Kublai Khan proclaimed the Yuan dynasty in 1271. He announced the new dynastic name on 18 December, presenting his rule in China as a Chinese imperial dynasty while retaining its origins in the Mongol Empire founded by his grandfather, Genghis Khan.
The proclamation did not mean that Kublai had already conquered all of China. The Southern Song dynasty continued to control much of southern China until the final Song defeat in 1279. Kublai’s declaration therefore marked a political and cultural re framing of Mongol rule, not the completion of the conquest.
The name Yuan came from a classical Chinese phrase associated with the beginning or primal source. Kublai moved the imperial capital to Khanbaliq, near present-day Beijing, and governed through institutions that combined Mongol political traditions with Chinese administrative practices. The Yuan dynasty eventually ruled most of China until it was overthrown by the Ming in 1368.
The dates 1260 and 1279 are common distractors. Kublai became Great Khan in 1260, while 1279 marks the conquest of the Southern Song. The dynastic proclamation itself belongs to 1271.