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Qayishan Külüg Khan was Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1307-1311. A great-grandson of Khubilai Khan, before becoming Khan he was a prominent commander of Yuan Dynasty forces in the wars against Qaidu of the Ögedeyids and Du’a of the Chagatayids. A man with strong military support, along with the persuasion of his mother Dagi, this gave him the power-balance to help convince his brother Ayurbarwada (who was otherwise poised to become the next Great Khan after deposing Buluqan Khatun) to cede the claim to Qayishan, with the promise for Ayurbarwada to succeed him. He ascended the throne in summer 1307 under the regnal name Külüg Khan, “strong horse khan.”

Qayishan had spent his life in the steppes and with the army, and though he did have some Confucian education he had relatively little care for Chinese government norms or policies of his uncle, the late Temür-Öljeitü Khan, or of great-grandfather Khubilai. Qayishan immediately did away with many members of the existing bureaucracy, and replaced them with his allies who had fought with him in the steppes (including a number of Qipchaq, such as El-Temür). This was coupled with extravagant gift giving to the princes and other expenses, including the construction of a new capital called Zhongdu, between Dadu and Shangdu. Meeting these high costs (as well as massive relief efforts the government was spending for those affected by natural disasters) saw Qayishan institute new financial policies; rising the price for licenses for salt production (a government monopoly and important source of income), lifting prohibitions on independent production of alcohol (to collect taxes there), minting new coinage styles and printing new paper money while demonetizing existing currency.

In the short term most of Qayishan’s policies were largely unsuccessful, cut short with Qayishan’s sudden death in 1311, only 31 years old. He was peacefully succeeded by his younger brother Ayurbarwada. The new capital project, Zhongdu, was promptly abandoned. He was posthumously given the temple name Wuzong, meaning “Martial Ancestor.”

Description

Qayishan Külüg Khan was Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1307-1311. A great-grandson of Khubilai Khan, before becoming Khan he was a prominent commander of Yuan Dynasty forces in the wars against Qaidu of the Ögedeyids and Du’a of the Chagatayids. A man with strong military support, along with the persuasion of his mother Dagi, this gave him the power-balance to help convince his brother Ayurbarwada (who was otherwise poised to become the next Great Khan after deposing Buluqan Khatun) to cede the claim to Qayishan, with the promise for Ayurbarwada to succeed him. He ascended the throne in summer 1307 under the regnal name Külüg Khan, “strong horse khan.”

Qayishan had spent his life in the steppes and with the army, and though he did have some Confucian education he had relatively little care for Chinese government norms or policies of his uncle, the late Temür-Öljeitü Khan, or of great-grandfather Khubilai. Qayishan immediately did away with many members of the existing bureaucracy, and replaced them with his allies who had fought with him in the steppes (including a number of Qipchaq, such as El-Temür). This was coupled with extravagant gift giving to the princes and other expenses, including the construction of a new capital called Zhongdu, between Dadu and Shangdu. Meeting these high costs (as well as massive relief efforts the government was spending for those affected by natural disasters) saw Qayishan institute new financial policies; rising the price for licenses for salt production (a government monopoly and important source of income), lifting prohibitions on independent production of alcohol (to collect taxes there), minting new coinage styles and printing new paper money while demonetizing existing currency.

In the short term most of Qayishan’s policies were largely unsuccessful, cut short with Qayishan’s sudden death in 1311, only 31 years old. He was peacefully succeeded by his younger brother Ayurbarwada. The new capital project, Zhongdu, was promptly abandoned. He was posthumously given the temple name Wuzong, meaning “Martial Ancestor.”