Like Cinderella, the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) has been treated as a step-sister in the study of China. The Song Dynasty (960–1279), with such luminaries as the reformer Wang Anshi (1021–1086), the historian Sima Guang (1019–1086), the philosopher Zhu Xi (1130–1200), the poet Su Shi (1036–1101), and the painter Fan Kuan (ca. 1023), has overshadowed the Mongolian-ruled Yuan. To be sure, the Song has rightfully received considerable attention. Its achievements in philosophy, the arts, technology, statecraft, historical writing, and literature compare favourably with Athenian Greece. Its capital of Hangzhou, the most populous city in the world, boasted an elaborate canal system, a fire department, and fine restaurants, and theatre. It was a center of culture and refinement and has attracted the interests of historians, art historians, and scholars of literature and philosophy, not to mention specialists on the history of science and technology.

Yet the Yuan also had considerable achievements to its credit and had greater global significance. The thirteenth-century Mongolian invasions had linked East Asia to Central and Western Asia and even to Europe. Eurasia became a reality, as developments from as far away as China influenced Iran and the Italian city states. Merchants, missionaries, entertainers, artists, and scientists travelled across the relatively peaceful routes stretching from Venice and Genoa to Tabriz and Samarkand and on to Hangzhou and Daidu (or Beijing). Circulation of people led to technological, religious, and artistic diffusion. The Mongols, requiring assistance in ruling the various domains they had subjugated, recruited advisers and officials of diverse ethnic backgrounds to govern their different realms, including China.

The Mongols' negative and positive impacts on Chinese affairs were also significant. The destruction they caused is undeniable. China's population declined, and the Mongol armies razed numerous towns and cities during their initial attacks. The Chinese were prevented from filling some of the most important government positions.