The Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan attempted in 1293 to invade Java, an island in modern Indonesia, with 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. This was intended as a punitive expedition against Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to the Yuan and maimed one of their emissaries. However, in the intervening years between Kertanegara's refusal and the expedition's arrival on Java, Kertanegara had been killed and Singhasari had been usurped by Kediri. Thus, the Yuan expeditionary force was directed to obtain the submission of its successor state, Kediri, instead. After a fierce campaign, Kediri surrendered, but the Yuan forces were betrayed by their erstwhile ally, Majapahit, under Raden Wijaya. In the end, the invasion ended with Yuan failure and strategic victory for the new state, Majapahit.

Kublai, the founder of the Yuan dynasty, had sent envoys to many states demanding that they pay tributes and submit themselves to Yuan China. Men-shi or Meng-qi (孟琪), one of his ministers, was sent to Java (Singhasari) but was not well received there. The king of Singhasari, Kertanegara, was offended by Men-shi's proposal and branded his face with a hot iron as was done to common thieves, cut his ears, and scornfully sent him on his way. Kublai Khan was shocked and ordered a punitive expedition against Kertanegara, whom he labeled a barbarian, in 1292. The campaign also had other objectives. According to Kublai Khan, if the Yuan forces were able to defeat Singhasari, the other countries around it would submit themselves. The Yuan dynasty could then control the Asian sea trade routes, because of the strategic geographical position of the archipelago in trading.

According to the History of Yuan, 20,000–30,000 men were collected from Fujian, Jiangxi, and Huguang in southern China, along with 500–1,000 ships and enough provisions for a year. The officers were the Han Chinese Shi Bi, the Yugur Yighmish, who were experienced in overseas voyages, and the Han Chinese Gao Xing.

Meanwhile, after defeating Malayu Dharmasraya in Sumatra in 1290, Singhasari became the most powerful kingdom in the region. Kertanegara sent a massive army to Sumatra in the Pamalayu campaign. However, seizing the opportunity of the lack of an army guarding the capital, in 1292 Jayakatwang, the Duke of Kediri (Gelang-gelang), a vassal state of Singhasari, revolted against Kertanegara. Jayakatwang's revolt was assisted by Kertanegara's former close friend, Banyak Wide (also known by his title Arya Wiraraja), who secretly despised Kertanegara since he was removed from being a minister/chamberlain of Singhasari and was sent to Madura as the governor in Sumenep.

The Kediri (Gelang-gelang) army attacked Singhasari simultaneously from both the north and south flanks. The king of Singhasari only noticed the invasion from the north and sent his son-in-law, Nararya Sanggramawijaya (Raden Wijaya), northward to vanquish the rebellion. The northern attack was quashed, but the southern attack under the command of Kebo Mundarang successfully remained undetected until it reached and sacked the unprepared capital city of Kutaraja. Jayakatwang usurped and killed Kertanegara during the Tantra sacred ceremony while drinking palm wine, thus bringing an end to the Singhasari Kingdom. The death of Kertanegara and the fall of Singhasari is recorded in the Gajah Mada inscription in the month of Jyesta in 1214 Saka, which has been interpreted as April–May 1292 or between 18th May and the 15th June of 1292.

Having learned of the fall of the Singhasari capital of Kutaraja to the Kediri rebellion, Raden Wijaya tried to return and defend Singhasari but failed. He and his three colleagues, Rangga Lawe, Sora, and Nambi, went into exile to Madura under the protection of the regent Arya Wiraraja, who then turned to Jayakatwang's side. Kertanegara's son-in-law, Raden Wijaya, submitted to Kediri, and being brokered by Arya Wiraraja he was pardoned by Jayakatwang. Wijaya was then permitted to establish a new settlement in Tarik timberland. The new settlement was named Majapahit, which was taken from maja fruit that had a bitter taste in that timberland (maja is the fruit name and pahit means 'bitter').

There were 5,000 men commanded by Shi Bi, 2,000 from the garrison in Fujian Province, and soldiers from Jiangxi, Fujian, and Huguang provinces. The personal equipment during the expedition was not explicitly recorded. If the equipment was similar to the Mongol invasion of Japan, the soldiers would have worn light steel helmets and hide armor. The weapons included pikes, battle axes, reflex bows, rockets, and tiě pào (鐵炮 — grenades launched by catapults). Ethnic Mongol soldiers also brought horses. The History of Yuan also mentioned cannon (Chinese: 炮 — Pào). From the record of Ibn Battuta, Chinese ships carried naphtha shooters/throwers. The kind of ships used in the campaign is not mentioned in the History of Yuan, but the norm of Chinese junks pre-1500 was about 20–30 m (65.6–98.4 ft) long. Worcester estimates that the large junks of the Yuan dynasty were 36 feet (10.97 m) in beam and over 100 feet (30.48 m) long. By using the ratio between the number of ships and total soldiers, each ship may have carried a maximum capacity of 30 or 31 men. David Bade estimated a capacity of 20 to 50 men per ship.

The History of Yuan recorded that the Javanese army had more than 100,000 men. This is now believed to be an exaggerated or mistaken number. Modern estimates place the Javanese forces at around the same size as the Yuan army, of around 20,000 to 30,000 men. According to a Chinese record, Java already had a standing army, an achievement that only a handful of Southeast Asian empires could hope to achieve. This army numbered around 30,000 men that were paid in gold, recorded as early as 1225 in Zhu Fan Zhi.