Helian BoBo once changed his name to Liu BoBo because his ancestors belonged to the Han Dynasty. He gave himself the same surname as the royal family of the Han Dynasty. After the downfall of both the Han and Western Jin dynasties, he reawakened the bloodline of the Xiongnu people. In order to restore his identity as a Xiongnu person, he changed his name to Helian BoBo again
He caused the genocide of the Xiongnu in China in 431. Before the rebellion, the Xiongnu had lived comfortably under the protection of the Han for hundreds of years. Other nomadic tribes would not take kindly to them and simply killed them all.
Thanks, hope you find this video and other ones in the series helpful! There just aren't that many sources available in English that cover Chinese narrative history, so hopefully this series can be a good source of information.
You're becoming the much needed eastern equivalent to Historia Civilis and I hope you become just as big because the quality of your videos. Chinese history has always facinated me but somehow felt out of reach and you made it very accessible.
Thanks, appreciate the support! It's been exciting to see the growth of this channel over the past few weeks, and looking forward to producing more videos like this in the future.
My wife and I recently discovered your channel and are immensely enjoying them! These are the best English language videos on Chinese history available on UA-cam. We encourage you to keep it up. I also enjoy your videos on non-Chinese history as well.
Thanks, and I'm glad you guys have enjoyed them! One of my main goals for creating this channel is to make both narrative Chinese history and ancient geography, both of which I grew up enjoying, more accessible to a non-Chinese speaking audience. I'll be working on them steadily to get through medieval Chinese history and then back into ancient Chinese history, although may also be slow at times to ensure quality and accuracy.
Wow, I knew this period was a mess but I didn't realize it was *that* big of a mess. Thank you for going through it all in detail and making it at least somewhat comprehensible. The bits about Kumarajiva and Faxian I found were especially interesting. At some point it might be worth doing a deep dive into the history of Chinese religion more broadly. I feel like I have a general understanding of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism but a lot of the time they're only explained in a very abstract philosophical way that doesn't always seem to line up with what is described in the historical record. Sort of like how just looking at what Jesus preaches in the Bible is not necessarily a good indication of what the medieval catholic church was actually like. If you found time to get into more of what sort of rituals the Emperors are actually expected to perform, what religious practice looked like for different groups of people, what sorts of superstitions people held and why the Emperors care so much about people not using their names, I would find that very interesting. Thank you as always and keep up the great work!
Thanks for the feedback as usual. Yes definitely there's a lot of stuff to talk about for Chinese religious history, and there's been quite a few instances where religion overlapped with political events too. For these videos I want to cover both historical events and the bigger social/economic/religious contexts behind the events, so I'll have to find the right videos or the right time periods to introduce certain themes in the proper context. As for why emperors cared so much about people not using their names, in a nutshell that's just part of the traditional Chinese naming taboo custom which applies to all levels of society, although since the emperors were at the top and many were quite egotistical there's lots of specific instances where they went way overboard. Some of these specific instances might be good to bring up sometime too, or even as part of a standalone video.
I finished reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms recently and have had an interest in Chinese history following that period, these videos are really amazing, thank you! Its interesting to me how the end of ROTK frames it as if China has once again been unified and returned to 'normal' when we know that what really happens is hundreds more years of disunity
Thanks, glad you hear you've enjoyed the videos. Yeah the periods after RoTK is quite chaotic, probably too chaotic even for a novel to write about. I want to address this in a video eventually, but in essence the way the RoTK portrays Chinese history as just cycles of unity-disunity-unity actually does a disservice to the uniqueness of the Three Kingdoms Period, and the extended period of chaos afterwards only emphasizes how significant the events of the Three Kingdoms were.
Absolutely in love with these videos; the periods of steppe people rule in China is very unrepresented but they're such fascinating and dynamic times. If I can make any requests, if you have the time I'd love to see more deep dives into how beliefs, culture, and social organization during these periods. The everyday reality beyond changing colours on the map.
I'm glad you've liked them, and thanks for the feedback too. And yes definitely, these are all important themes to explore and for putting the political events from these chaotic centuries into perspective. I'm working on the writing for the next few videos right now, and one of the tricky things is finding the right balance going back and forth between narrative history and exploring how these broader issues evolved over time. Very much looking forward to sharing those videos when they're done.
Love your videos on Chinese history, I've just finished watching all of them. One request I'd like to make is a video dedicated to the history of the Sichuan basin.
Thanks! And yes of course, the Sichuan Basin is quite populated and important, and I plan to make videos on its geography like I've done with Xuzhou so far, and will also cover historical events that took place there in the videos about those time periods.
Thanks, I'm glad you've enjoyed them. I can't wait to get to the Sui and Tang Dynasties too, just have to make sure I don't go too fast and get sloppy with research and quality control.
Ever since learning of the jaw-dropping unravelling of the Western Jin dynasty, (so soon after the famous Romantic 3 Kingdoms!), the ensuant moniker of a period known as 16!! Kingdoms, has had me hoping and searching for an accessible English-language historical narrative, of what could only be an excitingly complex time. And here, you have done it full justice!! Thankyou so much for this understandable, detailed, nuanced, and highly enjoyable video series! An instant favourite.
Thanks for your support, and glad you liked it! Like you said this period is extremely crazy and hard to keep track of the events, although it's also a very exciting period with all kinds of fascinating characters.
Thanks! I'm still working on refining my techniques and learning a lot from making each video, so hopefully with time I'll be able to gradually build on things to grow the channel.
This is an excellent presentation. I've read up on this period some, but yours is one of the clearest and most organized interpretations I've seen. I find it fascinating that this much confusion and change was taking place in what was basically the traditional heartland of historical China.
Glad it was helpful! And yes the amount of chaos during this period was absolutely insane. I usually hate to split north and south in separate videos, but for this time period I had no choice if I didn't want the video to be 2 hours long.
I have been binge watching your videos and I can't wait for your next one. This period of chinese history tends to be a blur for many people due to the constant rise and collapse of states. I'm glad you're covering it.
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed them! It's been very personally rewarding for me to research and write about this period too, since it finally forced me to think through a lot of details and relationships that I've glossed over in the past.
I am so invested. When Later Qin fell to Helian Bobo I was shook. It seems like things were going good, but like you said, they were surrounded. Absolutely love these videos, binged them all last night and throughout today and can’t wait for the next one!
@@gatesofkilikienSo glad!! Also super happy the algorithm blessed you as of late! Very sure you’ll hit 100k in no time with this level of professionalism and attention to detail. 🤗
Thanks for covering Chinese idioms and geography. I didn't receive any educations Chinese histories during my childhood and it really helped me understand the reason why some Campaigns were so important. 我少时看过94年的三国演义和98年水浒。 自从看了这频道，我终于明白荆州与徐州的重要性。
Well done! Making sense of this period, let alone explaining it so clearly, must have been very difficult. But like one of the good emperors, you have made order out of chaos. 👍😊
Thanks, glad it was helpful! It took a long time to write and reorganize all the events into chronological order, although was quite rewarding to do too.
I did not know that so many amazing people and sages left such mark on Chinese history outside the well known figures of old records from the spring and Autumn period till the end of the three kingdoms era. Thank you for the valuable videos, keep them coming. Strangely enough not many documentaries go super in depth post the Jin dynasty.
Yes there are lots of pretty underrated periods in Chinese history, and the Jin Dynasty tends to especially be not so popular. Thanks for your support as well!
I appreciate the work you spent in the longer format of this video. Your videos about how geography influences so many things is very interesting. I hope to see more of the natural beauty of China in future videos!
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed them! And yes history and geography are highly intertwined, and for Chinese history there's a long tradition of studying both history and geography at once. And I've been meaning to include more pictures in my future videos to better show the places I'm talking about.
Thanks :) Definitely in the future I'll do more non-Chinese history as well, starting with Greek and Roman stuff for which I already have drafts that I need to add the finishing touches to, and then to other areas of the world.
@@1Anime4you I'll likely include it in my region by region breakdown of Ancient Greece. Right now I only have the video on the Peloponnese published, although I have a partial draft for Ionia and the rest of the eastern Aegean coast so that will probably be the most appropriate video to put these events in.
Glad to see the algorithm picked up on you! I‘ve read up on Chinese history for a while and while I got the sequence of dynasties and their general features more or less memorised, the period between the fall of Eastern Han and the founding of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was always a blur to me. I suspect I confused the Jin Dynasty mentioned here with the later Manchu dynasty of the same name that sacked Kaifeng and ended the Northern Song, if memory serves... Had not heard what actually happened to the three kingdoms either, so it‘s very interesting to see the complex dance of unification and fragmentation take place. I imagine it‘ll take you a long time but I‘d love to hear more about the Song dynasty in general. I feel they have often been overlooked due to their reduced size and fall to the mongols, but their much more mercantile culture seems like a very interesting counterfactual to me. Perhaps if the Mongol invasions had not happened, China would have been more open to ideas and technologically stronger in the Ming and Qing eras, and we could be living in a very different world.
Thanks for the support! Yeah this period is quite crazy, and I'd say even most Chinese people who like history tend to just have vague impressions of it. The whole Jin/Jin thing is confusing in English - at least in Chinese the tones are different. I'm looking forward to writing about the Song Dynasty, will just have to get through the periods before it first. With the greater political stability it'll also be a better time to talk about things like arts/culture, literature, economy, and those pesky political debates over governmental reforms.
One thing I genuinely don't understand is how come historians & most of the Chinese claim various (non-han) dynasties as fairly Sinicised when the nobles of respective dynasties firmly believed they should maintain their nomadic culture & it's elements (Like in the example you have given with emperor Daowu & not adoring Confucian/Daoist values) Most importantly how were Han people treated during this period or as a matter of fact under any dynasty which is of non-Han origin.
One thing that we know for sure is that the sinicization process during the Northern Wei dynasty was not a simple case of one culture replacing another, but rather an intricate interplay of cultural exchange, political maneuvering, and social adaptation. The ruling Tuoba clan was internally divided on the issue of sinicization. Some members, like Emperor Xiaowen, favored the adoption of Chinese customs and institutions as a way to solidify their rule and gain legitimacy. Others resisted these changes, preferring to maintain their nomadic traditions and the privileged status of the Xianbei. These divisions came to clashes as Emperor Xiaowen was opposed by conservative factions who wished to retain a more "Xianbei" identity for Northern Wei. Additionally, the above mentioned political stand points also reflected in the treatment of the government towards the conquered Hans. While they were not considered equal to the Xianbei rulers, they were granted a higher social standing than conquered nomadic groups (And had Emperor Xiaowen not faced any resistance, things could've had gone far smoother). Hower, in the end, all these things don't really matter that much when Northern Wei became broken into two halves and greatly sinicised... Skip all of these boring things and we have the foundation for the reunification of China under the Sui dynasty.
Great vid - covers a very complex period of history that many likely have no familiarity with, and conveys the info clearly while still providing important historical context and giving some indication of events'/individuals' impact on history outside of the scope of the video. I especially liked the "wrap up" review comparing the 16 Kingdoms list to what was covered over the video at the end.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, this period is very complicated, and even the Chinese sources tend to either gloss over it or present it state by state so it’s hard to keep the big pictures straight. Hopefully this video and some of the others in the series can make the period less daunting - it’s such an exciting period too despite the complexity.
Bro, this being just a blur and hard to udnerstand. I love this shit. The geopolitical climate in this time period is absolutely fascinating and I never even knew anything about it until now. This is the kinda stuff I love. The only thing that is missing for it to be my dream-scenario is knowing the specific tactics that generals used on the battlefield. But this focuses on politics anyway, so it's not a knock by any means.
Thanks for the feedback, and glad to hear you've enjoyed the video! Yeah resources about the political events of this time period is basically non-existent in English, so I'm happy to do my part to add to the collection of resources available. I'm starting to write more about military tactics too, starting with the next video on Liu Yu and the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It's part of the reason why it's taken much longer to write, since I have to add in a lot more details. I'm looking forward to sharing it once it's done though.
@@gatesofkilikien Man, I'm looking forward to seeing it. It's really wonderfull what you do, since most times when you try to learn about chinese history before the Tang, you get met with some wack ass shit. Like, I remember seeing a documentary some years ago about the rise of Qin, where they basically said Qin conquered china with 2 million heavy infantry. So, not very reliable. But you make actual fact based videos, and I really apreciate that.
This channel's videos are really good, i really enjoy the content. I think this channel has a lot of potential. A video I would want to see would be about the gansu corridor and Chinese control over Xinjiang.
Thanks! I'll try to weave geography with each video, and for these more western areas certainly as I begin to cover events that take place in the region I'll be able to discuss more of these things.
Thanks for the suggestion - it's a topic that I've been in some (very early) pre-contemplation stage for. I generally am not as interested or exposed to modern history as I am for earlier time periods and so haven't been dealing with it much in my videos, but given the significance of WW2 and the sacrifices of those involved I feel like it would be a worthwhile effort.
Love your vids been binging them for the last 3 days. Looking forward to more. Just curious if theres any other history channels you would personally reccommend for more english 'niche' history?
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed them! I love Eastory, even if WW2 probably doesn't count as 'niche' history, and I still cannot wrap my head around how the creator(s) manage to illustrate those maps. Of the ancient histories I also really like toldinstone.
I hope one day you can make a video about the first half of the 6th century. I find Hou Jing one of the most fascinating figures in Chinese History (from a safe distance of 1500 years, that is. I surely would not have wanted to be around him at the time 🫣) The way he was able to cause chaos and wreckage in both the North and the South, and expose everybody else’s worst instincts along the way, he would make for a great movie protagonist, wouldn’t he?
Your videos are amazing! Have watched several of them, it gave very good insights into history and geography. Recently I read and watched some history videos about the western regions (新疆，高昌) of China. If can explore and share about that will be good. I read it was initially some Aryan tribes, then Buddhism arrived, then there's a Muni sect, and how it become Muslim today.
Thanks, glad you've found them helpful! The Western Regions has a fascinating history, and Gaochang was one of the key cities there. I left it out of this video since it didn't feature as much in the events of this one, but will include it when it becomes more relevant in the future videos.
I hadn't thought of making a video on it, but I think it's a great suggestion and I can definitely see it being useful especially for tracing the origins/lineages of the more famous surnames. It should also be a very fun video to write. I'll add it on my list of potential topics, although it might be a while before I get to it since I currently have a huge backlog of drafts and partial sketches that I've accumulated over the last 1.5 years since I started the channel.
Just wanted to let you know this is some great content. Very concise explanations of a very complex period in Chinese history. Would you have any books to recommend to learn more about this time period? Thanks in advance.
Glad you've found it helpful. One of my main sources in English is the Cambridge History of China vol 2 The Six Dynasties. There's also "Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900" - I've only read bits of it so far although it seems really good, and I will have to go through some more of it for my research on the next video of this series on Liu Yu and the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Hi, I wanted to express many thanks for all these detailed videos about China's geography and history. I would really be interested in seeing a video about the various Chinese dialects and how they developed from a geographical and historical standpoint. As a speaker of Teochew (a Min Nan dialect spoken in Guangdong), I've always been curious about all the other southern dialects of Chinese and how they came to be. There isn't much good content about this topic on UA-cam. Cheers! :)
Thanks, appreciate the support and feedback! This topic is definitely something that I want to do at some point, and I've started to collect potential reference materials/sources to prepare for it. It'll be a very challenging topic to write about, especially since there's still so much unclear details and disagreements about so many aspects of Old and Middle Chinese, so I want to make sure I have a good grasp of the material before attempting it.
I love Chinese history it's so cool. The three kingdoms period & yellow turban rebellion period were so crazy. The Chinese people have endured so much hardship over the years, they are tough. I'd really like to go there 1 day
Idk will you read this, but if you do, I have some ideas I really really really wanna see become a video and if anyone can make it it’s you Can you make a video on the non-Chinese civilization of China? It’s so difficult to find other videos. Mainly the now south East Asian groups like Hmong in San Miao, tai kradai and Austronesian in baiyou, etc. many Chinese sources will just say “barbarian” just like Roman with celts , but while there’s some videos on celts, there’s virtually no video on these. The best I can find is a video on baiyou by kings and generals but it doesn’t cover all the otehr groups there. If this isn’t in ur expertise it’s ok just that I would really appreciate if you can make iy.
Thanks for the suggestions, and these would definitely be good topics to discuss. Especially with the "barbarians" to the south there's a lot of diversity among them, and unlike the barbarians from the other 3 directions a lot of their descendants still remain in southern China as minority groups, not to mention in southeast Asia.
@@gatesofkilikien yeah. I’m also wondering that bc I myself am Thai and here we teach basically nothing about our southern Chinese history due to poor records, only about the history when we reached Thailand. However, I’ve been interested in this for a while and been also looking at Haplogroups, aka genetic evidence which can show these migrations. They show some extremely telling information and represents many migrations and groups recorded in Chinese history. I feel like while European classical “barbarians” get seen in a new light today , like Germanic and Celtic tribes and nations, you don’t see the same thing with Chinese ones and people just trust the records saying “barbarian”. Some groups show very clear genetic heritage from linguistics and genetics, others are a bit harder to trace. The other three directions are quite well known or have low diveristy, like it’s pretty clear to an average audience both western and eastern who Mongols or Tibettians are and urghur got more attention recently. Manchus info aren’t that hard to find. The south tho is a mystery. I also would be interested in another group many might not know have the same origin, but the yayoi Japanese/Korean are from the same group that goes north. However, there’s theories and evidence for both land and sea migration (land for Korea case) and apparently there are evidence for their migration in Chinese records but I can’t find any, it would be nice if you can shed a light on what happen here, maybe even a seperate video from the southern ones.
@thefolder3086 there's the narrative about the alchemist Xu Fu, and his journey to what is now Japan. But the migrations into Korea and eventually Japan started at a much earlier time, so less of it is recorded. But you can get a sense of the push factors going on in what survives of Shang and Zhou history, and the numerous conflicts they had with the people they called Dongyi.
The battle of 387 was a real life-and-death battle for the Han people. In this battle, most of the males of the five northern nomadic tribes were wiped out. From then on, the Han people in southern China had a 1,000-year period of non-war development.
A lot of these barbarian kings were messed up in the head 😂 can’t wait for your episode on the southern dynasties, i hear those liu song emperors were batshit insane too. Evidently not a good time to be a chinese peasant lol.
I'm excited to work on the upcoming episodes too. They'll be challenging to write in a coherent manner but should be quite rewarding to do so. I'm mostly done with the video on Liu Yu and the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and am looking forward to writing about the Liu Song Dynasty (while weaving the events with Northern Wei together with it).
This is probably to late (I just discovered this channel), but the descedants of Murong Tuyuhun still rule Tuyuhun at this time, so they are not out yet.
One of the most fascinating things about the Central Asian and East Asian Steppe is their transmission of religion. Christianity made it to China (modern) around this time, though only a tiny fringe. They were the Christians that later Nestorians set out from, to Chang'an in the Tang. Judaism would spread along the Silk Road, though again only a tiny, tiny %. Islam obviously doesn't exist yet, but the Sassanid version of Zoroastrianism spread their religion up to the Silk Road cities of the northern Iranian Plateau, and it was those networks which would spread Islam into China a few centuries later. And even though Greek polytheism didn't really affect Buddhism philosophically in a large way, the Buddhism that spread into China was significantly impacted by the Greco-Bactrian and Greco-Indian artistic heritage of the region.
Thanks for the feedback and info. This is a topic that's highly fascinating for me too, and I do want to address some of it in later videos, especially once I get to the Tang Dynasty. It's also a very challenging topic to write well about though given the wide numbers of cultures involved and the fact that so many of these communities have either faded into obscurity or disappeared altogether.
@@gatesofkilikien I think, without a fairly strong background knowing who the Eastern Church are, what Nestorianism is and how the Arian Schism sent Christianity out in every direction, it will be hard for people to really understand how...unique Central Asia was before the rise of Islam. I remember learning about a Christian movement in...perhaps Merv? One of the Silk Road cities, that wrote to the Eastern Romans during the Barracks Emperors. The podcast I was listening to had a scholar talking about the far-flung small Christian communities that existed, and that even they were still artistically influenced by the ancient Greek influence in the region. That the different groups of Greek-descendant Christians still had much culturally in common several centuries separated. Being an American, I of course learned a whole lot more Western philosophy and religion, and so Buddhism, and its spread and divergence into a very Chinese thing, is very interesting to me.
@@gatesofkilikien Also, got to say I am LOVING your channel. It is so great to find other people with the same sort of historical interests. Greece and Rome are very common, but it is not at all common to find Chinese expertise alongside those two. There is a significant cultural barrier, and I am glad that barrier is getting easier to get over. Chinese history is absolutely incredible, no less interesting than European.
I still can't understand how the various warlords able to assemble armies of tens of thousand of men despite the constant warfare that depopulated vast cities and chinese countryside?
Even with significant population losses, the Chinese population at the time should still have been in the tens of millions, so armies tens of thousands strong was still quite doable. The real limiting factor, as with so many other periods in world history, was food supplies and logistics, so armies much larger than that would still have been difficult.
Could you give each country a color? Idk if it would be hard, but seeing all these names and states called the same just with western, northern, later or former is just really confusing, i think some colors on the names of people to represent which nation they come from would help 😅
Thanks for the feedback. I can try, the challenge is that with how colorful the background map already is I run out of colors very quickly. A lot of these states also had constantly shifting boundaries that are not well-documented, and I'm generally not a fan of drawing boundaries when it requires guesswork. It should get better with upcoming periods though when much fewer factions remain.
Haha yes, I noticed the Chile when I was making the video and thought it must be confusing for non-Chinese viewers, but then totally didn't think of the gaucho workplay.
You say it's likely that Emperor Mingyuan killed his son's mother, but I don't think he did it. Looking at the sources, the timeline doesn't make sense. Taiwu didn't become crown prince until 422, and his mother died in 420, and I think there is too large of a gap between the events for them to be related to each other, when the other women to die to the tradition died the same year their son was established. As well, while it is possible to be a victim of a system and a perpetrator at the same time, with Tuoba Jun and Tuoba Hong the elder likely occupying the role, it doesn't make sense with Mingyuan. I find it unlikely that someone would go into self exile as a teenager due to losing his mother in a tradition and grow up to place the same trauma on his son. The only source that states that he killed her was written 100 years after the incident by Northern Wei's enemies, so is not very reliable. I don't think that Mingyuan or Taiwu engaged in the tradition, and it was instead brought back during the political intrigue of Tuoba Jun's reign to eliminate his mother's family as a contender in the struggle. Empress Dowager Chang and Empress Dowager Feng then turned it into a tradition to eliminate other women as potential rivals.
How did the family of General Li Qin, who was serving the Qin Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Era, survive and how did they become the rulers of Tang Dynasty China?
It was complex history. han people certainly migrated to south and clashed and mixed with locals wu and yue. Eastern Jin plagued with the conflicts. Rest in north mixed with nomad hun and youngnu. After the period, chinese no longer pure han.
And the period defined modern china combined vast of asian races and lands with same culture. Without the huge shuffle, today china was many different countries
In fact, when a kingdom established by a nomadic people fell, most of the men of the nation were killed by other barbarians. The women were taken away. This was necessary. Because if they were not killed, they would retaliate later. Therefore, after the death of Helian Bobo, the Xiongnu disappeared directly. When the Former Qin Dynasty fell, the Di tribe disappeared completely, and the Jie tribe was also genocided. Most of the Qiang tribe also disappeared, and most of the real Xianbei men died in the long-term war. When the Mongols invaded, almost all of the Xixia and Jurchen were killed. There was actually no tolerance between nomadic peoples. To be precise, some nomadic peoples who liked Han culture and intermarried with Han people finally merged into the Han nationality.
The biggest mistake the Chinese emperor made was to send just one group of tainted, misguided monks to go India to learn the wrong sect of Buddhism. They should have sent ten of thousands of groups or monk to learn from all sects of Buddha’s teachings and draw the best resulting group and made the group the primary spiritual teachings of the nation. It’s still not too late for China now. The best resulting group will be the one with full enlightenment within this life time. Yes, it’s a long and arduous investment for the country. But it’s doable. The benefits shall be enormous for the people. Remember, India was a Brahmin lead society in the Buddha’s time. They had been misleading Indian for millennia, yet the Buddha’s teachings shined light through many. The Indian were extremely prosperous and peaceful for almost 5 centuries. Until, the Hindu got smart enough to add the Buddha to the million God idols they had been worshiping for millennia. Apparently, the Chinese also added numerous God to Buddha’s ranks too. That’s how the Indian state descended into hellish life for almost 1000+ years…still on going. From the time of the mongol invasion to 1980, almost 800 years of turmoil and suffering. Should the Chinese suffer another 200 years more, like the great Indian state did? With the western threads still at bay, send out 100,000 bright learners to study Buddha’s teachings and bring back that blessed Dhamma for the Chinese once and for all. Good luck guys.
If you knew that in 426 AD, the Song Dynasty sent General Tan Hezhi to lead an expeditionary force to fight back against Champa. All the Brahmins and Kshatriyas in Champa were killed, you would not say that. Otherwise, Vietnam today still has a caste system. Indian Buddhism has long been eliminated by Islam and Hinduism. Where does your opinion come from?
Such a thoroughly boring narration of a long forgotten warlord history of ancient China - along narration before the interesting topic of the entry of Buddhism.
00:29 who are referring to as barbarians? Some type of Chinese or Russians or European or Persians? Man your language is full of racism. Wish you all the best to become the citizen of the 21st century world.
The word racism (and the rest of it's ilk) really means nothing nowadays. It's an overused catchphrase saturated by stupid politics and vile manipulation. Besides, racism has no meaning in this context.
After watching the video, could you tell which specific year is depicted on the thumbnail?
402 AD
@@thevenbede767 close, but don't forget about Helian Xia behind the statue head
407?
@@davidrossa4125 Yes you got it!
@@gatesofkilikienwhere do you get these maps that you use?
Helian Bobo made a bold move not naming his state Qin.
Might even be the most reckless thing he's ever done ;P
Helian BoBo once changed his name to Liu BoBo because his ancestors belonged to the Han Dynasty. He gave himself the same surname as the royal family of the Han Dynasty. After the downfall of both the Han and Western Jin dynasties, he reawakened the bloodline of the Xiongnu people. In order to restore his identity as a Xiongnu person, he changed his name to Helian BoBo again
He caused the genocide of the Xiongnu in China in 431. Before the rebellion, the Xiongnu had lived comfortably under the protection of the Han for hundreds of years. Other nomadic tribes would not take kindly to them and simply killed them all.
Watch me make a rebel barbarian kingdom named Eastern Liang
One whole hour of English language content on the Six Dynasties period for me? 🤩
Thank you
Thanks, hope you find this video and other ones in the series helpful! There just aren't that many sources available in English that cover Chinese narrative history, so hopefully this series can be a good source of information.
Wow! I just watched this whole thing without noticing how long it is ...😂😂😂...
You're becoming the much needed eastern equivalent to Historia Civilis and I hope you become just as big because the quality of your videos. Chinese history has always facinated me but somehow felt out of reach and you made it very accessible.
Thanks, appreciate the support! It's been exciting to see the growth of this channel over the past few weeks, and looking forward to producing more videos like this in the future.
My wife and I recently discovered your channel and are immensely enjoying them! These are the best English language videos on Chinese history available on UA-cam. We encourage you to keep it up. I also enjoy your videos on non-Chinese history as well.
Thanks, and I'm glad you guys have enjoyed them! One of my main goals for creating this channel is to make both narrative Chinese history and ancient geography, both of which I grew up enjoying, more accessible to a non-Chinese speaking audience. I'll be working on them steadily to get through medieval Chinese history and then back into ancient Chinese history, although may also be slow at times to ensure quality and accuracy.
Wow, I knew this period was a mess but I didn't realize it was *that* big of a mess. Thank you for going through it all in detail and making it at least somewhat comprehensible. The bits about Kumarajiva and Faxian I found were especially interesting. At some point it might be worth doing a deep dive into the history of Chinese religion more broadly. I feel like I have a general understanding of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism but a lot of the time they're only explained in a very abstract philosophical way that doesn't always seem to line up with what is described in the historical record. Sort of like how just looking at what Jesus preaches in the Bible is not necessarily a good indication of what the medieval catholic church was actually like. If you found time to get into more of what sort of rituals the Emperors are actually expected to perform, what religious practice looked like for different groups of people, what sorts of superstitions people held and why the Emperors care so much about people not using their names, I would find that very interesting. Thank you as always and keep up the great work!
Thanks for the feedback as usual. Yes definitely there's a lot of stuff to talk about for Chinese religious history, and there's been quite a few instances where religion overlapped with political events too. For these videos I want to cover both historical events and the bigger social/economic/religious contexts behind the events, so I'll have to find the right videos or the right time periods to introduce certain themes in the proper context.
As for why emperors cared so much about people not using their names, in a nutshell that's just part of the traditional Chinese naming taboo custom which applies to all levels of society, although since the emperors were at the top and many were quite egotistical there's lots of specific instances where they went way overboard. Some of these specific instances might be good to bring up sometime too, or even as part of a standalone video.
just discovered this channel and it's fantastic! as a chinese-american thank you for providing great english content about chinese history :)
Anytime! I'm Chinese American as well, and want to help create resources that are easily accessible to people from our communities.
I finished reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms recently and have had an interest in Chinese history following that period, these videos are really amazing, thank you! Its interesting to me how the end of ROTK frames it as if China has once again been unified and returned to 'normal' when we know that what really happens is hundreds more years of disunity
Thanks, glad you hear you've enjoyed the videos. Yeah the periods after RoTK is quite chaotic, probably too chaotic even for a novel to write about. I want to address this in a video eventually, but in essence the way the RoTK portrays Chinese history as just cycles of unity-disunity-unity actually does a disservice to the uniqueness of the Three Kingdoms Period, and the extended period of chaos afterwards only emphasizes how significant the events of the Three Kingdoms were.
Amazing video, I've always wondered about how Buddhism became prominent in such a chaotic age
Thanks! And yes this period, despite being chaotic, is such a fascinating transitionary period.
Absolutely in love with these videos; the periods of steppe people rule in China is very unrepresented but they're such fascinating and dynamic times. If I can make any requests, if you have the time I'd love to see more deep dives into how beliefs, culture, and social organization during these periods. The everyday reality beyond changing colours on the map.
I'm glad you've liked them, and thanks for the feedback too. And yes definitely, these are all important themes to explore and for putting the political events from these chaotic centuries into perspective. I'm working on the writing for the next few videos right now, and one of the tricky things is finding the right balance going back and forth between narrative history and exploring how these broader issues evolved over time. Very much looking forward to sharing those videos when they're done.
Love your videos on Chinese history, I've just finished watching all of them. One request I'd like to make is a video dedicated to the history of the Sichuan basin.
Thanks! And yes of course, the Sichuan Basin is quite populated and important, and I plan to make videos on its geography like I've done with Xuzhou so far, and will also cover historical events that took place there in the videos about those time periods.
Just binged your entire series of Chinese videos from the Western Han... anxiously anticipating the Sui episode!!
Thanks, I'm glad you've enjoyed them. I can't wait to get to the Sui and Tang Dynasties too, just have to make sure I don't go too fast and get sloppy with research and quality control.
Ever since learning of the jaw-dropping unravelling of the Western Jin dynasty, (so soon after the famous Romantic 3 Kingdoms!), the ensuant moniker of a period known as 16!! Kingdoms, has had me hoping and searching for an accessible English-language historical narrative, of what could only be an excitingly complex time. And here, you have done it full justice!!
Thankyou so much for this understandable, detailed, nuanced, and highly enjoyable video series! An instant favourite.
Thanks for your support, and glad you liked it! Like you said this period is extremely crazy and hard to keep track of the events, although it's also a very exciting period with all kinds of fascinating characters.
Bro keep it up you deserve way more subs. Easily 100k you should have soon at this rate!
Thanks! I'm still working on refining my techniques and learning a lot from making each video, so hopefully with time I'll be able to gradually build on things to grow the channel.
The sheer amount of states named Liang is hilarious to me
This is an excellent presentation. I've read up on this period some, but yours is one of the clearest and most organized interpretations I've seen.
I find it fascinating that this much confusion and change was taking place in what was basically the traditional heartland of historical China.
Glad it was helpful! And yes the amount of chaos during this period was absolutely insane. I usually hate to split north and south in separate videos, but for this time period I had no choice if I didn't want the video to be 2 hours long.
I absolutely love your videos
Thanks, appreciate the support!
I have been binge watching your videos and I can't wait for your next one. This period of chinese history tends to be a blur for many people due to the constant rise and collapse of states. I'm glad you're covering it.
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed them! It's been very personally rewarding for me to research and write about this period too, since it finally forced me to think through a lot of details and relationships that I've glossed over in the past.
I have watched this series now for the third time. It is just that good
I am so invested. When Later Qin fell to Helian Bobo I was shook. It seems like things were going good, but like you said, they were surrounded. Absolutely love these videos, binged them all last night and throughout today and can’t wait for the next one!
Appreciate the support, and I'm looking forward to finishing up the next video(s) in the series as well!
@@gatesofkilikienSo glad!! Also super happy the algorithm blessed you as of late! Very sure you’ll hit 100k in no time with this level of professionalism and attention to detail. 🤗
Cut short at just the best part, when Taiwu terminated the sixteen kingdoms and reunited the north.
Thanks for covering Chinese idioms and geography. I didn't receive any educations Chinese histories during my childhood and it really helped me understand the reason why some Campaigns were so important.
我少时看过94年的三国演义和98年水浒。
自从看了这频道，我终于明白荆州与徐州的重要性。
Thanks, glad you've found them helpful!
我小时也特别喜欢94年版三国演义， 几乎天天看，对我来讲基本上算是启蒙教育的一部分了。98年版水浒看得相对少一些不过也挺喜欢的。
Well done! Making sense of this period, let alone explaining it so clearly, must have been very difficult. But like one of the good emperors, you have made order out of chaos. 👍😊
Thanks, glad it was helpful! It took a long time to write and reorganize all the events into chronological order, although was quite rewarding to do too.
I did not know that so many amazing people and sages left such mark on Chinese history outside the well known figures of old records from the spring and Autumn period till the end of the three kingdoms era. Thank you for the valuable videos, keep them coming.
Strangely enough not many documentaries go super in depth post the Jin dynasty.
Yes there are lots of pretty underrated periods in Chinese history, and the Jin Dynasty tends to especially be not so popular. Thanks for your support as well!
The algorithm has brought me here. Subscribed :)
Welcome! The algorithm has been very kind to me these past few weeks, glad it connected us.
One of my favourite periods in history hands down, the 16 kingdoms and the Northern/Southern Dynasties are very underrated
I appreciate the work you spent in the longer format of this video. Your videos about how geography influences so many things is very interesting. I hope to see more of the natural beauty of China in future videos!
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed them! And yes history and geography are highly intertwined, and for Chinese history there's a long tradition of studying both history and geography at once. And I've been meaning to include more pictures in my future videos to better show the places I'm talking about.
Great video with great explanation. Thank you
Thanks, glad you liked it!
You're getting pretty good at this. Wouldn't mind seeing you have a go at some Mesopotamian/Sumerian history or perhaps some Egyptian history.
Thanks :) Definitely in the future I'll do more non-Chinese history as well, starting with Greek and Roman stuff for which I already have drafts that I need to add the finishing touches to, and then to other areas of the world.
@@gatesofkilikien anything involving the Delian* League's fightback against the Persians?
@@1Anime4you I'll likely include it in my region by region breakdown of Ancient Greece. Right now I only have the video on the Peloponnese published, although I have a partial draft for Ionia and the rest of the eastern Aegean coast so that will probably be the most appropriate video to put these events in.
Glad to see the algorithm picked up on you! I‘ve read up on Chinese history for a while and while I got the sequence of dynasties and their general features more or less memorised, the period between the fall of Eastern Han and the founding of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was always a blur to me. I suspect I confused the Jin Dynasty mentioned here with the later Manchu dynasty of the same name that sacked Kaifeng and ended the Northern Song, if memory serves...
Had not heard what actually happened to the three kingdoms either, so it‘s very interesting to see the complex dance of unification and fragmentation take place. I imagine it‘ll take you a long time but I‘d love to hear more about the Song dynasty in general. I feel they have often been overlooked due to their reduced size and fall to the mongols, but their much more mercantile culture seems like a very interesting counterfactual to me. Perhaps if the Mongol invasions had not happened, China would have been more open to ideas and technologically stronger in the Ming and Qing eras, and we could be living in a very different world.
Thanks for the support! Yeah this period is quite crazy, and I'd say even most Chinese people who like history tend to just have vague impressions of it. The whole Jin/Jin thing is confusing in English - at least in Chinese the tones are different.
I'm looking forward to writing about the Song Dynasty, will just have to get through the periods before it first. With the greater political stability it'll also be a better time to talk about things like arts/culture, literature, economy, and those pesky political debates over governmental reforms.
Thank you, I don't know if you realize how hard it is to find history of China from this era on UA-cam.
I'm currently doing tons of research for a Chinese history/civilization podcast so all this content is of immense help! Thank you so much!
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful, and best wishes with the research and the podcast!
A great video and informative, may I suggest about images
If add more 3 d, and actors, etc. It would be more interesting.
One thing I genuinely don't understand is how come historians & most of the Chinese claim various (non-han) dynasties as fairly Sinicised when the nobles of respective dynasties firmly believed they should maintain their nomadic culture & it's elements (Like in the example you have given with emperor Daowu & not adoring Confucian/Daoist values)
Most importantly how were Han people treated during this period or as a matter of fact under any dynasty which is of non-Han origin.
One thing that we know for sure is that the sinicization process during the Northern Wei dynasty was not a simple case of one culture replacing another, but rather an intricate interplay of cultural exchange, political maneuvering, and social adaptation. The ruling Tuoba clan was internally divided on the issue of sinicization. Some members, like Emperor Xiaowen, favored the adoption of Chinese customs and institutions as a way to solidify their rule and gain legitimacy. Others resisted these changes, preferring to maintain their nomadic traditions and the privileged status of the Xianbei. These divisions came to clashes as Emperor Xiaowen was opposed by conservative factions who wished to retain a more "Xianbei" identity for Northern Wei.
Additionally, the above mentioned political stand points also reflected in the treatment of the government towards the conquered Hans. While they were not considered equal to the Xianbei rulers, they were granted a higher social standing than conquered nomadic groups (And had Emperor Xiaowen not faced any resistance, things could've had gone far smoother). Hower, in the end, all these things don't really matter that much when Northern Wei became broken into two halves and greatly sinicised... Skip all of these boring things and we have the foundation for the reunification of China under the Sui dynasty.
Great vid - covers a very complex period of history that many likely have no familiarity with, and conveys the info clearly while still providing important historical context and giving some indication of events'/individuals' impact on history outside of the scope of the video. I especially liked the "wrap up" review comparing the 16 Kingdoms list to what was covered over the video at the end.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, this period is very complicated, and even the Chinese sources tend to either gloss over it or present it state by state so it’s hard to keep the big pictures straight. Hopefully this video and some of the others in the series can make the period less daunting - it’s such an exciting period too despite the complexity.
Bro, this being just a blur and hard to udnerstand. I love this shit. The geopolitical climate in this time period is absolutely fascinating and I never even knew anything about it until now. This is the kinda stuff I love. The only thing that is missing for it to be my dream-scenario is knowing the specific tactics that generals used on the battlefield. But this focuses on politics anyway, so it's not a knock by any means.
Thanks for the feedback, and glad to hear you've enjoyed the video! Yeah resources about the political events of this time period is basically non-existent in English, so I'm happy to do my part to add to the collection of resources available. I'm starting to write more about military tactics too, starting with the next video on Liu Yu and the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It's part of the reason why it's taken much longer to write, since I have to add in a lot more details. I'm looking forward to sharing it once it's done though.
@@gatesofkilikien Man, I'm looking forward to seeing it. It's really wonderfull what you do, since most times when you try to learn about chinese history before the Tang, you get met with some wack ass shit. Like, I remember seeing a documentary some years ago about the rise of Qin, where they basically said Qin conquered china with 2 million heavy infantry. So, not very reliable. But you make actual fact based videos, and I really apreciate that.
Great content! Been looking for a channel like this.
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful!
This channel's videos are really good, i really enjoy the content. I think this channel has a lot of potential. A video I would want to see would be about the gansu corridor and Chinese control over Xinjiang.
Thanks! I'll try to weave geography with each video, and for these more western areas certainly as I begin to cover events that take place in the region I'll be able to discuss more of these things.
Making a request for a 2nd Sino-Japanese war presentation, no good ones go into depth from the Chinese perspective . Appreciate your efforts.
Thanks for the suggestion - it's a topic that I've been in some (very early) pre-contemplation stage for. I generally am not as interested or exposed to modern history as I am for earlier time periods and so haven't been dealing with it much in my videos, but given the significance of WW2 and the sacrifices of those involved I feel like it would be a worthwhile effort.
The second Sino-Japanese war took place in Korea in 1580. The first was during the Tang Dynasty
Love your vids been binging them for the last 3 days. Looking forward to more.
Just curious if theres any other history channels you would personally reccommend for more english 'niche' history?
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed them!
I love Eastory, even if WW2 probably doesn't count as 'niche' history, and I still cannot wrap my head around how the creator(s) manage to illustrate those maps. Of the ancient histories I also really like toldinstone.
Thank you for your video! It was very informative!
Thanks, and glad it was helpful!
I hope one day you can make a video about the first half of the 6th century.
I find Hou Jing one of the most fascinating figures in Chinese History (from a safe distance of 1500 years, that is. I surely would not have wanted to be around him at the time 🫣)
The way he was able to cause chaos and wreckage in both the North and the South, and expose everybody else’s worst instincts along the way, he would make for a great movie protagonist, wouldn’t he?
Your videos are amazing! Have watched several of them, it gave very good insights into history and geography.
Recently I read and watched some history videos about the western regions (新疆，高昌) of China. If can explore and share about that will be good. I read it was initially some Aryan tribes, then Buddhism arrived, then there's a Muni sect, and how it become Muslim today.
Thanks, glad you've found them helpful!
The Western Regions has a fascinating history, and Gaochang was one of the key cities there. I left it out of this video since it didn't feature as much in the events of this one, but will include it when it becomes more relevant in the future videos.
Excellent series on Chinese history! Will you be doing a vid on Chinese surnames and their origins and historical significance?
I hadn't thought of making a video on it, but I think it's a great suggestion and I can definitely see it being useful especially for tracing the origins/lineages of the more famous surnames. It should also be a very fun video to write. I'll add it on my list of potential topics, although it might be a while before I get to it since I currently have a huge backlog of drafts and partial sketches that I've accumulated over the last 1.5 years since I started the channel.
Just wanted to let you know this is some great content. Very concise explanations of a very complex period in Chinese history. Would you have any books to recommend to learn more about this time period? Thanks in advance.
Glad you've found it helpful. One of my main sources in English is the Cambridge History of China vol 2 The Six Dynasties. There's also "Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900" - I've only read bits of it so far although it seems really good, and I will have to go through some more of it for my research on the next video of this series on Liu Yu and the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Hi, I wanted to express many thanks for all these detailed videos about China's geography and history. I would really be interested in seeing a video about the various Chinese dialects and how they developed from a geographical and historical standpoint. As a speaker of Teochew (a Min Nan dialect spoken in Guangdong), I've always been curious about all the other southern dialects of Chinese and how they came to be. There isn't much good content about this topic on UA-cam. Cheers! :)
Mountains, and distance.
Thanks, appreciate the support and feedback! This topic is definitely something that I want to do at some point, and I've started to collect potential reference materials/sources to prepare for it. It'll be a very challenging topic to write about, especially since there's still so much unclear details and disagreements about so many aspects of Old and Middle Chinese, so I want to make sure I have a good grasp of the material before attempting it.
I love Chinese history it's so cool. The three kingdoms period & yellow turban rebellion period were so crazy. The Chinese people have endured so much hardship over the years, they are tough. I'd really like to go there 1 day
Idk will you read this, but if you do, I have some ideas I really really really wanna see become a video and if anyone can make it it’s you
Can you make a video on the non-Chinese civilization of China? It’s so difficult to find other videos. Mainly the now south East Asian groups like Hmong in San Miao, tai kradai and Austronesian in baiyou, etc. many Chinese sources will just say “barbarian” just like Roman with celts , but while there’s some videos on celts, there’s virtually no video on these. The best I can find is a video on baiyou by kings and generals but it doesn’t cover all the otehr groups there. If this isn’t in ur expertise it’s ok just that I would really appreciate if you can make iy.
Thanks for the suggestions, and these would definitely be good topics to discuss. Especially with the "barbarians" to the south there's a lot of diversity among them, and unlike the barbarians from the other 3 directions a lot of their descendants still remain in southern China as minority groups, not to mention in southeast Asia.
@@gatesofkilikien yeah. I’m also wondering that bc I myself am Thai and here we teach basically nothing about our southern Chinese history due to poor records, only about the history when we reached Thailand. However, I’ve been interested in this for a while and been also looking at Haplogroups, aka genetic evidence which can show these migrations. They show some extremely telling information and represents many migrations and groups recorded in Chinese history. I feel like while European classical “barbarians” get seen in a new light today , like Germanic and Celtic tribes and nations, you don’t see the same thing with Chinese ones and people just trust the records saying “barbarian”.
Some groups show very clear genetic heritage from linguistics and genetics, others are a bit harder to trace.
The other three directions are quite well known or have low diveristy, like it’s pretty clear to an average audience both western and eastern who Mongols or Tibettians are and urghur got more attention recently. Manchus info aren’t that hard to find. The south tho is a mystery.
I also would be interested in another group many might not know have the same origin, but the yayoi Japanese/Korean are from the same group that goes north. However, there’s theories and evidence for both land and sea migration (land for Korea case) and apparently there are evidence for their migration in Chinese records but I can’t find any, it would be nice if you can shed a light on what happen here, maybe even a seperate video from the southern ones.
@thefolder3086 there's the narrative about the alchemist Xu Fu, and his journey to what is now Japan.
But the migrations into Korea and eventually Japan started at a much earlier time, so less of it is recorded. But you can get a sense of the push factors going on in what survives of Shang and Zhou history, and the numerous conflicts they had with the people they called Dongyi.
The battle of 387 was a real life-and-death battle for the Han people. In this battle, most of the males of the five northern nomadic tribes were wiped out. From then on, the Han people in southern China had a 1,000-year period of non-war development.
A lot of these barbarian kings were messed up in the head 😂 can’t wait for your episode on the southern dynasties, i hear those liu song emperors were batshit insane too. Evidently not a good time to be a chinese peasant lol.
I'm excited to work on the upcoming episodes too. They'll be challenging to write in a coherent manner but should be quite rewarding to do so. I'm mostly done with the video on Liu Yu and the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and am looking forward to writing about the Liu Song Dynasty (while weaving the events with Northern Wei together with it).
That was the least chaotic chinese history for y'all😂
This is probably to late (I just discovered this channel), but the descedants of Murong Tuyuhun still rule Tuyuhun at this time, so they are not out yet.
....Man, it's so easy to get confused when so many of these states all pretty much have the same names....
Was it really hundreds of thousands of soldiers they can muster?, I mean that's huge compared to other contemporary civilizations in Europe.
One of the most fascinating things about the Central Asian and East Asian Steppe is their transmission of religion. Christianity made it to China (modern) around this time, though only a tiny fringe. They were the Christians that later Nestorians set out from, to Chang'an in the Tang. Judaism would spread along the Silk Road, though again only a tiny, tiny %. Islam obviously doesn't exist yet, but the Sassanid version of Zoroastrianism spread their religion up to the Silk Road cities of the northern Iranian Plateau, and it was those networks which would spread Islam into China a few centuries later. And even though Greek polytheism didn't really affect Buddhism philosophically in a large way, the Buddhism that spread into China was significantly impacted by the Greco-Bactrian and Greco-Indian artistic heritage of the region.
Thanks for the feedback and info. This is a topic that's highly fascinating for me too, and I do want to address some of it in later videos, especially once I get to the Tang Dynasty. It's also a very challenging topic to write well about though given the wide numbers of cultures involved and the fact that so many of these communities have either faded into obscurity or disappeared altogether.
@@gatesofkilikien I think, without a fairly strong background knowing who the Eastern Church are, what Nestorianism is and how the Arian Schism sent Christianity out in every direction, it will be hard for people to really understand how...unique Central Asia was before the rise of Islam. I remember learning about a Christian movement in...perhaps Merv? One of the Silk Road cities, that wrote to the Eastern Romans during the Barracks Emperors. The podcast I was listening to had a scholar talking about the far-flung small Christian communities that existed, and that even they were still artistically influenced by the ancient Greek influence in the region. That the different groups of Greek-descendant Christians still had much culturally in common several centuries separated.
Being an American, I of course learned a whole lot more Western philosophy and religion, and so Buddhism, and its spread and divergence into a very Chinese thing, is very interesting to me.
@@gatesofkilikien Also, got to say I am LOVING your channel. It is so great to find other people with the same sort of historical interests. Greece and Rome are very common, but it is not at all common to find Chinese expertise alongside those two. There is a significant cultural barrier, and I am glad that barrier is getting easier to get over. Chinese history is absolutely incredible, no less interesting than European.
Cant wait for Tang and Song
I'm looking forward to writing about those dynasties too, will have to get through the period of disunity first though.
I still can't understand how the various warlords able to assemble armies of tens of thousand of men despite the constant warfare that depopulated vast cities and chinese countryside?
Even with significant population losses, the Chinese population at the time should still have been in the tens of millions, so armies tens of thousands strong was still quite doable. The real limiting factor, as with so many other periods in world history, was food supplies and logistics, so armies much larger than that would still have been difficult.
Could you give each country a color? Idk if it would be hard, but seeing all these names and states called the same just with western, northern, later or former is just really confusing, i think some colors on the names of people to represent which nation they come from would help 😅
Thanks for the feedback. I can try, the challenge is that with how colorful the background map already is I run out of colors very quickly. A lot of these states also had constantly shifting boundaries that are not well-documented, and I'm generally not a fan of drawing boundaries when it requires guesswork. It should get better with upcoming periods though when much fewer factions remain.
Interesting names for some tribes, Chile and Gaúcho, feels like south America... What a coincidence!
Haha yes, I noticed the Chile when I was making the video and thought it must be confusing for non-Chinese viewers, but then totally didn't think of the gaucho workplay.
What is the best university in China teach history. Please reply. If you open a class teach history and language, I shall apply.
finally i will know real chinese history
24:09 did steppe peoples really call it Khaganate? What did steppe peoples call a state ruled by a Khan or Khagan?.
You say it's likely that Emperor Mingyuan killed his son's mother, but I don't think he did it. Looking at the sources, the timeline doesn't make sense. Taiwu didn't become crown prince until 422, and his mother died in 420, and I think there is too large of a gap between the events for them to be related to each other, when the other women to die to the tradition died the same year their son was established. As well, while it is possible to be a victim of a system and a perpetrator at the same time, with Tuoba Jun and Tuoba Hong the elder likely occupying the role, it doesn't make sense with Mingyuan. I find it unlikely that someone would go into self exile as a teenager due to losing his mother in a tradition and grow up to place the same trauma on his son. The only source that states that he killed her was written 100 years after the incident by Northern Wei's enemies, so is not very reliable. I don't think that Mingyuan or Taiwu engaged in the tradition, and it was instead brought back during the political intrigue of Tuoba Jun's reign to eliminate his mother's family as a contender in the struggle. Empress Dowager Chang and Empress Dowager Feng then turned it into a tradition to eliminate other women as potential rivals.
Christ why is that so many Liang
👍
Thanks!
Murong Chui more like Murong CHAD amirite bros
So by this point everyone has given up restoring the Han dynasty?
And i thought Sui Dynasty was a mess, the period that predates it is even messier
How did the family of General Li Qin, who was serving the Qin Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Era, survive and how did they become the rulers of Tang Dynasty China?
Now tell me about the northern Qi
For sure, I'm working on the upcoming videos in the series and really looking forward to wrapping up the period of disunity.
It was complex history. han people certainly migrated to south and clashed and mixed with locals wu and yue. Eastern Jin plagued with the conflicts. Rest in north mixed with nomad hun and youngnu. After the period, chinese no longer pure han.
And the period defined modern china combined vast of asian races and lands with same culture. Without the huge shuffle, today china was many different countries
In fact, when a kingdom established by a nomadic people fell, most of the men of the nation were killed by other barbarians. The women were taken away. This was necessary. Because if they were not killed, they would retaliate later. Therefore, after the death of Helian Bobo, the Xiongnu disappeared directly. When the Former Qin Dynasty fell, the Di tribe disappeared completely, and the Jie tribe was also genocided. Most of the Qiang tribe also disappeared, and most of the real Xianbei men died in the long-term war. When the Mongols invaded, almost all of the Xixia and Jurchen were killed. There was actually no tolerance between nomadic peoples. To be precise, some nomadic peoples who liked Han culture and intermarried with Han people finally merged into the Han nationality.
Does this video ever get beyond just reading at what date what happened? That isn’t interesting at all
28:11
Murongs...Khitans...
The biggest mistake the Chinese emperor made was to send just one group of tainted, misguided monks to go India to learn the wrong sect of Buddhism. They should have sent ten of thousands of groups or monk to learn from all sects of Buddha’s teachings and draw the best resulting group and made the group the primary spiritual teachings of the nation. It’s still not too late for China now. The best resulting group will be the one with full enlightenment within this life time. Yes, it’s a long and arduous investment for the country. But it’s doable. The benefits shall be enormous for the people. Remember, India was a Brahmin lead society in the Buddha’s time. They had been misleading Indian for millennia, yet the Buddha’s teachings shined light through many. The Indian were extremely prosperous and peaceful for almost 5 centuries. Until, the Hindu got smart enough to add the Buddha to the million God idols they had been worshiping for millennia. Apparently, the Chinese also added numerous God to Buddha’s ranks too. That’s how the Indian state descended into hellish life for almost 1000+ years…still on going. From the time of the mongol invasion to 1980, almost 800 years of turmoil and suffering. Should the Chinese suffer another 200 years more, like the great Indian state did? With the western threads still at bay, send out 100,000 bright learners to study Buddha’s teachings and bring back that blessed Dhamma for the Chinese once and for all. Good luck guys.
If you knew that in 426 AD, the Song Dynasty sent General Tan Hezhi to lead an expeditionary force to fight back against Champa. All the Brahmins and Kshatriyas in Champa were killed, you would not say that. Otherwise, Vietnam today still has a caste system. Indian Buddhism has long been eliminated by Islam and Hinduism. Where does your opinion come from?
@@王小宝-n1s Buddhism in China was watered down to superstition and god worshiping.
@@parttimethinker7611 不对，佛教在中国被淡化是因为三武一宗的灭佛运动
Such a thoroughly boring narration of a long forgotten warlord history of ancient China - along narration before the interesting topic of the entry of Buddhism.
This war is not the result of northern immigrants
00:29 who are referring to as barbarians? Some type of Chinese or Russians or European or Persians?
Man your language is full of racism. Wish you all the best to become the citizen of the 21st century world.
The word racism (and the rest of it's ilk) really means nothing nowadays. It's an overused catchphrase saturated by stupid politics and vile manipulation. Besides, racism has no meaning in this context.
brilliant video
Thanks!