It was only a single tribe of Mongols, united in a federation with other steppe peoples, that should acheive hegemony not only over the neigboring people, but also over whole East Asia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. By sudden attacks, these "warriors of the hell" should destroy blooming cultures of Persia, Mesopotamia and Southeast Asia. The conquest of China and South Asia proceeded much slower, partially because of topographical hindrances like mountains and sea, partially because the Chinese already had long experience with intruding nomad tribes and had developed (almost) perfect defense instruments. In the case of the Mongols, the Jin Empire 金 had served as a buffer zone between the Mongols and the Song Empire 宋. It took the Mongols fourty years to conquer the whole of China. Although the Mongols were a Non-Chinese people that destroyed many empires and kingdoms from the Pacific rim to Eastern Europe and the Near East, they were also creators of new realms that should last for at least several decades. Their Yuan Dynasty should survive a century. The Mongolian federation - that also comprised people of other ethnic groups - was not the first Non-Chinese dynasty on Chinese soil, and like their predecessors the Chinese rulers of Mongolian origin should also adopt Confucianism as their state doctrine, they should exert a civil government in the path of the traditional Chinese bureaucracy, and the Mongolian rulers should learn Chinese, wear Chinese clothes, follow Chinese customs and habits, write in Chinese and create Chinese paintings and poems. Once more, the highly civilized nation of China seemed to be able to absorb a foreign ruling people totally. Nonetheless the Mongol rule over China is somewhat different from the previous Non-Chinese realms (Northern Wei 北魏 of the Tuoba 拓跋, Liao 遼 of the Khitan 契丹, Jin 金 of the Jurchen 女真) whose rulers and ruling peoples were gradually absorbed not only by Chinese culture but ethnically merged with the Chinese and became Chinese peasants. Ethnic separation between the Non-Chinese and Chinese was more or less exerted under all Non-Chinese dynasties, intermarriages were forbidden, and Chinese officials could only obtain a restricted range of posts within the governmental structure. But all older Non-Chinese rulers had to rely on Chinese experts to create an effective central government with an organized bureaucratic structure. The Mongol rulers assumed an extreme position in the separation of different ethnic groups, and they relied mostly on Non-Chinese advisors from Central Asia in questions of government. When the Chinese rose against the brutal Mongol regime in the 1360es they were able to cast out the most part of the ruling Mongol "class" out of China. The effects of the Mongol rule can be observed in two fields. Because Chinese intellectuals were prohibited to climb higher positions within the ladder of bureaucratic career they withdrew to inner immigration and engaged in arts and literature. Novels, vernacular literature and the popular theatre became literary genres acceptable for the higher educated. The second effect lies in the authoritarian style of the government of the subsequent Ming Dynasty 明.

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