This volume explores the history of China between the Mongol reunification of China in 1279 under the Yuan dynasty and the Manchu invasion four centuries later, explaining how climate changes profoundly affected the empire during this period. The Mongol takeover in the 1270s changed the course of Chinese history. The Confucian empire, a millennium and a half in the making, was suddenly thrust under foreign occupation. What China had been before its reunification as the Yuan dynasty in 1279 was no longer what it would be in the future. Four centuries later, another wave of steppe invaders would replace the Ming dynasty with yet another foreign occupation.

Dragon spotting -- Scale -- The nine sloughs -- Khan and emperor -- Economy and ecology -- Families -- Beliefs -- The business of things -- The South China Sea -- Collapse -- Temperature and precipitation extremes -- The nine sloughs -- Succession of emperors.