The Yuan dynasty and Marco Polo

Kublai, grandson of Genghis Khan, completes the conquest of China, proclaims himself emperor and gives his dynasty the Chinese name Yuan, setting his capital where Beijing now stands. The Mongols rule through ranked classes of subjects, take foreigners into service readily, and maintain a postal relay across all Asia. By these roads the Venetian Marco Polo reaches China; returning, he tells of paper money, of stone that burns, of cities with a thousand bridges — and many in Europe do not believe him. A train of floods, epidemics and revolts sweeps the Yuan away in less than a hundred years.