Whoah. Song Dynasty China was the best. At least before the Mongols invaded and turned everything to shit.

Song Dynasty might have been ancient China’s best chance to kickstart the industrial revolution in China.

After the Mongol wars, the Mongols claimed the throne for ~100 years.

Then, the Ming retook power. But, something was lost. And China was never the same again. And the rest is history.

Also 元(yuán) is exactly 'Chinese Yuan' you hear about today.

... except the name of the modern currency is derived from 圓 yuán, meaning "circle", and 元 is only used as a simplified version because they're homophones in Standard Mandarin. According to Zhengzhang Shangfang's reconstruction, their Middle Chinese pronunciations were /ŋʉɐn/ 元 and /ɦˠiuᴇn/ 圓 respectively.