I am a history teacher, and am seriously considering using some of your series to cover two of the chinese golden ages the Han and Tang, for my high school students. I really admire your detail and passion for teaching nuance as well as multiple cultural perspectives. Stay cool my bro!
Saw this article the other day. You might like it. Why was the Wu Kingdom the weakest of the Three Kingdoms? 1: Half of the Wu history was about to fight with the local indigenous groups and colonization in the land. These campaigns weren't emphasized because the Three Kingdoms period was usually perceived as a civil war by the public. The red circles indicate 山越/Mountain Viet tribes in the Wu Kingdom. Similarly, you probably also wouldn't pay attention to the Liao Dong’s Warlord 公孙度/Gongsun Du's great victory on the northeast against 高句丽/Goguryeo and 乌恒/Wuhen, or 曹操/Cao Cao's campaign and manipulation on 鲜卑/Xianbei and 匈奴/Xiongnu, 公孙瓒/Gongsun Zan's "白马义从/White Horse Cavalry" against the 羌/Qiang, the popularity of 刘虞/Liu Yu from the Barbarians in the north and etc. Thus for the public, many of the characters and events would be marginalized and only those who shinned in the civil war would be remembered. Gongsun Du is a very useless and powerless character in the Japanese video game ROK series, but in history, he was a beast in the far northeast. Liu Yu’s governance in the North earned his a great reputation among the Barbarians and he was considered very close to the Han Dynasty’s founder Liu Bang, and he also refused to be the Emperor for the anti Dong Zhuo Alliance. However, he was killed by Gongsun Zan and quit the history shortly so he was forgotten. 白马将军/The White Horse General Gongsun Zan was slightly famous because he was a friend of Liu Bei and Zhao Yun once worked for him. Again, in history, he killed Liu Yu, oppressed the barbarian army and was known for his white horse cavalry. But again, his ability was over ignored in the video game. One of his major defeated enemies still exists today as the 白马藏族/the White Horse Tibetan as a subgroup of Tibetan. 马超/Ma Chao was luckily famous for he interacted with Liu Bei and fought against Cao Cao. But what made him really famous in his time was his interaction with Qiang. He was regarded as the 神威天将军/God Power Heaven General by the Qiang tribes. His ancestor 马援/Ma Yuan was regarded as 伏波将军/Fu Bo General who has been worshiped as a God till today. For his reputation, Liu Bei had to rely on him to gain the trust from Qiang and to take over their land. But again, the Three Kingdom history usually would ignore this part but focused on his doing in the civil war. 2: Wu's dominance was highly restricted. The local factions advocated the Sun faction but also limited its power. Thus Wu's army wasn't interested in going out to fight but mostly focusing on defense only or dealt with the indigenous "rebels". When Wu's army attacked, it was a rat. When it defended, it was a dragon. 3: Shu (Shu Han Dynasty) was perceived as the legit one since the Eastern Jin dynasty. So Wu, responsible for the death of Guanyu, backstabbing Shu, failure against the Wei/Jin Dynasty was depicted as negative and weak by many historians and writers. -Feng Xian www.quora.com/Why-was-the-Wu-Kingdom-the-weakest-of-the-Three-Kingdoms/answer/Feng-Xian-%E9%A3%8E%E4%BB%99?ch=10&share=5e485849&srid=uvAeWa
Congrats on hitting 50k! I never noticed before that a lot of Japanese popular media had a Wu slant before, and all the historical connections make a lot of sense. In Hong Kong, we have a popular manhua called 火鳳燎原 (Ravages of Time), a fictional version of the Three Kingdoms, and it starts off with a strong focus on Sima Yi and his faction (with some fictional 'hero' type of characters). It's very overdramatic on purpose, the drawings are very photorealistic to try and make you feel immersed into the world and chaos of war in some chapters. I think it's one of the more recent popular comic-based takes on the Three Kingdoms that is meant to reflect history instead of taking historical figures to use as characters, and one of the few that is from a Chinese source, so the contrast with other media perspectives like those from Japan is really cool to see.
Actually in my opinion, ravages of time is more close to the records than romance by lil Guanzhong himself. It is just Chen mou as the author of ravages of time try to make a story from sima Yi perspective. About Handicapped warrior, it is not real. Zhao Yun never been apart of them cause during that time, he is either at his hometown or serving gonsun zan to to help fight yuan shao. As for water mirror genius, as far as I know, the first and eight is fiction. Yuan shao never had a son named yuan fang as far as I remember.
@@rickykurniawan5950 Yes, that is why I just called it Three Kingdoms (the historical record), not Romance of the Three Kingdoms (the novel). And like I mentioned earlier, he added various fictional characters to Sima Yi's faction to make it more exciting and have a 'heroic' protagonist perspective to use as an introduction to the series. And of course, also took some liberties with how many sons and daughters or advisors people had to make it easier for storytelling or increasing tension.
@@aznsage true. I must say the author do a good job with the battle of chi bi. Many strategist playing there and the author really trying so hard separated each of their contribution on it.
Excellent answers, very concise while being chockful of useful information. I must have missed the video for the Q&A, otherwise I would have offered a question or two. Another Three Kingdoms focused youtuber I should suggest is SeriousTrivia, his knowledge is truly impressive.
god damn it cj. i lived all my life right 200 kms away from china, and I have learnt more about Chinese customs and history from you from growing up there. i hope you gain many followers in days to come. my best wishes to you. love from 加德滿都
@@SantomPh not quite we gurkhas are known to fight off incursions. be it mughals, the qing, the east India company. sure we lost some provinces. but we held intact. didn't need a whole fort to do it either. just tactics and sheer bravery.
If Sun Jian was "too small", what of Liu Bei? Cao Cao wasn't all that "big" either. Jian just didn't have the ambition (although the novel sort of implied he was considering it), but his son Ce did.
It’s honestly inconceivable how the most popular reading of “Cao Cao said ‘if Fengxiao was here” was meant to shift the blame of a massive defeat. No, people’s emotions are often not that convoluted. A more “natural” reading could have just been that Cao Cao was simply reminiscing someone who used to consistently offer him emotional support when he was, emotionally devastated, *because people think of their late loved ones when they’re vulnerable*, it’s just human nature and Cao Cao wasn’t an exception.
I like your approach and views on learning about history. I agree, which is why I'm here. Your channel makes for a great starting point. DaveeyG Does Chinese channel is really good too.
I would love to see you making some sort of review on the 2014 Netflix series "Marco Polo" and historical accuracies of how they portrayed Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and the inner conflicts affecting the Golden Horde.
As a kid, I've always thought of Liu Bei as a hero. Nowadays, I understand that he's just your typical modern day politician with a really good PR team.
He let Xu Shu run to Cao cao, not punishing Mi Zhu for his brother's crime, spare Meng da and Huang Quan's families after they surrender to Wei. Assassin hired to kill him give up to do so after meeting him. Rush to assist Kong Rong and Tao Qiao despite his army was clearly outnumbered. Sure it's just a really good PR team
Liu bei aid tao qian basically as a head general under gongsun zan's army. And sure enough he broke ties with gonsun zan and took xu province for himself later. Liu bei didnt massacre some turncoat general family because its a good PR u know, he already succesfully establish his image as a benevolent and merciful ruler. Giving pardon to his (ex)subordinate will further affirm his good image and that will boost his followers admiration and loyalty too him. In contrast maintaining loyalty through harsh punishment and fear will contradict his image he built so far, it will ruin his reputation and make his followers loyalty waver instead. And lastly some of his general's surrender (like meng da) is fake, theyre planning to collaborate with shu later when the opportunity arise. Massacring their family will just cement their place in the enemy's side for sure. Every ruler's decision is mostly done with careful consideration and rarely done on a whim.
@@agathonchristianto9580 Liu Bei was more like a guest to Gongsun Zan instead of a subordinate. And that doesn't contradict the point I was trying to make. He rush to aid someone though it was obviously danger for him. Whether he did that out of "PR need" or other is not important. The point is he was the only one actually did it. Or he was benevolent enough to spare them. Emphasizing he did good thing out of bad intention (which you have no historical sources to prove) is pointless. It's not what he think matters, it's what he did. While other warlords act were cruel as hell. Liu Bei was the only that was famous of his kindness. I wouldn't say he is a hero. You are naïve if you ever thought a warlord to be "hero". That's on you not him. But he is definitely the warlord that with the best ethical code that time. Meng Da did not fake surrender. Go study. Meng Da turned against Wei later was because the death of Cao Pi, Xiahou Shang and Huan Jie and his bad relationship with Sun Ye, causing he felt uncomfortable staying in Wei. Thus Zhuge Liang made use of it and turn to compromise him. Meng da's multiple betrayal was not a plan. Please comment after you really read historical sources.
Just when I subscribed you announced a series on the three unifiers of Japan? Man you spoiling me. On to the video itself I think that it was quite good and educational I would like recommend the channel serious trivia , its mostly a gaming channel with a lot of playthroughs on total war three kingdoms and videos on the history of the period
I really wonder how Sun Ce would have been had he survived warfare to govern Wu instead of his little brother Sun Quan. Would he have been ineffective outside of warfare?
For me personally. Favorite characters from each faction - Shu (Pang Tong, Xu Shu (depending on depiction, Liu Shan (is kind of a homosexual icon not gunna lie) Wu (Zhou Yu because I loved his moveset in dw3/4 as well as Zhou Tai for similar reasons), Wei - Originally I would have said Cao Pi but ever since I heard the way you say Deng Ai. Oh my lord. I want to listen to you say his name all day long lol.
8:25 I completely agree with your Biggest 'What If', had Wu not attacked Shu, but instead teamed up vs Wei, everything that the Sun clan had wanted to happen might have come to pass. Instead they got nothing and fizzled out. Same goes for Lu Bu, had he not betrayed Liu Bei but instead had sincerely helped him, he might have also gotten everything he wanted.
It would be awesome to see three kingdoms character highlights, basically a video dedicated to an officer of One of the three kingdoms, highlighting their accomplishments and life
Was cao cao's win basicly inevitable? Seeing how the times Wei got badly beat and was still able to bounce back makes me think Wei just had the best lands to unite China with.
Wei’s territory was just so much more developed compared to Wu and shu that they had significant advantages and most of weis land was flat so it was relatively easy to move troops around compared to wu and shu
@@FizCap I always wondered with such good defensive terrain in the mountains for shu and rivers for wu, why even adopt offensive movement to begin with as Wei's lands are all flat for the most part and you give up your biggest advantage in terms of fighting. Add to this needing to supply any offensive push with your terrain makes it nearly impossible to supply without some sort of beach head in wei to facilitate the transporting of supplies to and from.
@@Wilsontripplets shu was very economically weak with constant rebellions in the south, shu was going to be the first to fall regardless and wu’s final emperor was incompetent who made a lot of mistakes and lead to the downfall of wu
i hope you do videos on the spring and autum and warring state period. it is the most eventful part of Chinese history. it shaped the Chinese culture philosophy and identity
what about xu shu? his fate is still a mystery to me, this guy helps liu bei from early demise and cao cao blackmailing him into his service but only fades away, i wonder if he ever write a journal of three kingdom from his perspective?
Thanks for creating the channel. Just to note Qin Shihuang may not be the first nor the last Chinese ruler to burn books and destroy distord history this way. The current PRC regime also did that as well.
I fully support both the Mongol series and the VOC one. Learning history in Indonesia (through schools) is kinda boring due to their overreliance on textbooks and lectures, having your coverage would provide an entertaining and informative look at this large part of my country's history. Thanks CJ
So excited for the Sengoku series! Weirdly, Ryukyu also had a Three Kingdoms period, and so did Korea, and Vietnam's Tay Son rebellion was also similar. Looking forward to more of your amazing videos!
I took a look at Rui's videos, and they're really good! but sadly, they only have maybe a handful of views. I think it would be an excellent idea if maybe, your team can help either give English subtitles for their existing videos, or do them with an English translation and voice over/commentary. I can't fully understand it but I can tell it's very good quality just by watching one about Wang Kuang.
Thanks for response, CJ! Can’t wait for you to cover foreign relations during the ROTK era in the future! I am also aware of the Go-On system of Japanese pronunciation & it was interesting that the Wu Kingdom had their own dialect and their descendants still exists in modern times. Makes me wonder how mutual intelligible dialects are during this era.
Watching your videos on Three Kingdoms got me itching to play the Koei strategy/rpg games. Specifically Romance of The Three Kingdoms 8. Took a break from playing a while ago but now I'm ready to get back into it. But who do I serve under? Or perhaps I rule my own kingdom?
Ooh Yu Sumei is the closest to the classic version? I only have one. The second and third volume is hard to find here till i gave up to search... But i'll try to search it again. Thank you for the video. Please make another QA video 😁
9:00 a better question is where to get an translated version of Records of the Three Kingdoms, all that is readily available is the Records in Plain Language, which I believe is a completely different book.
On the topic of folklore vs real history, I love how Extra History puts it in their mythology series: "Myths are not stories that are untrue. Rather they are tales that do not fit neatly into the historical record, and serve as the foundations of a culture." Sometimes the strict literal factuality of a story is less important than the insights it brings into the mind of the storyteller.
Sometimes they do have historical basis, and are mythologized over time. For example, the Trojan War is likely based on a real event during the Bronze Age Collapse that was passed down orally. That's why there is a detailed description of the region and remnants of Mycenean Greek in the text, despite Homer likely having no knowledge of these.
@@SeanHiruki see, what they mean really is that they'd have white, western interpretation of Chinese history, than an actual Chinese person who's well versed and educated on the subject.
Hey man, do this channel only explain the ancient eastern history or will you guys dare to explain the dark history of world war of Japan, Chinese, and Korean?
I'd love to see you tackle on the rise of the Khmer empire and the kingdom of Ayutthaya eventually. South East Asian history always fascinates me because western historian barely tackles it and it's always fun to discover how there were kingdoms and empires in that region that overshadowed Europeans ones.
Thank you guys for getting so in-depth with three kingdoms! It’s funny I’ve been waiting for English language content on the Three Kingdoms ever since I found out about it years ago.
Awsome!!! Thank you!!! Also i cant wait to read it same with the history of three kingdoms book. I noticed there is more then 1 book for the romance of the 3 kingdoms. Which version is the best out of them? Also how many books that complete the whole story with the specific version?
Greetings. I have 2 questions, if I may... 1) What are your sources for historical info on 3 Kingdoms? 2) Have you ever stumbled upon 3 Kingdoms heroes analysis by the person who goes by the nickname Archlich? [comparison of their portrayal in history and in Koei video game series] I've found his notes to be quite peculiar.
This period is hardly ever talked about in Western culture and there's even less translations available for that time. Tho I'd still love to hear it, and the following disasters after the fall of Jin all the way to 420 AD until the Warring States period
I think Cao Cao is a lot like Oda Nobunaga in the sense that they both weren’t perfect at all in terms of todays morals and ethics, but were just more successful at being brutally efficient and necessary for unification than their other brutal counterparts. They all lived in a long ago time of perpetual war. Judging by today’s standards is just silly.
The Art of War and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are good to read as a pair. If you memorize Art of War by itself, you can end up like Ma Su. Read RotK by itself and the strategies might go over your head. Read them together and Art of War will give you a basic understanding of theory while RotK will show you an example of the practical application of that theory. If nothing else, you can up your pro gamer skills.
Luo Guanzhong is pretty much a fanboy for Zhuge Liang. He admires Zhuge Liang so much till he makes Shu the protagonist in the romance version and best strategist while the truth in the record while Zhuge Liang a good strategist but nothing said him the best and so do I. I never believe Zhuge Liang the best strategist, there are so many top strategist on par with him but all their actual act never been recorded thoroughly like Sima Yi, Guo Jia, Zhou Yu, Pang Tong, Xun Yu, Fa Zheng, Li ru, Deng Ai, Lu Xun, Xu Shu, Zhang Song, etc that I forget. Luo Guanzhong give so much credit for Zhuge Liang for the sake of the novel. While I don't believe Kong Ming the best strategist but I acknowledge him as one of the best administrator especially in the internal affairs on par with Zhang Zhao and zhang hong also on par with Xun Yu on diplomacy. While other administrator like ju shou, tian Feng, kuai Yue, kuai liang, Kong rong, tao qian, Li Yan, zhong hui, they are clearly below Kong Ming. I won't say about Jiang Wei as he is Kong Ming disciple after all so I won't compare it with his teacher.
@@rickykurniawan5950 I mean if historical records have no or just few records of someone act, then you can't say they are the "best stagiest". It's historical studies, not a game show that you could just "guess". E.g. Zhang Song, Li ru, Xu Shu you mentioned have records less than a hundred words. We barely know what they did. I have no idea why you can call someone you barely know what he did "the best strategist". You obviously are judging just from your impression on characters.
You should do mongol conquest. Also, lots of stuff of vietnam and its ties to china. And how they were an ethnic group of china that was able to break away, unlike tibetans. Sadly.
speaking of video games I hope you take a look at Total War Warhammer 3 because theres going a Chinese themed faction called Grand Cathay and it'd be cool to analyse for their influences.
Haha. Yeah, those are quite interesting description. But I will have to compare it with the South East Asian people they called Kunlun people. Could they be the same or perhaps they're African pygmies. I wouldn't know unless I investigate it further.
There is a somewhat funny story of a man, who Cool History Bros should totally cover wink wink, nudge nudge called Zhu Huan. He was an extremely talented Wu general, as well as his son, Zhu Yi, who met a gruesome end. Honestly, the entire Zhu family story here is insanely crazy and video-worthy. I could spoil it all here, but I suppose I do need a hook to get you interested. Okay, how's this one. Zhu Huan, although extremely talented and highly regarded by many, one day, Sun Quan decided to put another general with a larger army than him. Zhu Huan, however, felt he had deserved the larger army, and was extremely mad at the sight of Quan Cong's army being larger than his own, despite Sun Quan having ordered it. He approached Quan Cong about it, and he essentially said he was only doing as ordered and that Hu Zong serve as a commander. This made Zhu Huan extremely angry, and he sent a letter to Hu Zong. He intended to meet with Hu Zong to settle this. When he arrived at his residence, he looked all around then called, “I put out my hand and you run away.” So some of Hu Zong's attendants came out to greet him. But Zhu Huan wanted to talk to Hu Zong directly, and went looking directly for him. He looked all around, but could not find him. In a fit of rage, he killed all of the attendants. He then decided to turn himself in, pleaded he was insane, and took "sick leave." Yes, that's right, apparently you could still plead for insanity in these times. Sun Quan had remembered the achievements of Zhu Huan, so decided to spare him for his crimes and he was only temporarily "exiled" to Jianye until he was "cured" of his insanity, which he ended up coming back a few months later. Later, Zhu Huan would go up to Sun Quan, and ask to stroke his beard. Sun Quan was very amused by this, and so allowed it. After stroking Sun Quan’s beard, Zhu Huan then said, “Now I can actually say I have stroked the tiger’s beard!” and Sun Quan laughed out loud (this was actually written!) I've only highlighted one specific scenario from Zhu Huan's life, but he has quite an interesting life the whole way, and then his son, Zhu Yi, is another story in itself, though they could both probably be covered in the same video. Zhu YI's highlight is his death, which was cruel and actually basically ensured the demise of Wu at that moment, so it continues where you left off with Sun Quan quite nicely, because you see how the new Wu Emperor acted. I don't want to spoil that story, if you're interested, feel free to look up Zhu Yi (may want to specify "Three Kingdoms" after) - his story is EXTREMELY important in the overall downfall of Wu. This story in fact is what made the emperor become hated by all and overthrown in Wu.
Hey so here’s a question that I’ve been wondering for a while but I didn’t get a chance to ask: Why are the Chinese Dynasty different from the family names of the ruler? I assume the name is based on the territory the Dynasty original controlled like Cao Cao controlled the Duchy of Wei, but how does that work for the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the Manchurian Qing, or the Wu Zetian’s Zhou dynasty?
I think there’s a pattern of taking a name from the place the dynasty founder came from (hometown’s name and such) Though I don’t know enough to say this about every one follows that pattern
Those were not Dynasty names, but rather name of the Country. Shang, Zhou, Qin were all name of the Country then. When Cao Pi became Emperor, he named his Country as Wei. Wei, on the other hand, came from Wei county which his father Cao Cao was bestowed. It wasn't any random name either, as it comes with full mystical connotations, as the name signified high tower of clay, which indicates the power of Soil which could subjugate the power of Metal, for the Han dynasty. In reality, the word China doesn't really exist in China. The word 'Zhong Guo' at first meant the dwelling of the Emperor, which later expanded to mean all the land that was ruled by the Emperor of Han. By the Qing dynasty, they used Zhong Guo and Qing interchangeably, and later Zhong Guo, translated as China was used by the Republic of China to be the name of the Country. This was continued by the People's Republic of China government.
I am a history teacher, and am seriously considering using some of your series to cover two of the chinese golden ages the Han and Tang, for my high school students. I really admire your detail and passion for teaching nuance as well as multiple cultural perspectives. Stay cool my bro!
Saw this article the other day.
You might like it.
Why was the Wu Kingdom the weakest of the Three Kingdoms?
1: Half of the Wu history was about to fight with the local indigenous groups and colonization in the land. These campaigns weren't emphasized because the Three Kingdoms period was usually perceived as a civil war by the public.
The red circles indicate 山越/Mountain Viet tribes in the Wu Kingdom.
Similarly, you probably also wouldn't pay attention to the Liao Dong’s Warlord 公孙度/Gongsun Du's great victory on the northeast against 高句丽/Goguryeo and 乌恒/Wuhen, or 曹操/Cao Cao's campaign and manipulation on 鲜卑/Xianbei and 匈奴/Xiongnu, 公孙瓒/Gongsun Zan's "白马义从/White Horse Cavalry" against the 羌/Qiang, the popularity of 刘虞/Liu Yu from the Barbarians in the north and etc. Thus for the public, many of the characters and events would be marginalized and only those who shinned in the civil war would be remembered.
Gongsun Du is a very useless and powerless character in the Japanese video game ROK series, but in history, he was a beast in the far northeast.
Liu Yu’s governance in the North earned his a great reputation among the Barbarians and he was considered very close to the Han Dynasty’s founder Liu Bang, and he also refused to be the Emperor for the anti Dong Zhuo Alliance. However, he was killed by Gongsun Zan and quit the history shortly so he was forgotten.
白马将军/The White Horse General Gongsun Zan was slightly famous because he was a friend of Liu Bei and Zhao Yun once worked for him. Again, in history, he killed Liu Yu, oppressed the barbarian army and was known for his white horse cavalry. But again, his ability was over ignored in the video game.
One of his major defeated enemies still exists today as the 白马藏族/the White Horse Tibetan as a subgroup of Tibetan.
马超/Ma Chao was luckily famous for he interacted with Liu Bei and fought against Cao Cao. But what made him really famous in his time was his interaction with Qiang. He was regarded as the 神威天将军/God Power Heaven General by the Qiang tribes. His ancestor 马援/Ma Yuan was regarded as 伏波将军/Fu Bo General who has been worshiped as a God till today. For his reputation, Liu Bei had to rely on him to gain the trust from Qiang and to take over their land. But again, the Three Kingdom history usually would ignore this part but focused on his doing in the civil war.
2: Wu's dominance was highly restricted. The local factions advocated the Sun faction but also limited its power. Thus Wu's army wasn't interested in going out to fight but mostly focusing on defense only or dealt with the indigenous "rebels". When Wu's army attacked, it was a rat. When it defended, it was a dragon.
3: Shu (Shu Han Dynasty) was perceived as the legit one since the Eastern Jin dynasty. So Wu, responsible for the death of Guanyu, backstabbing Shu, failure against the Wei/Jin Dynasty was depicted as negative and weak by many historians and writers.
-Feng Xian
www.quora.com/Why-was-the-Wu-Kingdom-the-weakest-of-the-Three-Kingdoms/answer/Feng-Xian-%E9%A3%8E%E4%BB%99?ch=10&share=5e485849&srid=uvAeWa
@@condorX2 thanks that was interesting
so did you end up showing them the videos?
Thank you for every thing, CJ!
An in-depth look at the geography of China and its influence on the development of kingdoms would be most appreciated
Indonesia history is coming soon in ur style of storytelling? aw yissss
Great videos! Thanks so much!
Congrats on hitting 50k! I never noticed before that a lot of Japanese popular media had a Wu slant before, and all the historical connections make a lot of sense. In Hong Kong, we have a popular manhua called 火鳳燎原 (Ravages of Time), a fictional version of the Three Kingdoms, and it starts off with a strong focus on Sima Yi and his faction (with some fictional 'hero' type of characters). It's very overdramatic on purpose, the drawings are very photorealistic to try and make you feel immersed into the world and chaos of war in some chapters. I think it's one of the more recent popular comic-based takes on the Three Kingdoms that is meant to reflect history instead of taking historical figures to use as characters, and one of the few that is from a Chinese source, so the contrast with other media perspectives like those from Japan is really cool to see.
Actually in my opinion, ravages of time is more close to the records than romance by lil Guanzhong himself. It is just Chen mou as the author of ravages of time try to make a story from sima Yi perspective. About Handicapped warrior, it is not real. Zhao Yun never been apart of them cause during that time, he is either at his hometown or serving gonsun zan to to help fight yuan shao. As for water mirror genius, as far as I know, the first and eight is fiction. Yuan shao never had a son named yuan fang as far as I remember.
@@rickykurniawan5950 Yes, that is why I just called it Three Kingdoms (the historical record), not Romance of the Three Kingdoms (the novel). And like I mentioned earlier, he added various fictional characters to Sima Yi's faction to make it more exciting and have a 'heroic' protagonist perspective to use as an introduction to the series. And of course, also took some liberties with how many sons and daughters or advisors people had to make it easier for storytelling or increasing tension.
@@aznsage true. I must say the author do a good job with the battle of chi bi. Many strategist playing there and the author really trying so hard separated each of their contribution on it.
Excellent answers, very concise while being chockful of useful information. I must have missed the video for the Q&A, otherwise I would have offered a question or two.
Another Three Kingdoms focused youtuber I should suggest is SeriousTrivia, his knowledge is truly impressive.
For me, the What If? I'm most curious about is "What if Pang Tong survived?"
He'll live a long life and look super handsome in a Koei game.
god damn it cj. i lived all my life right 200 kms away from china, and I have learnt more about Chinese customs and history from you from growing up there. i hope you gain many followers in days to come. my best wishes to you. love from 加德滿都
Apart from Korea, almost every country bordering China does their best to limit Chinese cultural transmission into theirs, lest they lose their own.
@@SantomPh not quite we gurkhas are known to fight off incursions. be it mughals, the qing, the east India company. sure we lost some provinces. but we held intact. didn't need a whole fort to do it either. just tactics and sheer bravery.
still waiting from that tribute from tibet
If Sun Jian was "too small", what of Liu Bei? Cao Cao wasn't all that "big" either. Jian just didn't have the ambition (although the novel sort of implied he was considering it), but his son Ce did.
thanks bro i hope you can tackle more all the dynasty more other Asian history bro
Nice to see Rui Chen getting to answer questions!
Oh ya gonna cover V.O.C and Indonesia's dutch colonization history?
Oh boy! It's going to be... *Spicy*
Geger pacinan China town riot
Yasss VOC content in the future💓
It’s honestly inconceivable how the most popular reading of “Cao Cao said ‘if Fengxiao was here” was meant to shift the blame of a massive defeat. No, people’s emotions are often not that convoluted. A more “natural” reading could have just been that Cao Cao was simply reminiscing someone who used to consistently offer him emotional support when he was, emotionally devastated, *because people think of their late loved ones when they’re vulnerable*, it’s just human nature and Cao Cao wasn’t an exception.
I like your approach and views on learning about history.
I agree, which is why I'm here.
Your channel makes for a great starting point.
DaveeyG Does Chinese channel is really good too.
Sengoku Jidai stuff? Oh my wibuuu!!!! Can't wait.
It's pretty poggers
Thanks for this! Really appreciate the clarification 😌😌😌
I would love to see you making some sort of review on the 2014 Netflix series "Marco Polo" and historical accuracies of how they portrayed Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and the inner conflicts affecting the Golden Horde.
thank you for answering my question, this is maybe the first time a creator answers me, thank you for your work and congratulations
50k bros yay! So happy to see my favourite history channel growing
As a kid, I've always thought of Liu Bei as a hero. Nowadays, I understand that he's just your typical modern day politician with a really good PR team.
He let Xu Shu run to Cao cao, not punishing Mi Zhu for his brother's crime, spare Meng da and Huang Quan's families after they surrender to Wei. Assassin hired to kill him give up to do so after meeting him. Rush to assist Kong Rong and Tao Qiao despite his army was clearly outnumbered. Sure it's just a really good PR team
Liu bei aid tao qian basically as a head general under gongsun zan's army. And sure enough he broke ties with gonsun zan and took xu province for himself later.
Liu bei didnt massacre some turncoat general family because its a good PR u know, he already succesfully establish his image as a benevolent and merciful ruler. Giving pardon to his (ex)subordinate will further affirm his good image and that will boost his followers admiration and loyalty too him. In contrast maintaining loyalty through harsh punishment and fear will contradict his image he built so far, it will ruin his reputation and make his followers loyalty waver instead.
And lastly some of his general's surrender (like meng da) is fake, theyre planning to collaborate with shu later when the opportunity arise. Massacring their family will just cement their place in the enemy's side for sure. Every ruler's decision is mostly done with careful consideration and rarely done on a whim.
@@agathonchristianto9580 Liu Bei was more like a guest to Gongsun Zan instead of a subordinate. And that doesn't contradict the point I was trying to make. He rush to aid someone though it was obviously danger for him. Whether he did that out of "PR need" or other is not important. The point is he was the only one actually did it.
Or he was benevolent enough to spare them. Emphasizing he did good thing out of bad intention (which you have no historical sources to prove) is pointless. It's not what he think matters, it's what he did. While other warlords act were cruel as hell. Liu Bei was the only that was famous of his kindness. I wouldn't say he is a hero. You are naïve if you ever thought a warlord to be "hero". That's on you not him. But he is definitely the warlord that with the best ethical code that time.
Meng Da did not fake surrender. Go study. Meng Da turned against Wei later was because the death of Cao Pi, Xiahou Shang and Huan Jie and his bad relationship with Sun Ye, causing he felt uncomfortable staying in Wei. Thus Zhuge Liang made use of it and turn to compromise him. Meng da's multiple betrayal was not a plan. Please comment after you really read historical sources.
Yeah 50k 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I really enjoyed this format. Well done.
Just when I subscribed you announced a series on the three unifiers of Japan? Man you spoiling me. On to the video itself I think that it was quite good and educational I would like recommend the channel serious trivia , its mostly a gaming channel with a lot of playthroughs on total war three kingdoms and videos on the history of the period
After I saw you mentioning Linfamy and the Shogunate, I kinda understand why UA-cam recommended your channel to me.
Congratulation on 50 big ones! I am looking forward to future videos, the two of you make a great team.
Wu also attempted to establish diplomacy with Goguryeo, which failed. And this triggered Wei to invade Goguryeo.
I really wonder how Sun Ce would have been had he survived warfare to govern Wu instead of his little brother Sun Quan. Would he have been ineffective outside of warfare?
For me personally. Favorite characters from each faction - Shu (Pang Tong, Xu Shu (depending on depiction, Liu Shan (is kind of a homosexual icon not gunna lie) Wu (Zhou Yu because I loved his moveset in dw3/4 as well as Zhou Tai for similar reasons), Wei - Originally I would have said Cao Pi but ever since I heard the way you say Deng Ai. Oh my lord. I want to listen to you say his name all day long lol.
you deserve those 50K subscription and many, many more!
Keep up the good work!
I’d just like you to make a video about Zhuge liang’s biography.
yes
I wonder how much written history is out there about the Miao/Hmong wars against the Chinese. Itll be awesome to see you do an episode on that.
8:25 I completely agree with your Biggest 'What If', had Wu not attacked Shu, but instead teamed up vs Wei, everything that the Sun clan had wanted to happen might have come to pass. Instead they got nothing and fizzled out. Same goes for Lu Bu, had he not betrayed Liu Bei but instead had sincerely helped him, he might have also gotten everything he wanted.
There is no „if“ in history
There is just why they failed
Agree. Thoose could lead to perhaps a brighter future
This is an awesome channel
Sweet! Excited to learn about empires - I've always been curious about the Mongolian invasion
Can't wait for your Sengouku Jidai and Mongol empire series!
Congrats on the subscribers!
It would be awesome to see three kingdoms character highlights, basically a video dedicated to an officer of One of the three kingdoms, highlighting their accomplishments and life
Great idea. Zhang Liao had been overlooked for a long time.
@@CoolHistoryBros So many generals with amazing accomplishments and stories it would be amazing to see a series of videos, love y'all videos
Cant wait for the voc 😆
Regarding the question about the achievements of the Wu state, Chinese historians have traditionally been biasea against the Southerners
Yes Yes Sengoku Jidai Era 🔥
11:18 Liao Hua the minor general who apparently live all the períodos of the Three Kingdoms from start to the end.
Was cao cao's win basicly inevitable? Seeing how the times Wei got badly beat and was still able to bounce back makes me think Wei just had the best lands to unite China with.
Wei’s territory was just so much more developed compared to Wu and shu that they had significant advantages and most of weis land was flat so it was relatively easy to move troops around compared to wu and shu
@@FizCap I always wondered with such good defensive terrain in the mountains for shu and rivers for wu, why even adopt offensive movement to begin with as Wei's lands are all flat for the most part and you give up your biggest advantage in terms of fighting. Add to this needing to supply any offensive push with your terrain makes it nearly impossible to supply without some sort of beach head in wei to facilitate the transporting of supplies to and from.
@@Wilsontripplets shu was very economically weak with constant rebellions in the south, shu was going to be the first to fall regardless and wu’s final emperor was incompetent who made a lot of mistakes and lead to the downfall of wu
i hope you do videos on the spring and autum and warring state period. it is the most eventful part of Chinese history. it shaped the Chinese culture philosophy and identity
That topic automatically reminds me of the anime Kingdom
Can you do a vid on the origin of Chinese surnames? The One Hundred Surnames and a compare and contrast with Western surname systems? Thanks 🙏🏻
what about xu shu? his fate is still a mystery to me, this guy helps liu bei from early demise and cao cao blackmailing him into his service but only fades away, i wonder if he ever write a journal of three kingdom from his perspective?
Mom get the camera! im on youtube! thanks for answering my question CJ!
Thanks for creating the channel. Just to note Qin Shihuang may not be the first nor the last Chinese ruler to burn books and destroy distord history this way. The current PRC regime also did that as well.
Are you planning to cover the events during the reign of emperor Wanli?
Eventually.
@@CoolHistoryBros please do one on northern,southern ,eastern and westersn Chinese and histoy of martial arts like how did get made
@@CoolHistoryBros also on ghost of east asia and why does it revolve around
Women?
I fully support both the Mongol series and the VOC one. Learning history in Indonesia (through schools) is kinda boring due to their overreliance on textbooks and lectures, having your coverage would provide an entertaining and informative look at this large part of my country's history. Thanks CJ
So excited for the Sengoku series! Weirdly, Ryukyu also had a Three Kingdoms period, and so did Korea, and Vietnam's Tay Son rebellion was also similar. Looking forward to more of your amazing videos!
Please make series about Korean Three Kingdoms
I took a look at Rui's videos, and they're really good! but sadly, they only have maybe a handful of views. I think it would be an excellent idea if maybe, your team can help either give English subtitles for their existing videos, or do them with an English translation and voice over/commentary. I can't fully understand it but I can tell it's very good quality just by watching one about Wang Kuang.
To be honest I find the actual history of 3K more interesting than the novel itself
Could you give a few examples of where it exceeds the novel
Thanks for response, CJ! Can’t wait for you to cover foreign relations during the ROTK era in the future!
I am also aware of the Go-On system of Japanese pronunciation & it was interesting that the Wu Kingdom had their own dialect and their descendants still exists in modern times. Makes me wonder how mutual intelligible dialects are during this era.
Watching your videos on Three Kingdoms got me itching to play the Koei strategy/rpg games. Specifically Romance of The Three Kingdoms 8. Took a break from playing a while ago but now I'm ready to get back into it. But who do I serve under? Or perhaps I rule my own kingdom?
Ooh Yu Sumei is the closest to the classic version? I only have one. The second and third volume is hard to find here till i gave up to search... But i'll try to search it again.
Thank you for the video. Please make another QA video 😁
9:00 a better question is where to get an translated version of Records of the Three Kingdoms, all that is readily available is the Records in Plain Language, which I believe is a completely different book.
50 thousands bros 🤣 congratulations
On the topic of folklore vs real history, I love how Extra History puts it in their mythology series: "Myths are not stories that are untrue. Rather they are tales that do not fit neatly into the historical record, and serve as the foundations of a culture."
Sometimes the strict literal factuality of a story is less important than the insights it brings into the mind of the storyteller.
Sometimes they do have historical basis, and are mythologized over time. For example, the Trojan War is likely based on a real event during the Bronze Age Collapse that was passed down orally. That's why there is a detailed description of the region and remnants of Mycenean Greek in the text, despite Homer likely having no knowledge of these.
The extra history episodes on three kingdoms hurt my soul
@@SeanHiruki see, what they mean really is that they'd have white, western interpretation of Chinese history, than an actual Chinese person who's well versed and educated on the subject.
@@sudhansubanskota7632 that's pretty racist but okay
@@SeanHiruki It was sponsored by Total War and it was very obvious they didn't have much time for planning.
Hey man, do this channel only explain the ancient eastern history or will you guys dare to explain the dark history of world war of Japan, Chinese, and Korean?
Let's see, nearly 2000 years of history versus 5.
There is a guy who make those kind of video.
I forgot his name.
It does a lot on Japanese vs Korea and China getting involved.
I'd love to see you tackle on the rise of the Khmer empire and the kingdom of Ayutthaya eventually. South East Asian history always fascinates me because western historian barely tackles it and it's always fun to discover how there were kingdoms and empires in that region that overshadowed Europeans ones.
Thank you guys for getting so in-depth with three kingdoms! It’s funny I’ve been waiting for English language content on the Three Kingdoms ever since I found out about it years ago.
11:35 Guan Yu is the patron god of the Japanese Yakuza and also Chinese secret societies, as well as corporations.
I've read about the triads worshipping Guan Yu, BUT THE YAKUZA?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!!
Awsome!!! Thank you!!!
Also i cant wait to read it same with the history of three kingdoms book. I noticed there is more then 1 book for the romance of the 3 kingdoms. Which version is the best out of them? Also how many books that complete the whole story with the specific version?
Greetings. I have 2 questions, if I may...
1) What are your sources for historical info on 3 Kingdoms?
2) Have you ever stumbled upon 3 Kingdoms heroes analysis
by the person who goes by the nickname Archlich?
[comparison of their portrayal in history and in Koei video game series]
I've found his notes to be quite peculiar.
Cant wait to see the history of Kingdoms in Indonesia
I wanna see an 8 Princes Period of the Jin Dynasty
This period is hardly ever talked about in Western culture and there's even less translations available for that time. Tho I'd still love to hear it, and the following disasters after the fall of Jin all the way to 420 AD until the Warring States period
@@WildWombats The Age of Disunion.
Are you planning to make a video about Manichaeism in China?
Yep. And I will plan for it to be released around the time of the new Final Fantasy 14 expansion because of the similarity of the lore. LOL
You should try out the game Three Kingdoms Total War. I think you would enjoy seeing these characters and epic battles brought to light.
finally Yau Di 堯帝 gets attention in all eventuality
I think Cao Cao is a lot like Oda Nobunaga in the sense that they both weren’t perfect at all in terms of todays morals and ethics, but were just more successful at being brutally efficient and necessary for unification than their other brutal counterparts. They all lived in a long ago time of perpetual war. Judging by today’s standards is just silly.
The Art of War and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are good to read as a pair. If you memorize Art of War by itself, you can end up like Ma Su. Read RotK by itself and the strategies might go over your head. Read them together and Art of War will give you a basic understanding of theory while RotK will show you an example of the practical application of that theory. If nothing else, you can up your pro gamer skills.
would like to see you cover the jin dynasty
Will you cover China town riot or geger pacinan, when Chinese indonesians fight the Dutch east indies company?
Luo Guanzhong is pretty much a fanboy for Zhuge Liang. He admires Zhuge Liang so much till he makes Shu the protagonist in the romance version and best strategist while the truth in the record while Zhuge Liang a good strategist but nothing said him the best and so do I. I never believe Zhuge Liang the best strategist, there are so many top strategist on par with him but all their actual act never been recorded thoroughly like Sima Yi, Guo Jia, Zhou Yu, Pang Tong, Xun Yu, Fa Zheng, Li ru, Deng Ai, Lu Xun, Xu Shu, Zhang Song, etc that I forget. Luo Guanzhong give so much credit for Zhuge Liang for the sake of the novel. While I don't believe Kong Ming the best strategist but I acknowledge him as one of the best administrator especially in the internal affairs on par with Zhang Zhao and zhang hong also on par with Xun Yu on diplomacy. While other administrator like ju shou, tian Feng, kuai Yue, kuai liang, Kong rong, tao qian, Li Yan, zhong hui, they are clearly below Kong Ming. I won't say about Jiang Wei as he is Kong Ming disciple after all so I won't compare it with his teacher.
One question, how can you know someone's ability when his "act never been recorded thoroughly"?
@@qq6531 dude.. what do you think strategist do in their era while spending their life? Playing golf?
@@rickykurniawan5950 I mean if historical records have no or just few records of someone act, then you can't say they are the "best stagiest". It's historical studies, not a game show that you could just "guess". E.g. Zhang Song, Li ru, Xu Shu you mentioned have records less than a hundred words. We barely know what they did. I have no idea why you can call someone you barely know what he did "the best strategist". You obviously are judging just from your impression on characters.
@@qq6531 whatever
@@rickykurniawan5950 :))))))
It's honestly hard to separate the fact in Chinese history from the fiction as much of it has been re-written as propaganda.
I doubt that Sun Ce is the most competent one in Wu. His opponents are quite weak, and his political skill is not very good
Sun Ce's incompetence led to his death
You should do mongol conquest. Also, lots of stuff of vietnam and its ties to china. And how they were an ethnic group of china that was able to break away, unlike tibetans. Sadly.
Oda nobunaga when his dad : so I a start swear oda nobunaga when his teacher committed suicide, sad anime song begins
speaking of video games I hope you take a look at Total War Warhammer 3 because theres going a Chinese themed faction called Grand Cathay and it'd be cool to analyse for their influences.
I'd like a history of the even earlier folks, like native tribes in China, or on Taiwan
🙏
didnt know you were Chinese by listening to your Chinese pronunciation until saw your bilibili channel
I found your channel just by chance and I really needed some cool history videos, specially about asia was always interested about it
If Zhuge Liang is Liu Bei's Zhang Liang, Guan Yu is Liu Bei's Han Xin, who's Xiao He?
So when are we getting into, Sun Quan's Expedition to find "Blackish Dwarfs"?
Consider my interest piqued!
@@ICityCatI yeah it came to me as a surprise when I was researching into Sino-Roman Relations
Haha. Yeah, those are quite interesting description. But I will have to compare it with the South East Asian people they called Kunlun people. Could they be the same or perhaps they're African pygmies. I wouldn't know unless I investigate it further.
昆侖奴
There should be a video just on all the weird stuff Sun Quan was involved with
There is a somewhat funny story of a man, who Cool History Bros should totally cover wink wink, nudge nudge called Zhu Huan. He was an extremely talented Wu general, as well as his son, Zhu Yi, who met a gruesome end. Honestly, the entire Zhu family story here is insanely crazy and video-worthy. I could spoil it all here, but I suppose I do need a hook to get you interested. Okay, how's this one.
Zhu Huan, although extremely talented and highly regarded by many, one day, Sun Quan decided to put another general with a larger army than him. Zhu Huan, however, felt he had deserved the larger army, and was extremely mad at the sight of Quan Cong's army being larger than his own, despite Sun Quan having ordered it. He approached Quan Cong about it, and he essentially said he was only doing as ordered and that Hu Zong serve as a commander. This made Zhu Huan extremely angry, and he sent a letter to Hu Zong. He intended to meet with Hu Zong to settle this. When he arrived at his residence, he looked all around then called, “I put out my hand and you run away.” So some of Hu Zong's attendants came out to greet him. But Zhu Huan wanted to talk to Hu Zong directly, and went looking directly for him. He looked all around, but could not find him. In a fit of rage, he killed all of the attendants. He then decided to turn himself in, pleaded he was insane, and took "sick leave." Yes, that's right, apparently you could still plead for insanity in these times. Sun Quan had remembered the achievements of Zhu Huan, so decided to spare him for his crimes and he was only temporarily "exiled" to Jianye until he was "cured" of his insanity, which he ended up coming back a few months later. Later, Zhu Huan would go up to Sun Quan, and ask to stroke his beard. Sun Quan was very amused by this, and so allowed it. After stroking Sun Quan’s beard, Zhu Huan then said, “Now I can actually say I have stroked the tiger’s beard!” and Sun Quan laughed out loud (this was actually written!)
I've only highlighted one specific scenario from Zhu Huan's life, but he has quite an interesting life the whole way, and then his son, Zhu Yi, is another story in itself, though they could both probably be covered in the same video. Zhu YI's highlight is his death, which was cruel and actually basically ensured the demise of Wu at that moment, so it continues where you left off with Sun Quan quite nicely, because you see how the new Wu Emperor acted. I don't want to spoil that story, if you're interested, feel free to look up Zhu Yi (may want to specify "Three Kingdoms" after) - his story is EXTREMELY important in the overall downfall of Wu. This story in fact is what made the emperor become hated by all and overthrown in Wu.
Cao Cao is Impressed
Can you make video about Kyrgyzstan hero Manas no one Nobody talks about central asia
i hope you provide english subtitle in your videos. it will help a lot
Xun Yu please one of the best administrator and adviser under Cap Cao
“History is not fact” 👍👍👍
Will you talk about chinese gods in the future?
The design of the three unifiers of Japan is amazing. Congratulations to the artist!
15:22 The Gongsun family also fought the Koreans
Historically Zhou Yu was greater than Zhuge Liang, sad he died so young Wu is my favorite followed by Wei
Also Zhou Yu hardly interact with Zhuge Liang.
I would be VERY interested in knowing if you have a image saved for the timeline at 7:25
Hey so here’s a question that I’ve been wondering for a while but I didn’t get a chance to ask: Why are the Chinese Dynasty different from the family names of the ruler? I assume the name is based on the territory the Dynasty original controlled like Cao Cao controlled the Duchy of Wei, but how does that work for the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the Manchurian Qing, or the Wu Zetian’s Zhou dynasty?
I think there’s a pattern of taking a name from the place the dynasty founder came from (hometown’s name and such)
Though I don’t know enough to say this about every one follows that pattern
Those were not Dynasty names, but rather name of the Country. Shang, Zhou, Qin were all name of the Country then. When Cao Pi became Emperor, he named his Country as Wei. Wei, on the other hand, came from Wei county which his father Cao Cao was bestowed. It wasn't any random name either, as it comes with full mystical connotations, as the name signified high tower of clay, which indicates the power of Soil which could subjugate the power of Metal, for the Han dynasty.
In reality, the word China doesn't really exist in China. The word 'Zhong Guo' at first meant the dwelling of the Emperor, which later expanded to mean all the land that was ruled by the Emperor of Han. By the Qing dynasty, they used Zhong Guo and Qing interchangeably, and later Zhong Guo, translated as China was used by the Republic of China to be the name of the Country. This was continued by the People's Republic of China government.