Chapter 8 describes the system of governance of the Yuan dynasty, during the time of Great Khan Khubilai's reign. It demonstrates a fusion of Chinese, Khitan, Jurchen, Turkic, Tibetan and Mongolian civil and political elements which are manifested in a bureaucratic system. As a result of constant struggle for separation of civil and military powers even in the tripartite division of authority, there were examples of conflicts of jurisdiction between them, implying the importance of military institutions for the Mongols. The Central Secretariat gained the status of the hub of civilian bureaucracy, though faced issues including militarization and regional autonomy.

Chapter 9 discusses Chinese society under the reign of the Mongols including the conquests of Chinggis Khan and the end of the Yuan dynasty. It improves that Khubilai resorts to Chinese dynastic form and this can be interpreted as Chinese adaptation to Mongolian governance. Even though Mongols used Chinese advantages to expand their own territory, they also introduced the policies that helped China's development. The effects of the Mongol conquests depended on a number of a factors with the size of China being among the reasons of not having direct bombardments. The Mongke and Khubilai Khan's rules concerning settled populations were deliberate, but showed departure from the Chinese norms. It contends that the Yuan dynasty was the end point of a long trend that was also marked by various spontaneous changes associated with Mongolian dominance.