Khubilai Khan's Strategy for Consolidating Power and Legitimizing Rule in China

Key Insight

Khubilai Khan’s genius derived from his recognition that China could not be conquered solely by force, despite his army's size and weaponry. He possessed keen strategic talent and the ability to implement ideas, applying these skills to expand and manage his territory. Ultimately, he achieved the conquest and unification of all China, the most populous country on Earth, through astute public politics rather than brute military strength. He won over the population by skillfully manipulating public opinion, presenting himself as more Chinese than the ruling Sung dynasty.

His strategy involved adopting Chinese cultural and administrative elements: he built a Chinese capital, took Chinese names, established a Chinese dynasty, and set up a Chinese administration. For most of its history, China was a great civilization but not a unified country, a dream held by the educated elite. Khubilai offered this elite the tantalizing opportunity to realize their nationalist desire. He acted as if Heaven had conferred its Mandate unmistakably on him, signaling the Sung dynasty’s decline. He began state-building around a Chinese cultural identity, much like Genghis Khan organized steppe tribes, but for a country of millions rather than thousands. To sinicize his image, he ordered the building of an ancestral temple in 1263, erected Chinese-style ancestral tablets by 1264, and posthumously conferred Chinese names on his ancestors in 1277, commissioning portraits that depicted them as Mandarin sages rather than Mongol warriors.

Khubilai acknowledged the utility of both a strong army and effective propaganda, but added good administration and policy as a third crucial element. He strove for an orderly and efficient government to build popular support and de-emphasize his foreign origin. Pacification Commissioners were appointed to restore relations with Han Chinese in newly conquered territories, repairing war-damaged public buildings, temples, and shrines. He commissioned a new Chinese-style imperial capital, Khanbalik (modern Beijing), in 1272, on the site of the former Jurched capital Zhongdu, which Genghis Khan had conquered in 1215. Designed with Muslim architects and Central Asian craftsmen, this city featured broad, straight streets and boulevards wide enough for nine horsemen, reflecting a compromise between nomadic and sedentary tastes.