2,000 Years of Chinese History! The Mandate of Heaven and Confucius: World History #7

In which John introduces you to quite a lot of Chinese history by discussing the complicated relationship between the Confucian scholars who wrote Chinese history and the emperors (and empress) who made it. Included is a brief introduction to all the dynasties in Chinese history and an introduction to Confucius and the Confucian emphasis on filial piety, the role the mandate of heaven played in organizing China, and how China became the first modern state.
Chapters:
Introduction: China 00:00
Dynasties of China 0:39
The Mandate of Heaven 3:08
The Qin Dynasty 4:59
Confucius and Confucianism 6:32
An Open letter to the Xia Dynasty 8:21
Ren and Li 9:17
The Problem with Early Written Chinese History 9:57
Credits 11:40
Crash Course is on Patreon! You can support us directly by signing up at / crashcourse
Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?
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CC Kids: / crashcoursekids

[@mostwanted8240]

99% of comments: studying for a quiz or test Me: has to answer crash course questions as an assignment almost every week

[@maya-os1hr]

Oh Woah There bruh me too and im in college

[@rebeccaclaire6553]

All the answers are online that’s what I do haha

[@madelined.7244]

@@joshcogan8242 omg joshhhhh i found u on youtube

[@davidkepler5261]

@@maya-os1hr saaaaaaaaaaaame

[@lowksliana2884]

Same I’m in 10th grade I started doing crash course questions since 9th grade

[@krazykat2451]

Does anybody actually watch this for pleasure not for a test

[@BadgerCheese94]

Krazykat24 Yes. I love ancient Chinese history.

[@angylouv]

Yes, some people do that.

[@whyshoulditellyou4198]

Krazykat24 me I’m watching all of the CrashCourse videos for pleasure. I really just wanna brush up on my history. Even though I learned a lot of history in school I think they skipped a lot of things.

[@haleyqin9632]

lol not me, going into AP world history next year and hopefully these would help

[@nika8620]

here to expand my brain

[@kilIlmydoubt]

to anyone taking the test tomorrow, good luck! the fact that you’re even here shows you’re dedicated, so don’t stress out too much. good luck from me, a poor student who is very, very afraid of getting a 1 tomorrow

[@kristencarroll2726]

Katie Edwards thank you so much, you’ll do great don’t worry!

[@jacksonfin1145]

I have a quizz for study if u guys wanna try it, the code is381821

[@reeseadrig276]

ugh girl im so nervous

[@jacksonfin1145]

Reese Adrig we’ll be fine we’re smart cookies

[@UnorthodoxIndividual]

Bruh Imma get a -1

[@koushitagouri8241]

me: here to study for a normal quiz tomorrow everyone else: Studying for the AP Test

[@tdoan2093]

Koushita Gouri omg same i got a quiz tmr

[@sarabills4890]

Koushita Gouri I’m just getting background info for a project in AP World History

[@Cool_Chill]

best way to study for an AP exam the last 3 minutes haha

[@mysticaldoublems5438]

Koushita Gouri lol I’m just watching this for fun

[@garethbaus5471]

The only thing special about an AP test is it is stupid expensive, and potentially useless.

[@tesscrelli783]

I just realized this is the dude who wrote The Fault in Our Stars.

[@skylyndmeraz6633]

Same.

[@cheyennesandoval]

WHATTTTT HOW DID I NOT PUT 2 AND 2 TOGETHER

[@rosiela3602]

Tess Crelli Yeah and that’s quite shocking

[@Lauren-jr4is]

7:53

[@ambershumway658]

had to watch it twice before i realized and then had to do two google searches lol

[@TheQueenofSoup]

John could explain this topic better in 12 minutes than my history teacher could in one period.

[@SithEyess]

Same here confusionism is so clear to me now

[@videos101ist]

Sal Amato Haha I mean it's Confucianism....

[@lilboxon60fps66]

AP world students where you at?

[@nyxmars1197]

ayyyyy

[@T2Cold7140]

At right here. Praying that these videos actually help

[@gato815]

present

[@melissagonzalez6027]

Sksksks here!! good luck yall

[@gato815]

we did it lads

[@emanuela187]

Lmao when he says " Is China still a thing people talk about in Newspapers?" Yeah we're in March 2020 and they are definitely still a thing.

[@stangfriend6179]

😂

[@clairezhao5649]

@Chocolate Apple agreed

[@asthaupadhyaya7641]

Haha, but I think he was asking if newspapers are still a thing, since that statement was followed by a definition of newspapers. :P

[@jiayangliu]

@Chocolate Apple Exactly

[@jeffreyherzog3592]

who's fault is it?

[@blackscorpio444]

The "water" symbol “水” is not a character associated with Confucianism, but rather with Daoism. Daoists believed in dual properties in all living things. Water was associated more with "Yin" energy: mysterious, fluid, soft, everlasting. However, "Yin" forces are not inferior to "Yang." For example, rocks are hard and durable, but even the seas (made up of of water) can erode the roughest cliffs in time. Daoists particularly emphasized the qualities of Yin energy.

[@jennaraeblakeslee5154]

Master Yoda makes an appearance at 7:11 on the right of the emperors.

[@the1onlynoob]

The Chinese concept of “heaven” is the same word as “sky”. It’s a reference to the idea of basic decency and self-evident morals. When the Chinese historian say “xxxx losing the Mandate of Heaven” it’s similar to “it is plainly to see that xxx is no longer fit to rule and be role models”. Oh course, people added the flairs of dragons and mysticism to the idea of Mandate of Heaven. But most people understood the emperor are simply people who had power to overthrow the previous emperor and made known their (very politicised and distorted) reasons. The heavens is also not necessarily religious or mystical. Chinese often have a saying that loosely translate to ‘under heaven’ which just basically means ‘in the world’. Ie ‘this blade is peerless for all under heaven’ is basically ‘this blade is unique in the world’.

[@tingho9938]

I'm from Taiwan where students have to study Chinese history and ancient Chinese since elementary school, so I'm not here for preparing for a test. Just want to learn Chinese history from a western perspective. This video is awesome. I'm so impressed because China has got so many dynasty and this video is able to cover them all. They even get the concept of Mandate of Heaven explained. This concept has been mentioned in so many ancient historical text and literature that people wouldn't be able to fully understand Chinese history without knowing it.

[@victoremmanuell_ptbr1902]

I'm brazilian and i have a lot of respect about chinese history and its contribuition for the world. People forget that China's history is as old as the europe (or more). And its importance to Asia is way, way, way way, way, way before to USA.

[@matthewreinoehl8557]

cvxvxcv

[@masteryoda9052]

China and India are the oldest modern civilization.

[@pedrocortes1]

+Victor Emmanuell Fernandes Apolônio dos Santos OMG! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY BRAZILIAN HERE LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLL

[@ricardosouza3119]

+Red koi hstory

[@ryurudaraoni6950]

+pedro cortes Not at all!

[@humorouscameraaa7051]

I'm serious, Chinese history is so fucking interesting!

[@HuntVeil5]

u mean asian history

[@humorouscameraaa7051]

To me, Chinese history is the most intresting

[@danito52]

Right? Dang, I agree.

[@ciaronsmith4995]

DyanCat Its not. It sucks compared to the classical civilizations, (Iran, Rome, Greece) You are just trying to get a job in shanghai or something. Its overrated and they eat anything. Ewww!

[@humorouscameraaa7051]

Ciaron Smith Actually, it has the longest history in the world, and to me- is extremely interesting. No, I'm a 16 year old girl from New Zealand who has no Intention of going overseas for work. You may have your opinion, and we may have ours.

[@binaandhika5470]

Quarantine brings me to travel around KZbin so much. I am lost here.

[@sofiamangel2810]

When John Green teaches better that your AP World teacher...and the exam is tomorrow :o Edit: I passed the exam thanks to John Green!!

[@jandyxox9280]

Tru! Our teacher doesn't teach and wonders why the pass rate isn't high

[@1st_gamer484]

JandyXoX fax

[@gytx5339]

What is AP?

[@sofiamangel2810]

@@gytx5339 Advanced Placement

[@gytx5339]

@@sofiamangel2810 You get some kind of job by passing this exam ? Or it's something else?

[@cranedtoz8397]

I am a Chinese and it literally takes me 1 second to realize of which Dynasty he is talking about. And it's just such a joy to listening to him trying so hard to pronounce Chinese words, I feel like he is trying to utilize all the strength he has in his body lol (I am an evil yes). Chines words are just extremely hard to pronounce, and I AM PROUD OF IT lol.

[@ritsu601]

I'm Chinese and I can't pronounce Chinese words.( I wasn't born in China tho) parents are Chinese

[@patrickwilliams1607]

Anyone else here to try and learn thousands of years of history before tomorrow morning?

[@TitansGoalie17]

+Patrick Williams Unfortunately

[@claytonmills2514]

Hell yeah

[@claytonmills2514]

Hell yeah

[@sophiaseufert9370]

+Patrick Williams Me too fam

[@krad825]

+Patrick Williams Yes... I am too

[@caitlinbriggs8098]

Me: **clicks video** Me: Ugh I hate my history assignment. *"HI IT'S JOHN GREEN AND TODAY WE'RE GONNA BE TALKING ABOUT CHINA!"* Me: *pterodactyl noises*

[@lindalow946]

Thanks for this video! Only two tiny quibbles: the first is the pronunciation of some Chinese words - Zhou (dynasty), Yuan (dynasty) and jun zi (gentleman) (and to a small extent, Tang and Song). The second is with regards to the Great Wall: its construction started prior to the Qin dynasty, with the Qin Emperor joining up the sections built by the ancient states. The Ming dynasty, however, was responsible for the sections that we most recognise today.

[@zliu4208]

Man, if you teach history in school, who is gonna get bored?😉

[@wamsie13]

+刘治宏 I agree

[@alexfowler1789]

+Veterancreeper I love my ap world teacher. She teaches just like him.

[@sethbunton5177]

+刘治宏 I would really like my next AP history teacher to be John Green, just hilarious

[@TheReaMrBurntSausage]

+刘治宏 I don't think most of the things that you like about crashcourse would work in a real time setting, even with John Green...

[@sethbunton5177]

true but I mean as a teacher his personality and fun spirit is awesome

[@charlesfu3726]

Technically, Xia Shang Zhou were royal dynasties, Qin was the first imperial one.

[@chinooboyliao7289]

True

[@jakeralph2011]

+panda fu What the heck is the difference between a royal dynasty and an imperial one?

[@charlesfu3726]

keyboard monk in Chinese nobles hierarchy the rank "king" is lower than the rank "emperor". Before Qin dynasty the supreme ruler of china was the "king", and after was the "emperor". "King" is equivalent to "Prince" in the west.

[@charlesfu3726]

keyboard monk The sons of the Emperors were often endowed the title "king of xx" just like "Duke of York" "Prince of Edinburgh"

[@jakeralph2011]

Ok cool, thanks for clearing that up :)

[@bassdylan7048]

I love how informative these are, and the people hosting/narrating make it lively and humorous.

[@oliviarice5565]

You have saved WHAP students everywhere hours of work by putting all the dynasties in 3 minutes... bless you you absolute bean

[@guangshuobulian]

Dear Mr. Green, although I like the crash course series in general, unfortunately this video contains a number of factual mistakes. Here are some of the more serious ones, which I hope you can correct in the future: The obvious: Chinses history started more like 1500 BCE rather than 150 BCE. Teliable history record dates back to 841 BCE “shujing” is not a book of history, but a collection of government documents from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty, and BTW the original book was long lost in history. You are probably thinking about “Shiji”, which is indeed the most famous Chinese history book covering the period before Han. However it was not written by Confucius. All four pictures of empress dowagers are actually the same person: Ci Xi, the last empress dowager in Chinese history. The orgies of Xia's emperor didn’t happen in Ming Tiao (it happened everywhere apparently). The war between Shang hand Xia happened in Ming Tiao. The Qin was not ended by a bunch of murderous eunuchs, there were at most one murderous eunuchs, who many think was actually not a eunuchs after all. The Han dynasty actually ended in the hands of ten murderous eunuchs. More serious mistake: The Wen Emperor of Han never ruled according to Confusius principle. He rules according to the principles of Lao Tsi, which basically says that the ruler should do close to nothing, or rule the country like cooking a small dish. His son, the Wu Emperor, was the first Emperor to adopt solely the principles of Confusion. The Chinese character of water is displayed whenever Confusion is mentioned. The idea of water has nothing to do with any of Confusion’s ideas. In fact, the saying “good behavior is like water” also came from Lao Tsi. Confucius emphasized three major relationships: emperor and his officials, father and son, husband and wife. He also emphasized five virtues, two of which are ren and li. The “five relationship” is a much later, and somewhat unorthodox development Another big mistake: Ren is benevolence, or “love”, Li is both propriety and ritual. The ritual part of Li is a complete set of behavior regulation, and the veneration of ancestors is only a small part of it, definitely not a major part.

[@fyw5592]

好认真的纠错啊……

[@OverconfidentNoobs]

chill out bro it's for a bunch of retrded high school students who think it'll help them on the test, but it really won't no matter what.

[@shiny_x3]

Thanks for these corrections, very interesting! Not all of us are here for "the test" and appreciate your efforts.

[@purplefire2834]

@OverconfidentNoobs These videos are used as part of the curriculum in my school's World History class.

[@ssundeefan5259]

我也鼓掌

[@MitkoProductions]

Xia Shang Zhou Warring States Qin Han Three Kingoms Sui Tang Song Yuan Ming Qing

[@Pro_Butcher_Amateur_Human]

***** NERRRD! Congratulations. More people should be nerds. World would be much better.

[@YouTuberr285]

James Bennett Lol dude shut up...

[@tahaha]

***** It is unsure if the Xia Dynasty was real or not (probably fictional)

[@angweicai715]

Dont forget about the Jin(After the Three kingdoms ), Northern and Southern Dynasties(between Jin Dynasty and Sui Dynasty ) and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms which is between Tang and Song.

[@maoqiutong]

***** Xia Shang West Zhou East Zhou (Warring States) Qin West Han Xin East Han Three Kingdoms Jin Northern and Southern Dynasties Sui Tang Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms North Song & Liao & West Xia South Song & Jin & West Xia Yuan (Mongol) Ming Qing (Manchu) Republic of China Peoples' Republic of China (Mainland) & Republic of China (Taiwan)

[@purrito3892]

Everyone: who’s here for AP world history Me in 6th grade social studies: *ok*

[@GodofLovers]

I'm just here learning for myself. No school, no test, just genuinely interested in history. Specially Asia since I dont know a lot about it since I am American.

[@CheeseSandwich]

Same

[@yumekosan8500]

Lmao same

[@therafmaster5958]

CORY INJAPAN me too. I prefer the Romans, but China is fairly interesting too

[@Absenteeee]

aye same. never took APUSH, but I wanna write a story set in medieval china and i figured this was a good place to find the era i want to look at, and research more from there

[@justanatalyy8697]

I love it when he raises his voice everytime he mentions another dynasty

[@kreyk7893]

I think that the better way of describing what has the Ming dynasty built is the Imperial Palace (Gugong) instead of saying "the Great Wall". Since the Great Wall was first built during the Qin dynasty and the Ming Dynasty was not the only dynasty that rebuilt the Great Wall.

[@kerilabo1853]

I second this.. and thank you for this.

[@seanharrington9356]

This is a popular misconception. While border walls were built and rebuilt over the years, the modern-day Great Wall is almost entirely Ming-built, and distinct from the Qin wall in terms of structure, purpose, and even its actual location/path. To say that the Great Wall was built by Qin is accurate in only a very loose sense. A great book on this subject if you're interested is The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth by Arthur Waldron.

[@kristoffersonnicholas7979]

Yes, Ming dynasty built the Great Wall what we seen today but the country which is first to built Great Wall is Qin, Qin united all the Wall built by other countries and that’s the earliest Great Wall in Chinese history

[@imienazwisko6527]

"China is whole again, then it broke again."

[@amirfarook9868]

Imię Nazwisko 1000 IQ

[@whatisyourproblem7642]

正所谓，分久必合，合久必分 Long periods of division precede unity and long periods of unity precede division.

[@Maphisto_]

Yes

[@xrui]

my dignity in a sentence.

[@goldengifts3830]

“We could make a religon out of this!”

[@Luke-fs4zu]

As a chinese not gonna lie his trying to pronounce chinese words with an american accent is quite funny Nice vid tho thanks for one of the most informational history series I can find out there, portrayed in a very humorous way :)

[@mynameisaiah4482]

I'm in Pre-AP World History and John is the only history teacher I can trust with teaching me history :)

[@UltramanII]

As a Chinese IMHO the whole "mandate of heaven" thing is a, with due respect, very odd way of looking at Chinese history. It's like writing a whole book on the history of Christianity solely using quotes and arguments from Thomas Aquinas, leaving all other theists' opinion ignored and actual events like Crusades and Martin Luther only get a bare mention or no reference at all. Can you imagine reading a book like that? Well that's how I felt while watching this video. Yes the concept "mandate of heaven" is there, but it is for the most part merely an excuse for the next dynasty's rulers to justify their act of rebellion (as most dynasty's history records were compiled and written by the following dynasty). It's simply a form of, in modern terminology, propaganda. So what's all the fuss about? It's probably an interesting perspective of looking at history, but it's certainly not one from which most people in China would look. At least for me, "mandate of heaven" is merely a fancy phrase used to substitute the concept of fate/destiny, mostly used in everyday conversations instead of serious history discussions. The factors that contribute to every dynasty's downfall are numerous and complex like everywhere else in the world -- foreign invasions, bad economy, political struggle between ministries and royal families, etc, far from just incompetence to rule. Ancient Chinese historians were aware of these (as well as common sense, for that matter). Also not every emperor = a dictator, many have to share considerable power with his ministries. They can't rule and decide everything for the country and were helpless in some situations. The concept of "Heaven" in China equals to "God" in other cultures, period. In Chinese language we say "heaven help me" instead of "God help me" when we are desperate, "heaven punish me" instead of "God punish me" when we are hopeless; it's simple as that. When you find your life and career particularly smooth or frustrating, you begin to think of it as caused by a predetermined fate designed by some divine presence. You call that "will of the gods" in other cultures or "mandate from heaven" in Chinese and that's about it. Nothing so sophisticated here. When an emperor boast about his rule or make excuses he also happened to use this word and that's it. Ordinary Chinese people don't give a damn. They care about food prices and tax levels > some invisible mandate. At the very most, they would say a bad emperor is without Tao and a good emperor has Tao, but nothing mandate here. Consider this: if you had a bad boss who made your life miserable, is this about his fate or yours? Do you give a flying rat about your boss' destiny? And half of the video spent on Confucius....well I don't blame John. That was typical. I just want to say Confucianism is hardly the only school of philosophy ancient China has to offer and it definitely doesn't define or represent every aspect of Chinese society. And I'm not bringing up Taoism and Buddhism either. How about the argument on logic and paradoxes between school of Mozi and Gongsun Long's "school of names"? Now that's what I call Chinese philosophy. The "mandate of heaven" thing is one way to look at history -- and just ONE way. Don't over-glorify it.

[@frodob.7670]

there's not enough time in the video to fit all that. Confucius is generally agreed to be the most important / famous philosopher in Chinese history, so that's all he put in. if this was a whole documentary of Chinese history, the points you made could be added. But this is a twelve minute video.

[@jintsuubest9331]

+UltramanII 可以解释什么是 "The Mandate of Heaven"? 真心没看懂

[@olichan4837]

+Brian Lock 就是天道，儒家的精神是遵从天道

[@quqbalam5089]

+UltramanII Well, to be fair with John Green, a good portion of Chinese history has to do with the Mandate of Heaven, as this was the ideology of almost every Chinese imperial dynasty (and other East Asian empires as well) ever since the Zhou.

[@bryan1598]

+Yonglin Chen Mandate of Heaven means 天命, emperors are also known as 天子 (son of heaven/god)

[@SpikeShroom]

At the Open Letter, if you have captioning on, it says "[scoots to throne]." Cannot stop laughing.

[@2b-coeur]

+spikeshroom XD XD XD XD

[@sethbunton5177]

+spikeshroom #13 it says scooting chair to vigorously silky throne of awesomeness

[@MinerGT]

"Is China still a thing?" 2020: I'm boutta end this mans whole career...

[@SegeshiOttawa]

that's a mood!!

[@tylerliu2632]

*laughs in recovery*

[@frankiehompson2746]

i get such a nostalgic sense of joy when i watch these videos. Takes me back to middle and high school

[@ethanwright7744]

The Great Wall of China was started in the Qin Dynasty, not the MIng.

[@eijikenji7149]

ming rebuild great wall. today, great wall was legacy of ming effort of reconstruction. great wall akin to " anti virus software" they are useless and useful in some time.

[@user-li3dx2gd8x]

NOw we see the great wall, that's MING'S

[@mobins127]

Ethan Wright Potato, Potaato...

[@junlinwu7577]

Great Wall was actually started to built in warring states. At that time, countries in China built their own walls for defense. When Shi Huang Ti conquered the China, he combined those walls together and that's the origin of Great Wall. Each following dynasty in China enhanced the structure of the Great Wall until the Qing dynasty.

[@user-ri1mn4em3y]

Who else is here trying to study for the ap world history test 😭

[@lexiw6113]

right here. worst decision of my life taking this class.

[@user-ri1mn4em3y]

COREY POTTER yeah it will! Right...?

[@robertcooper1294]

Here

[@user-ri1mn4em3y]

Yall i took a practice test on Thursday and got a 4, theres hope 🙏🏽

[@ariafrehner315]

Meeeeee

[@braevinmaund1210]

4:57 that's the character for "water"...

[@uchuuseijin]

@@coopergoodsir7553 ... That's because Japanese characters came from China?

[@jackl2257]

Cooper Goodsir some of the bigger words are in kanji, rest are a simplified version

[@uchuuseijin]

@@coopergoodsir7553 実は大部分の漢字は中国語に基づいてるよ。新字体も中国語の繁体字と言う文字から単純化した文字です。 我也現在學中文。因為我會讀日語的漢字，所以我已經會看書。

[@muff3ntop872]

When your ap world teacher teaches you nothing and the ap world test is tomorrow. Crash course taught me everything for ap world...

[@momohu6963]

I was born and raised in Shanghai, China with my mom a chinese literature professor. Yet I could not understand some of the terms he mentioned such as "chunzi" and "shujing". Could someone maybe show me how the characters are written? I have never heard such words in Chinese regardless of his pronunciation. FYI, the "yuan" dynasty is pronounced as "y(as in yellow)uan" instead of "juan" as in Spanish. I relied a ton upon Crash Course classes but seeing this video and some of the unheard-of references made me realize that one should be mindful of its U.S. centric perspective and not-so-scholarly sources. Also I guess science videos are more objective and hold universally true in that sense.

[@rockyzhang506]

Yimo Hu 圣子，书经. For some reason people still referring to things in Cantonese even tho it has never been the official language of china EVER. May as well read it out in shanghainese 侬好侬桑海阿里宁阿 Most of these video are kinda for entertainment purpose i think so take it with a grain of salt. And a lot of it seems be going against common knowledge i also lived in shanghai for the first 15 years of my life.

[@momohu6963]

Rocky Zhang haha Thanks! 四额呀桑海宁

[@ziboxu9450]

Yimo Hu 小赤佬，这都不晓得

[@momohu6963]

asadsds dsd !!明明叫依拼粗特了

[@momohu6963]

***** Hi and no Im actually in the States. Are you？

[@real.sugarcone]

This week's phrase of the week was "That's a long ass time"

[@deanbeckerley5530]

Hey John how are you man? Does anyone ever ask you that? I know you're successful but are you good? Best wishes

[@bendemare5270]

ooh,that's so kind of you

[@randomchannel2801]

to bad your gay

[@myrabelq]

Pauline Phan hOw DaRe He

[@chloegroove5039]

Random Channel Lmfao😂😂

[@seancosgro2685]

To get a 1 on the AP test, you need to get less than 35 multiple choice right and no points on ANY essays, it's harder to get a 1 than 5

[@mrcrashspectra6633]

you underestimate my lack of knowledge.

[@ultrameijin9503]

This is the 7th video and I just realized that this isn't Hank Green

[@porkyflight1433]

lol... its not

[@Fudoobeer]

i thought they were two personalities of the same person

[@panda839578567659610]

they look and talk and act so similar its hard to tell them apart for me too XD

[@imienazwisko6527]

Ultra Meijin This is John Green.

[@Hqrwey]

Ultra Meijin if you love Hank Green so much then STOP. WATCHING. NOW.

[@wkehrman]

I must have watched this 20 times when I show it for class and I just noticed a Yoda-like figure among the Sage Emperors in the Thought Bubble.

[@spike.9046]

im a chinese. and im glad to see there are many kind friendly people here. for me, china is a great country, hope u guys will like my homeland not just for test)) love u, peace

[@carlossoto9231]

Green makes it so much simpler. I love this channel. Literally the reason I'm passing my history class.

[@dani4ever]

omg KZbin actually suggested me a channel I want to subscribe. thanks :D

[@John5mith]

at the cost of your privacy

[@dani4ever]

John Smith I'm the one who puts stuff about me in the internet. You still kinda have the privacy you want to have, in the internet. I'm really curious about your name and photo. Are you actualy asian descendt? Is your name really John Smith?

[@sapphiredcw7517]

I was listening to this to study for my AP test, and my mom was nearby and she heard all this. 10:20 😱

[@jazminlamadrid4088]

Binge watching literally the day before the exam when your teachers tells you not to cram :'))

[@alem1793]

Same 🤧

[@susie3074]

Me too

[@Scorponizer]

For those interested in the Warrings States period, I'd like to recommend reading the Kingdom manga. The art and story are excellent, and they follow Ei Sei (the one who ends up unifying China).

[@jasonbonne8608]

I believe who want to really understand the real chinese culture and their long history, must learn their chinese first and read their documents and history books by himself. I have read some and it's so amazing and different.

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

2:50 "Mongoltage" 😂 best name. Your videos made me really obsessed with the mongols.

[@kydance4195]

7:13. Loving the Yoda in the background!

[@larrydarnellrembertiii6258]

Was that Yoda in the clouds lol

[@bradmyst1339]

Larry Darnell Rembert III When?

[@jareddembski2084]

7:11

[@queergeologist8207]

Larry Darnell Rembert III Yes it was.

[@queergeologist8207]

***** Yoda, it is yoda, young padawan.

[@Soulzarath1]

Larry Darnell Rembert III Can you rap?

[@milomineon2787]

"My name is John Green" *spits out cereal* John Green!? *looks at screen* Oh…

[@2b-coeur]

+Casey Dunne And if you noticed he put his book into this video, the son and father seemed to be having some sort of argument over it in the Thought Bubble when he was talking about the father-son relationship XD

[@MindlessBhaviorLuvn]

X X never made that comnection. im slow as hell. never would have expected him to write something like that

[@CloroxBleach-nu8vo]

I’m not even taking history as a class but I just love watching his videos

[@lilahphilips8098]

"I've never seen someone laugh so much while doing homework." My dad said. I thought, "it's the orgies"

[@jacobvaughn8552]

lol

[@k.z.7617]

Umm...The Great Wall was built in the Qin dynasty. The Ming dynasty, like the others, just expanded and fixed the Wall.

[@Spider333]

Yeah, that got me a little pissed as well. The crash course mistake, not the Wall being built or fixed by whoever it was.

[@shinomura8267]

OH MY GOD WE WATCHED THIS IN MY HISTORY CLASS

[@klodpraisor]

I mean textbooks are least biased to be honest. History is SUPPOSED to have at least SOME biased in it. Eurocentrism, rationalism, technically these are all opinions, even if they are considered scientific, but scientific ideas change through time too.

[@Hamster_65]

same

[@madmcp6894]

+ethanon2001 I mean, we did too

[@Aaa-ho3sq]

We watched one of these videos where Hank mentioned scoodillypoopin while we were still 12 year old, but we had already had health lessons by that point.

[@TwistedNerve1]

OMG!

[@hiuyeungchan8854]

My Chinese isn't good, but I hope it helps... (Please correct me if I'm wrong, thanks :P) The two main concepts of Confucianism plus JunZi part they mentioned: 1) Ren (仁): Should be translated to beneficence or compassion (Their translation of Ren as 'propiety' or 'understanding and praciting proper behavior' is not entirely wrong, just looking weird. This better be the meaning of the next concept, Li) Ren is a huge big concept that is also the crux of the confucianism. Translating it as beneficence, compassion, or altruism seems more accurate. (FYI, if you observe carefully, the word itself consists of two parts, 亻and 二。亻represents 'humans' and 二 means 'two'. So the word itself means two humans. You can imagine, the word roughly concerns how we treat others. Being kind/compassionate to others would be a big branch of it. 2) Li (禮): Here it should mean 'understanding and praciting proper behavior at every possible situation'. Rituals that they mentioned is only a branch of Li, because Li is a set of guidelines that concerns appropriate behaviors when we are interacting with different people and acting in different situations. By the way, Ren is the prerequisite of Li. Ren is an inward thing that concerns your mentality and values. Li is how you treat others. Also, Li is also an expression of Ren, because when a person has Ren, they will know how to behave with Li. 3) Jun Zi (君子): It does mean superior men (Superior, in terms of moral) or generally something like a role model. When you say someone is a Junzi, he must be having very nice morality. He should be benevolent to others (having Ren, see 1) and be a person of Li (having Li, see 2), and many other great qualities. Here I humbly did a simple translation on an extract from an ancient Chinese passage talking about confucianist virtuals. It was written by Confucian's student, MengZi, and I really loved the passage because it gave such a great and concise example of what specifically the words meant. 'All humans had Ren, or the heart of compassion. If now you see a child about to fall into the deep well, you will naturally feel scared and worried for the child. You save him not because you want the child’s parents to appreciate you, or be praised by your neighbors, or avoid be condemned by them if you do not do so. Thus, without compassion, you are not a human' [孟子論四端: 所以謂人皆有不忍人之心者，今人乍見孺子將人于打，皆有怵惕惻隱之心。非所以內交4于孺子之父母也，非所以要譽于鄉党朋友也，非惡其聲而然也。由是觀之，無惻隱之心，非人也]

[@americasalazar8481]

Yes thank u, Mr. Green! I love watching your videos for not failing my Social Studies tests and sometimes, just for fun.

[@horseenthusiast1250]

There's six sages, counting Yoda. We just have to find Sheik and we're good to go

[@braedonallen4291]

A note: since this video was made ruins of a city built during the Xia period were discovered in modern day Henan province (I believe; I get my Chinese provinces mixed up sometimes), effectively proving the existence of the Xia dynasty. So yes, they did actually exist. Their power and size however are subjects of dispute.

[@Bonaby]

Imagine going to the comments section only to see people who started studying with a couple days left as opposed to a couple of hours. Wild.

[@markcantora4453]

i whatched this 20 times in 5 days. jhon green is so much fun to watch and is really good at teaching.

[@Elk0990]

-The ancient artifacts of Xia was found not long ago, so they're not fictional anymore -You missed the 晉 dynasty -The great wall was built long before Ming

[@endournyum7989]

Do you have source for the artifacts of the Xia? Chinese source are fine.

[@Elk0990]

big5.huaxia.com/zt/2003-43/whbl.html It's actually a palace

[@yungjames5103]

Quisek I also thought there was suppose to be a place known as 'shang ri-la' that you could argue is a substitute for heaven?, correct me if i'm wrong.

[@Elk0990]

James Lyons It's not really a Chinese thing, cuz it's heard to be in Tibet. But so far nobody have found it. A substitute for heaven? more like the scenario in this Chinese story en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peach_Blossom_Spring

[@paolosnasser1383]

Achtuiba Sorry, but the Erlitou site doesn't really prove there was a dynasty per se. Many civilizations like Erlitou existed in central China at the time, we already knew that. What we don't know is if Erlitou had administrative control over the entire region. So far there isn't any evidence to suggest that it did.

[@Cytrillex]

Is it awesome that my 8th grade history teacher has been showing this in his classes?

[@pamsp]

[mongoltage] is probably the best CC I have ever seen

[@gwang3103]

I'd question the accuracy of the explanation of the meaning of 'ren' (仁) starting at 9:41. 'Ren' is more accurately translated as 'humanity' or 'human-heartedness', how two human beings should relate to each other. This can be seen in the Chinese character for 'ren', which consists of the glyphs 'man' and 'two' combined together. The -en in 'ren' should also be pronounced like the -an in 'woman', by the way. I'm also kind of unhappy with the (usual) account of Confucianism as a way of thought and life that lays stress on hierarchy and deference to one's superiors. Mencius, second only to Confucius himself in importance in the Confucian school of thought, asserted in no uncertain terms that the emperor is less important than the people (!!) and that the people are entitled to give a poorly performing emperor the boot. (I know this isn't entirely meant to be a serious video, but...)

[@patoonptoon]

Yodaaa! at 7:10 This is a great video, really a nice summary of stuff you'd learn in an AP World Hist. class on China. Great for those who are cramming for the tests out there. :D

[@YureiSkye]

exactly what im doing

[@matthewpopplewell4967]

Only 10.5 hours left. And I'm only on China

[@VanessaRodriguez-wv7vn]

I feel ur pain.

[@anthonys7660]

Matthew Popplewell play every video at the same time in new tabs

[@KieranGarland]

Ah, I love these videos. Thank you for making them.

[@alexsvistunov620]

Great video! I've been living in Yunnan for the past 3 years and never really looked deep inside the history, cheers brother!

[@sachindoingyt]

We Nepali even today pronouns 'china' as 'qin' .

[@MyrmidonsProductions]

No mention of Lao Tzu? (Loaozi) founder of Taoism. Which is arguably one of the most important things in Chinese history. Laozi lived from about 580 bce to about 450ish I think. And of course probably one of the history's most influential philosopher Sun Tzu ( true name I don't really know). But Sun literally ( textually, literature,) and metaphorical. Shaped every modern form for competition world wide is just 13 chapters. Of course all three men I mentioned are incredibly wise and important. All three actually shaped world society.

[@sapphire7806]

Him trying to pronounce chinese names is pretty entertaining 😂

[@XiAnais-bt9ke]

I took my AP exam for world history 4 years ago...but these videos are just so fun

[@Marinanor]

Xia was real, it's just so old even for Chinese history that everyone gets to say they weren't real.

[@Navak_]

+Marinanor If they were real, they weren't much of a "dynasty" in the sense of an organized state. Probably not much more than a tribal confederation.

[@user-hd6sw1vs3b]

+nvshd Please read deeply into Chinese history. Don't be fooled by surface

[@user-zb2ll8nk5t]

Xia shared almost the same governmental system with Shang and was widely considered as the first dynasty in most Chinese history books. So it is incredible that Xia is labelled fictional but Shang is labelled real for us Chinese. The only reason for its unadmittion is no archeological evidences discovered, while the Jia Gu Wen, which is the language of Shang, is discovered. It will turn out that Xia is also real as long as we can find more new relics to prove it . By the way, we actually indeed have a history of tribal confederations, but it was Xia that ended that, in Chinese traditional opinions.

[@daw993]

nvshd Maybe you can't read Chinese. That's fine. Go Search Colin Renfrew and his report on 3rd Shanghai Archaeology Forum.

[@AlikZalmover]

Preparing for AP World History Test! I am picking some videos for review! Congrats on 3 million views on this video!

[@thomasross4578]

Join the club bro! Good luck!

[@okcalphi]

+Albert Zalmover same

[@donalddavis9952]

+Albert Zalmover Me too. Let's all hope for that 5

[@skateteam644]

same bro good luck

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

3:37 That's a top tier song!! 👏👏

[@andreimoga7813]

I repeated "Hi, I'm John Green, this is Crash Course: World History, and today we're gonna about China" at the same time I heard John say it. I have watched all of these videos, and the opening has printed itself in my memory. Edit: also, I find China to be the greatest country that ever was. An amazing, awe-inspiring colossus.

[@NeMayful]

Explain Chinese history in English is hard. It is two different systems. You got the skin, but not the bones.

[@Alfarouc17]

Great Empires come and go, China always stays.

[@kekero540]

True also China was really never imperialist it just sat their killing anybody who tried to steal their sweet silky silk

[@kimchikoalaa714]

Just because they stay on the same piece of land does not mean they don't come and go

[@NewspeakMedia]

Alfredo Alfaro Egypt is only Egypt in name xd

[@user-bv5nj4kz1n]

well... at least we are still leaning those philosophy and poem things which from three thousands years ago..

[@Modest7787]

When ever I’m bored I come to watch ya then this comes up and I start spending hours watching crash course

[@colu1806]

Oh thanks for explaining Confucius system though I didn’t really understand. It’s so complex.

[@queenpemiga]

Hi, I love your program & would like to thank you all for the amazing videos. Just want to mention a minor error though --- it was actually Han Wudi, the grandson of Han Wandi who enforces the practice of Confucius on his country. Han Wandi (Grandfather) & Han Jingdi (Son) & practically everyone before Han Wandi (Grandson) were practicing Taoism instead. Cheers

[@emmal9534]

Nope, the great wall was not built during the Ming. It started in 200 BC.

[@bennygoodmanisgod]

Lam Emma it was greatly improved on in the ming dynasty

[@SailorGreenTea]

7:47, The Father is supposed to earn this respect by caring for the Son and educating Him.

[@sourabhbaghel9579]

I watch his videoes on 0.75speed😂

[@samalbury9183]

Rookie numbers, I listen at 2x speed

[@clairezhao5649]

lol, same, plus subtitle because he talks too fast🤣

[@Mia-qf3wz]

@@samalbury9183 glad that's not just me lol

[@MedCherifB]

@@Mia-qf3wz exactly what I felt 😂

[@fingerling54]

Can some one tell me why the hell the west keeps using our Chinese character "水", which means water, to represent confucisanism? I saw it in the game "Civilization" and now also here.

[@gavinni973]

Be water (水)my friend-----Bruce lee

[@lrq0729]

+Harry ni haha

[@TheShows247]

I was wondering about that too

[@jingxuanwang6730]

+fingerling54 上善若水,“ 水” means water in Chinese, it contains everything and it is best form of movement. It goes through holes and slightest gaps. It nurtures humans but is does not pursuit fame and victory. It is the highest quality one person could have, according to Daoist- Chinese culture.

[@fingerling54]

+Jingxuan Wang Well said. Problem is, as you said 上善若水 is a Daoist belief, and has nothing to do with the confucisanism. The Confucisanism goes the opposite way of Dao. It encourages people to pursuit fame and victory in the secular world.

[@agussetionoasli]

Mr Green, Mr Green, but I heard the Great Wall wasn't built by a single dynasty. The wall was rebuilt again and again over the time and the Ming dynasty made its final contribution to the wall

[@rat5665]

I have a test tomorrow on this and this really helped! Thx!

[@blakewang8875]

yo i love the puns here and there in crash course, keep it up team!

[@sathvikrachakulla]

Did you guys see YODA @ 7:08 ??!!!!

[@JurijFedorov]

Haha... thanks! Good catch.

[@lorddio2572]

strong the force is

[@firstnamelastname3315]

Did the Mongols pay for the wall?

[@yuuki4560]

Amy L that’s the joke though ;(

[@hamzaelalami5652]

Donald trump dynasty

[@angeloruiz9657]

@@amyl8166 r/woosh

[@publiuska2204]

They didn't. Instead, they become China. Just search Xianbei

[@user-ve3oj9km7u]

Ha, funny. Yea, they should.

[@arini8750]

omg i cant be the only one not watching for exams but for my own knowledge XD

[@iCyFlaMeZ96]

Same

[@Cam-gk4dk]

You arent :)

[@SamA-eu7su]

you are