From what I've gathered online, most of the sources state that the mongols were considered outsiders in Yuan China, but I'm wondering what the average joe would think. Despite their poor treatment of the southerners, (also please give me some details. All I found was that the southerners were worst off in court and was only allowed 1 knife per 5 household. However, I don't know if it is true.) They brought a lot of prosperity to China with the silk road. The reason (that I was able to find) that the Yuan dynasty collapsed was because of famines, taxes and wars. Which led to higher taxes, leading to a rebellion. Generally, the websites I checked were very vague.
What would the average Chinese think of the Mongols?
I think that the average Chinese may feel tough under the rule of Mongols. The Mongols divided people into different class by race and occupation caused huge dissatisfaction and dissension. However, most of the Chinese believed that Yuan was a legitimate government of China. There are records mentioned numerous scholar officials and intellectuals die for Yuan. In the commonplace books of late Yuan and Early Ming, we can discover many affirmative statements and positive comments towards Yuan dynasty.
For example, Emperor Hongwu, who once was a peasant of Yuan and became the founder of Ming Dynasty, did not considered Mongols as outsider. There are several clues can be found in "Mingshi"(History of Ming). While emperor Hongwu decided to enshrine great rulers of the past in the temple of past dynasties, Kublai Khan was on the list. In the temple of important officials of the past dynasties, they didn't omit Mongols. Emperor Hongwu, Ming government and scholars actually admitted Yuan's legitimacy and orthodox status. They were seen as part of China and part of Chinese history.
In addition, the opinion of considering Mongols and Yuan as outsider of China most likely appeared during or after the era of Jiajing(1521-1567). Trade embargo and border conflicts caused Mongol's invasion in 1550. Due to the Ming-Mongol relation rapidly worsen, people began to reconstruct the history of the late Yuan and early Ming. Emperor Jiajing expelled Kublai Khan and Yuan's official from all imperial temples. So we have to pay attention to the written period of sources. People in different era held different attitude to the same history.
In conclusion, during Yuan and early Ming dynasty, average Chinese apparently think that Mongol was legitimate ruler with bad ruling skills. Era of Kublai Khan was the brightest time of Yuan Dynasty while Chinese can share prosperity under great inequality. Unfortunately, they lost opportunity to continue their rule in China because they failed to maintain stability. (fail to reduce inflation and repair irrigation works of The Yellow River etc.) The only way allowed Ming creating claim on China was inheriting legitimacy from Yuan.
Sources:
"Mingshi", Zhonghua Book Company(1974), pp.1292-1294, 8478-8481
Liu Pu-jiang:"元明革命中的民族主義想像"(Nationalism Imagination In Yuan-Ming Revolution), Journal of Chinese Historical Studies(2014)
Timothy Brook, "The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties", China CITIC Press (2016)