Social and Political Impacts of Plague in Yuan Dynasty: An Essay

This essay delves into the devastating spread of the plague during the Yuan Dynasty, examining its origins in northwestern China around 1331 and its impact on both the social and political landscapes. The essay highlights the immense loss of life, with estimates suggesting a 90% mortality rate in affected areas, and details how the disease spread through trade networks, impacting regions across Asia. It explores the societal responses, including theories about the plague's origins and the rise of superstitious beliefs and clashes between religious groups. Politically, the essay discusses how the plague strained international relations and disrupted trade, leading to economic hardships and political instability. The conclusion emphasizes the widespread social unrest and political dysfunction that resulted from the epidemic, underscoring the plague's profound and lasting impact on the Yuan Dynasty and its neighboring regions.

Running head: SPREAD OF PLAGUE IN YUAN DYNASTY
Spread of Plague in Yuan Dynasty
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SPREAD OF PLAGUE IN YUAN DYNASTY
This essay will focus on the spread of plague during the period of Yuan dynasty and
what were the impacts on the politics and society of Japan. The impact it had on the
population of the world and the sufferings that were caused due to the suspicions that arose in
the society.
Spread of plague during the Yuan dynasty: Social and Political Impacts
It is believed that plague originated in the North western China under the rule of the
Yuan Empire in the year 1331. It was estimated that due to the spread of plague around 90%
of the population in Hebei Province was completely eroded (Hymes 2016). The disease
spread to the different parts of Asia that were in trade and other relations with China. Three
hundred ethnic tribes were completely perished due to plague. Most of the population in Asia
was eroded till the land of Korea. It is projected that through the trade relations that were
there between the countries who dealt with China, the epidemic spread towards India and
Persia. The plague was a new disease that had erupted in the society and it had no cure
available. There were many theories that were projected by European thinkers that plague had
erupted due to super natural activities, famines, earthquakes and malicious activities. Another
reason that found prominence that God’s anger is the main reason for the mass death that
occurred in the world due to plague. Rats were the main cause for the spread of plague but
people were highly determined that this is the punishment that is inflicted by God. The
society resorted to black magic and godly sermons to protect themselves from God’s
punishment. There were clashes that emerged in the society because individuals belonging to
Christianity suffered heavy loss of life in comparison to the Jews. This created a suspicious
attitude amongst the Christians that the Jews were responsible for the mass destruction of life.
This led to the bloodshed Jews and the community suffered heavily (Yeh et al 2016). In the
political context, the monarchs stripped the trade relationships with all the countries that were
detected to suffer from plague. This resulted in stressed between the countries who had

2SPREAD OF PLAGUE IN YUAN DYNASTY
political relationships with each other. Fishing on large scale was also banned and considered
illegal. There were different restrictions imposed on trade relations. The economy of the
country suffered due to the scrapping of trade relations. During those times trade was a major
contributor in maintain the political relations. Thus, it can be concluded that China suffered a
lot during the period when plague became an epidemic (Silviu 2017). The society suffered
heavy loss of life and the political relationships also faced strain. The strained relationships
resulted in political dysfunction of the country and reduced the efficiency of governance.
Thus it can be concluded that he spread of plague in the China during the rule of the
Yuan tribe caused a lot of political and social unrest in the country and the neighboring ones.
It resulted in violent activities in the society that were contributed by the social and political
events that happened in the country.

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References
Hymes, R., 2016. Epilogue: A hypothesis on the East Asian beginnings of the Yersinia pestis
polytomy. The Medieval Globe, 1(1), p.12.
Silviu, N.A.T.E., 2017. CHINA’S GRAND STRATEGIC ROLE IN A GLOBALIZED
WORLD. Studia Securitatis, 2(2), pp.72-82.
Yeh, H.Y., Mao, R., Wang, H., Qi, W. and Mitchell, P.D., 2016. Early evidence for travel
with infectious diseases along the Silk Road: Intestinal parasites from 2000 year-old personal
hygiene sticks in a latrine at Xuanquanzhi Relay Station in China. Journal of Archaeological
Science: Reports, 9, pp.758-764.