List of emperors of the Yuan dynasty

The Yuan dynasty was the antepenultimate imperial dynasty of China, proclaimed on 18 December 1271 by Kublai Khan, which succeeded the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty. It also functioned as a continuation of the Mongol Empire, which had been founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, but which subsequently split into four autonomous states. The emperors of the Yuan dynasty thus comprise both Kublai's successors as rulers of China, and his predecessors up to his grandfather Genghis, who was retrospectively presented as the founder of the dynasty.

The rulers of the Yuan dynasty were nominally superior to those of the other three post-Mongol states, but each was de facto independent of the others and occupied with their own territories. Kublai founded the Yuan dynasty to appease his Han Chinese subjects and began to continue their imperial traditions, such as taking temple names and era names. He and his successors nevertheless retained the Mongol title of khan.

Although the reigns of Kublai and his successor Temür were generally peaceful, weaknesses in the Yuan administration became apparent and led to a gradual breakdown of political stability. By the mid-14th century, the Yuan state became impossible to govern, and in 1368 the last emperor, Toghon Temür, was forced to flee China. His descendants continued to rule a rump state in Inner Mongolia, known as the Northern Yuan, until 1634.