Kublai Khan, Mongol emperor (b. 1215)
Kublai (; also spelled Qubilai or Kübilai; Mongolian: Хубилай, romanized: Khubilai ; Chinese: 忽必烈; pinyin: Hūbìliè; 23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), reigning from 1260 to 1294 as Setsen Khan (ᠰᠡᠴᠡᠨᠬᠠᠭᠠᠠᠨ; 薛禪汗) and Kublai Emperor (忽必烈皇帝), was the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire, although after the division of the empire this was a nominal position. He proclaimed the empire's dynastic name "Great Yuan" in 1271, and ruled Yuan China until his death in 1294, known posthumously as Emperor Shizu of Yuan (Chinese: 元世祖; pinyin: Yuán Shìzǔ) by his temple name Shizu.
Kublai was the fourth son of Tolui (his second son with Sorghaghtani Beki) and a grandson of Genghis Khan. He was almost 12 when Genghis Khan died and had succeeded his older brother Möngke as Khagan in 1260, but had to defeat his younger brother Ariq Böke in the Toluid Civil War lasting until 1264. This episode marked the beginning of the fragmentation of the empire. Kublai's real power was limited to the Yuan Empire, even though as Khagan he still had influence in the Ilkhanate and, to a significantly lesser degree, in the Golden Horde. If one considers the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, his realm reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea, from Siberia to what is now Afghanistan.In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan dynasty, which ruled over present-day China, Mongolia, Korea, and some adjacent areas; he also amassed influence in the Middle East and Europe as a Khagan. He assumed the role of Emperor of China. By 1279, the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty was completed and Kublai became the first non-Han emperor to unite all of China proper.
The imperial portrait of Kublai was part of an album of the portraits of Yuan emperors and empresses, now in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. White, the color of the imperial costume of Kublai, was the imperial color of the Yuan dynasty.