical Society 39, no. 2 (1907): 65–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/198379.

Hartmann, Sabine. “The Wild West of China: Yarkant, Taklamakan Desert, and Camel Riding.” YouTube, uploaded by Sabine Hartmann, 20 Mar. 2024, https://youtu.be/KbmCCQJlF9I?si=UHuCC1EkW9L3IdI3.

Haw, Stephen G. Marco Polo’s China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2019. DOI: 10.4324/9780203606902.

History.com Editors. “Kublai Khan Image” HISTORY. A&E Television Networks, June 10, 2019. Originally published November 9, 2009. https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/gettyimages-51242295.jpg?width=1920&height=960&crop=1920%3A960%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp

Masefield, John. Introduction to Marco Polo’s Silk Road: The Art of the Journey: An Italian at the Court of Kublai Khan. Watkins Publishing, 2011, London. Marco Polo's Silk Road: the art of the journey, an Italian at the court of the Kublai Khan: Polo, Marco, 1254–1323? Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive

National Geographic. “The Silk Road Map” January 9, 2024. Web. the-silk-road-map.jpg (4486×3594) (nationalgeographic.org)

Ogata, N. Research Trip in the Tarim Basin, “Qiemo image”. Xinjiang, China. 2005. http://kyotohumanities.jp/ogata/xinjiang2005/Cherchen_11.jpg

Pietranera, Luca. “The Wandering Lake: Image of the Day.” NASA, Telespazio, Rome, Italy, based on data from the MODIS Science Team. 2001. The Wandering Lake: Image of the Day: NASA -- Caption and image courtesy Luca Pietranera, www.telespazio.it/ Telespazio, Rome, Italy, based on data from the modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS Science Team: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive

Rossabi, Morris. “The Early Mongols.” In Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times, 20th Anniversary Edition, With a New Preface, 1st ed., 1–21. University of California Press, 2009. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctv1xxz30.7.

Rodriguez, Jonathan. “Qiemo.” Central Asia Sites, 21 May 2017. » Qiemo Central Asia Sites (vassar.edu)

Sparavigna, Amelia Carolina. “From Kashgar to Xanadu in the Travels of Marco Polo.” Zenodo. 2020 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3759380. (PDF) From Kashgar to Xanadu in the Travels of Marco Polo (researchgate.net)

SY. "Map of Marco Polo's Travels." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified February 11, 2019. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/10041/map-of-marco-polos-travels/.

Towle, George M. Marco Polo: His Travels and Adventures. Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers; New York: Charles T. Dillingham, 1880. Marco Polo: His Travels and Adventures - AmblesideOnline - Charlotte Mason Curriculum

Rong Xinjiang, 榮新江. “Reality or Tale? Marco Polo’s Description of Khotan.” Journal of Asian History 49, no. 1 - 2. 2015. https://doi.org/10.13173/jasiahist.49.1-2.0161.

Yarkant County (Kashar). Travel guide: Tours, travel tips, attractions. “Yarkant image.” 2017 https://www.chinadragontours.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Yarkent-05.jpg

[lightdancer1]

That would be the Empress Matilda and the Anarchy, the era you refer to, laid the groundwork for the later Plantagenets and for Henry II, her literal son. That is the great-grandmother of Richard Lionheart and John Lackland and she deserves note for that.

And not only did the Khatuns in question wield power, they decided on the succession that paved the way for Khubilai Khan.....albeit at the price of fragmenting the unified empire and its replacement by the four Khaganates that succeeded it.

litany against the GOTification of history.

[fierce-little-miana]

"I consider the reign of Khubilai Khan, who originated and, therefore set the precendent for the Yuan, to be one of the most important of Mongol courtly display as it appears that the visual vocabulary of courtly garb that spread so quickly from East to West was established during his reign. In addition to establishing Mongol-style dress a symbol of elite power, Khubilai shrewdly manipulated pre-existing formulas for the expression of imperial power in the Chinese sphere and made them his own, in particular the genre of imperial portraiture."

Eiren L. Shea - Mongol court dress, identity formation, and global exchange

[papaveronamu]

I'm not lying when I say Khubilai Khan did some evil shits man. I don't like him that much

[thejackmeister-mongolhistory]

CHINGGIS KHAN CELEBRATES A HUNT WITH YOUNG KHUBILAI AND HÜLEGÜ, 1224

As reported by the Persian writer Rashid al-Dīn, in 1224 Chinggis Khan undertook the custom of yaghlamishi with his young grandson, Khubilai (aged 11) and Hülegü (aged 9). Celebrating their first hunting trip, Chinggis took fat from the kills and smeared them on the thumbs of the lads.

It's an interesting little story; recalling my previous post about Bolod Chingsang as an intermediary between Rashid al-Din and an older Khubilai decades later, we might wonder if this was a story Khubilai himself liked to retell. Considering Chinggis Khan died in 1227, it's possible this little ceremony was the final time Khubilai saw his grandfather.

We should also keep in mind who is being singled out here; the brothers Khubilai and Hülegü. Khubilai was the Great Khan of the Empire, whose legitimacy was recognized in the Ilkhanate, and Hülegü was the founder of the Ilkhanate. By focusing on the presence of these two boys (and excluding if any other grandsons were present!) Rashid here makes a direct line between Chinggis and these two lineages (beyond the obvious blood-relationship). By showing Chinggis personally taking part in smearing the fat on these grandsons (considering he had many, many grandsons) it's an indirect way of showing Chinggis saw them as special. The theme of famous grandfathers recognizing the importance of grandsons is not uncommon; in Rashid's own text, he has Hülegü's son and successor Abaqa Ilkhan (r.1265-1282) show extreme affection for his grandson Ghazan (r.1295-1304) who was Rashid's own patron. The 15th century Timurid author Mirkhwand has a story of Great Khan Ögedei (r.1229-1241) signalling his grandson Qaidu was exceptional and one day would be khan. The stories themselves may be real, but the details are possibly fudged in order to present them in a certain manner.

It's likely this Khubilai-Bolod connection from which Rashid provides his description of Chinggis Khan; learn more about that in my latest video:

[dsm-v]

If you know Khubilai Khan’s name, then you should also know his mother Sorghaghtani Beki’s name. Extant sources indicate that she was extremely influential in the affairs of the Mongol Empire; as such she could arguably be considered the most powerful woman in the world of her time. Go look her up.

[everydayisthe9thofmay]

✨ Died on this day: Marco Polo, Italian merchant, writer and explorer  (1254 – January 8–9, 1324)  ✨

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Marco lived an extraordinary life, for he left Venice when he was only some 17 years old and did not return until 24 years later, at the age of about 41 or 42. By then, he had lived most of his life as a foreigner in East Asia. He must have felt as much a foreigner in Venice after so long. No doubt he was happy to recount tales of his adventures, to anyone who would listen, and to see them set down in writing. For him, perhaps, the book was a link to his former life at the court of the Great Khan, a way to hold on to memories of something that he had lost forever. For us today, it is a fascinating glimpse into a remarkable period of history.

(Stephen G. Haw Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan, Routledge)

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵　　‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Image:  Mosaic of Marco Polo - Palazzo Grimaldi Doria-Tursi  (Municipal Palace of Genoa, Italy)

[lightdancer1]

Borte, the wife of Genghis Khan, was as extraordinary as he was:

Borte, the wife of Genghis Khan, lived a standard life in some ways save in both the scale and successes of Temujin's ambitions. As with Hoelun she was married in the classical Mongolian tradition of the bridal abduction. Unlike Hoelun she was also abducted from Genghis Khan which led to the set of allegations about the parentage of the eldest son in the marriage, Jochi. By a grim irony it would be the Jochids, the disliked and despised sons of questionable ancestry, whose dynasty lasted longest and fell to Ekaterina the Great of Russia's Empire in the same timespan as the American Revolution.

Borte was a vital part of Genghis Khan's rise, stabilizing his family, mediating between the sons. As long as she lived the feud over Jochi's ancestry didn't matter as much. When she did it began to become unglued and by the second generation it underlaid the war between Arig-Boke and Khubilai that ended the unified empire. Borte, as much as Temujin, deserves personal credit for why the Mongol Empire so briefly broke the cycle that had doomed all of its predecessors and like him she was a great innovator of the kind history has seldom seen.