Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/260

Rh of the Mongols. Bora on the banks of the Onon, his father 也速該 Yesukai, a Mongol chieftain, named him 鐵木真 Temuchin, after a Tartar rival whom he had recently vanquished. Yesukai died when he was only thirteen years old; whereupon various tribes threw off their allegiance. Bat Temuchin and his mother took the field against their enemies, and soon asserted their ascendency. After offering his services to the Chins$a$, who then ruled over the north of China, he conducted a series of successful campaigns against various Tartar tribes; and at length in 1206 he felt himself powerful enough to assume an Imperial title. On the spot where he was born, he took the title of Genghis (or Jenghiz, or Chingiz) Khan, and forthwith began to make arrangements for a projected invasion of northern China. In 1209 he captured a pass of the Great Wall and gained possession of 寧夏 Ning-hsia in Kansuh. By 1214 he was able to say that he was master of all the enemy's territory north of the Yellow River, except Peking; and at this juncture he made peace with the Chin$a$ Emperor, retiring once more beyond the Great Wall. The latter immediately transferred his capital to Pien-liang in Honan, which created such suspicion in the mind of Genghis that hostilities were renewed. After several successful campaigns, including the submission of Korea, he turned his attention to Central Asia, where by 1221 he was master of Tashkend, Bokhara, Samarcand, and other cities. From this time forwards, until his death at the age of sixty-six, his career was one of slaughter and conquest. He died of sickness on the banks of the river Sale in Kansuh, and was canonised as 武皇帝, with the temple name of 太祖.

 Great Yü, The. See . 