Duan

The Duan were the Bai ruling house of Dali in Yunnan. Their founder Duan Siping overthrew Great Yining and established Dali in 937. After a Gao usurpation in 1094 to 1096, the restored kings largely left secular power to their Gao chief ministers and devoted themselves to Buddhism.

In 1253 Kublai Khan's army destroyed Dali; the last king Duan Xingzhi surrendered and was enfeoffed as Maharaja. The family served the Yuan as hereditary administrators. The ninth administrator Duan Guang took office in 1333 and defeated the Prince of Liang in 1343.

His brother Duan Gong saved the prince from the Red Turban invasion of 1363 and recovered Kunming, but was lured to his death at Tongji Bridge in 1365. In 1382 the Ming conquered Yunnan and refused the Duan chiefs' request to keep Dali as an autonomous tributary; the Hongwu Emperor scattered the clan.