History Summarized: Medieval China (Ft Jack Rackam)

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Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme...
China broke agaiiinnnnnn - dammit china you only had one job
Further reading: China: A History by John Keay
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[@erichayes8445]

Chinese Emperor: *Becomes Corrupt* The Heavens: "HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN!"

[@jessebai592]

Corruption is unavoidable for feudal system. proberly it is unavoidable by any type of system. There is always a ruling class which would be crrupted by its power. The only way to flaten the curve is to refresh the ruling class.

[@beareble-lion4446]

@@jessebai592 imo a open market libertarian republican system in which those in the top 25% of wealthy people would pay for 50% of taxes needed for roads security force's an education. Government shouldn't be in charge of anything else. That an as long as your actions and words don't harm or rob someone unwillingly it's legal to do as a adult. And education should be aimed at making free thinkers an the self employed.

[@bosunbill9059]

@@jessebai592 Let's be honest, corruption is inevitable in ALL systems.

[@adamcheklat7387]

Also Heavens: THERE HE IS! GO GET HIM!

[@erichayes8445]

@@beareble-lion4446 there's still gonna be corruption just from the corporations instead of the state

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

*_Below is a 100% accurate rendition of Wu Zetian seizing power:_* *Literally Everybody Else:* In the name of the Chinese Empire you are under arrest. *Wu Zetian:* Are you threatening me adviser/son/other political rival? *Literally Everybody Else:* The Emperor will decide you fate. *Wu Zetian:* I am the Emperor! *Literally Everybody Else:* Not yet! *Wu Zetian:* It's treason then. *Whips out a red lightsaber, does a 720 degree inverted spin, and proceeds to go ham on everybody in room.*

[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

She had such a knowledge of the dark side that she could even keep the ones she cared about from living.

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

@@OverlySarcasticProductions Is it possible to learn such -power- reckless filial piety?

[@whoknows7968]

@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi Not from a decent parent.

[@whoknows7968]

@Tam873 Did you really have to ruin the comment chain to complain about Journey to the West? That takes time! Lots of time! Red finishes one of those every few months because of quality over quantity, and to make even more videos like that would just make them take even longer.

[@whoknows7968]

@Tam873 Check the date when each episode released in the past, some episodes have taken 9 months this is nothing new.

[@falco6121]

That pun at the beginning killed me

[@TerenceClark]

RIP

[@McJethroPovTee]

apparently even blue can't handle his own pun.

[@MisterJasro]

Oh ashame you had to miss the rest of the video. They should put such killer puns at the end next time.

[@grumiosspoon_]

TheFalcon67 same

[@coyotecody99]

Death:Welcome to the afterlife what killed you? Me:a truly terrible pun Death:yeah lots of people die from pun exposure. I mean the afterlife is just filled with pun-demonium as a result of them Me: AHHHHHHHHHHH

[@TangmoMopet]

**Hype for Three kingdom summarized**

[@anantanni22]

People who are interested in Romance of the Three Kingdoms but daunted by the thick book should try watching the 2010 TV adaptation. It's really good, almost completely faithful to the novel, and even made reading it easier since I could put faces on all the names. (So many names!) You also learn how to pronounce them, so that's nice.

[@Reacted1991]

@@anantanni22 i've seen watched the whole series atleast 4 times by now and it is hands down the best adaptation of the novel i've seen and i seen almost all of them by the way have you seen the trailer for that dynasty warriors movie that looks like some silly fun

[@Wobble9000]

@Kains Legacy You're talking about Red Cliff, the 5 hour John Woo Epic about the battle of red cliffs. I watched a couple of times, it's a pretty great Dynasty Warriors-style action film. Here's the trailer: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppWTk6SChtenmqc Also, where can I watch this TV adaptation? I've heard of it and I am interested after playing Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends.

[@Wobble9000]

Anant Mishra I understand that. My only exposure to this history is Dynasty Warriors, so I don’t have more background info to draw from. I need to watch that TV series.

[@Reacted1991]

@@Wobble9000 no i'm talking about the 2010 series three kingdoms or war of the three kingdoms the red cliff movie has great action but butchered the story i have no idea why they thought it would be a good idea to have zhou yu and zhuge liang be friends when in actuality he tryed to have kong ming multiple times during their alliance he hate him and there would be no way the zhou yu i know would take an arrow for zhao yun also you could easily find the whole series on youtube by typing in three kingdoms and the episode number you want

[@soorian6493]

Welp, someone casually mentioned Avatar in conversation. Guess I have to watch the whole series again. *sigh*

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

Let's go reunify the Earth Kingdom! Again!

[@Enchie]

Your acting like that's a bad thing.

[@Quinn-bq9sv]

THE EARTH KINDOM IS WHOLE AGAIN THEN IT BROKE AGAIN

[@GhostBear3067]

Sounds to me like the exact opposite of a problem

[@potatoluna3389]

Ikr

[@JM-bb8xi]

I translated the Three Kingdoms after college, Reds right, it's DENSE, but honestly it's a side effect of how direct Chinese language can be. It's very to the point and meaning dense.

[@cpMetis]

It is difficult for a person such as myself to comprehend how the language of the modern descendants of the Angals could, under a circumstance, be interpreted by a reasonable person or reasonable persons to contain a notable portion of "fluff" or otherwise excess language in the form of unnecessary words or phrases.

[@loah_1]

The irony

[@teddyganea9990]

@@cpMetis While English is a compact language compared to most modern-day languages, especially other Western ones (like Spanish or Romanian for example), compared to most ancient languages it is very expansive. Latin and ancient Greek are both mind-blowingly dense compared to English, with entire sentences being able to be expressed in two or three words. While I don't know Mandarin, it's not a stretch to say ancient Mandarin was more compact than English.

[@cpMetis]

@@teddyganea9990 Ye. Ah, the wonders of slang.

[@teddyganea9990]

@@cpMetis You're not wrong. Slang makes everything easier for English. Still, English slang is equally compact if not still less compact than proper Latin.

[@SonPham-CompetitiveProgramming]

12:00 There are many versions of why her tablet describe her achievement was empty. And one of them was that the tablet was empty per Wu's request, as she believed that her achievements are too numerous to describe in a small tablet (literally indescribable). She also knew that her heinous acts can only be judged by the large scale of history, so by living an empty tablet, she "let the future historians judged her achievements for themselves."

[@lortolk5929]

Have a couple notes for historical purposes: 1) Would point out that every single unification of China has been effected along a North to South axis. There's been many historical arguments and analysis as to why, from examining crops (North grew wheat, south rice) and its effect on social structures (rice agriculture encouraged large public works and plantations, leading to aristocracy and weaker states, wheat agriculture was seasonal and encouraged smaller family farming) to nomad states in the north, etc. I believe it remains a major focus of historical analysis. 2) The Grand Canal was important as a unifying factor for future Chinese dynasties, uniting the Yellow River and Yangtze economies in a way they never had before. 3) Similarly, Medieval China is when the economic and demographic heart of China shifted from North, along the Yellow River Basin, southwards to the Yangtze (around the delta). This ties into questions of why unification was always achieved from a north-south axis, when the South along the Yangtze held significant demographic and economic advantages (and thus hard power) over Northern dynasties and states. Also, small correction, but ROTK was written from a SHU perspective, not the WU perspective.

[@ENDERSMAN123422]

There is exceptions to the north south axis, the rise of Ming dynasty comes mind

[@stevenyd644]

​@@ENDERSMAN123422 And the northern expedition by KMT (only partly successful though). I think part of the reason a south-to-north unification is so rare has to do with climate. i.e. It's much easier for troops from the frigid north to adjust to the warm south than the reverse.

[@6principlesforcartography61]

That is stereotype: Qin conquers other warring states->West to East Fall of Qin->South to North Chu-Han Contention->West to East Tang conquers other warlords->West to East

[@donkey394]

Not true, but one factor could be long period of prosperity in the South especialy coastal regions. The North is Frigid and economic growth are hard to come by, the West has extreme condition as well, so building up a prosperous society is much harder, but that also lead to more desperate people overtime. The South after long period of prosperity can be succumbed by long period of attrition, it's not that they couldn't put up a good fight, as it usually take generations for Northern or Western region to subdue the South, but it's more often so that West to East and North changing of dynasties is more common than North to South. A few exception of South to North reunification comes from the Ming Dynasty, that was after the Mongol conquest, after a long period of prosperous time, under the Yuan where the North, West, and South region reached the same level of prosperity, this time it was the Southern region that started the rebellion and toppled the Yuan.

[@albertwang3536]

6 Principles for Cartography around after 600AD, the centre of China moved to the Yangtze river. Meaning that the state that had stable control over the area would become prosperous. Note that ANY rebellion after 1000 that over threw the government came from the south. If the dynasty had weak controls over the south then the most prosperous region would revolt.

[@maxd234]

I’m mad that Blue didn’t go over how Emperor Chad of the Byzantine Empire sent his daughters to the Tang Emperor in order to get the famous Dragon amulet and then went to war against the Western Chinese territories Oh wait that’s my Crusader Kings 2 play through...nvm

[@blarg2429]

I was gonna ask if there was really an emperor named Chad, so now I'm disappointed.

[@budakbaongsiah]

Was Chad a Lunatic, One-eyed, Ambitious, Greedy, Diligent, Proud, Deceitful, Lustful man with Syphilis?

[@joebeard4498]

@@budakbaongsiah you forgot dwarf

[@peloncito_5987]

@@budakbaongsiah you forgot inbred

[@a-drewg1716]

@@peloncito_5987 inbred is just a given at this point

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

There's an awful lot of _Empires_ in this part of history. *flashbacks to Darth Sidious's swift takeover and brutal regime...*

[@khai96x]

Darth Sidious was a bad ruler.

[@ohadgoldhagen1095]

I used to be a Jedi Knight, the same as your Father..,

[@krantz7]

The Dao will be with you… Always.

[@lordloaf7631]

Khải Hoàng he United the empire gave trillions of people jobs and created real estate space

[@bloodstoneore4630]

Did you hear about that brave disabled war veteran who took out those armed rebel terrorist thieves?

[@petermann673]

Oh man, I hope that means Red will do a Romance of Three Kingdoms series at some point!

[@McJethroPovTee]

Right after Journey to the West, maybe Mahabharata, too.

[@VietTran-po3hd]

@@McJethroPovTee So never?

[@Taxrenn93]

It might coincide with the release of Total War: Three Kingdoms, when that releases in May.

[@lolakitano1229]

And the book is monstruous too !

[@ChrisX_212]

While she does that, how about you do your own spin on the Japanese history? I mean, not just Sengoku Period (we already got that a lot, but you can add your own spin), maybe the Kamakura Period or the time of the Minamoto? We don't get that a lot.

[@idkazniguess]

CORRECTION: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms follows the Shu kingdom. The majority of its characters are from the Shu kingdom including Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhuge Liang. Source: Am Chinese

[@zachbear98765]

I enjoy your sourcing. 10/10

[@AlexanderRJaruk]

Personally, I think the sourcing would be slightly stronger if you added the words "so I can read it in the original", but what do I know?

[@jasonfrancis9262]

I thought it started by following the Wu then jumps ship to the Shu presenting Liu Bei as some moral hero he likely was not

[@idkazniguess]

@@jasonfrancis9262 If we're going with how the story starts in the very beginning, then it actually starts with Wei and how Cao Cao the leader of Wei came to power. I took "follows" to mean "main focus", of which Liu Bei and his group of people are the main focus. Liu Bei and his people are clearly the protagonists.

[@idkazniguess]

@@AlexanderRJaruk I mean you don't even have to read it in the original Chinese to understand that the story mainly follows Liu Bei and the other people from Shu. The people from Shu are clearly the protagonists. Even a glance at the wikipedia page can confirm this.

[@brettd2308]

Romance follows the Shu, not the Wu, as I'm sure someone as pointed out by now. Though it's idealization of the Shu was indeed built on top of Ming propaganda that even had its roots in the Southern Song Dynasty - all about villifying the northern invaders and equating the southern dynasty as the "rightful" one. Also, it bears mentioning that we have several good historical sources from this period, most notably the Records of the Three Kingdoms. The issue with them is finding English translations, as serious Chinese history scholarship tends to just read them in Chinese, and not much has been translated.

[@Chinaman7915]

Im pretty sure there were also records around this period in the Book of Later Han right?

[@GrassesOn97]

*China finally forms in 1949 “And now we play the waiting game...”

[@inkchip7351]

Where's the lie tho

[@Newbmann]

@@inkchip7351 HE HAS IRONY YOU MUST GO TO A REEDUCATION CAMP ISLAM IS A MENTAL ILLNESS SO IS IRONY China 2020

[@jynexe3056]

We got approximately 20 more years until it collapses again

[@aussieboy4090]

China will probably eventually collapse in ~200 years. That's around the average "life span" of a typical unified Chinese nation. But then again, Zhou lasted for ~800 years so we don't really have a pinpoint "death time" for PRC. Maybe it will be short like Sui Dynasty or average "life span." My prediction is that China could collapse in the year 2249, 200 years after the establishment of the PRC.

[@Newbmann]

@@aussieboy4090 there's one thing your forgetting the PRC might as well be INSOC there social credit system must at the very least give them another 50 year's

[@スノーハッピー]

Unfavourable accounts of Wu Zetian emerged mostly in the Song Dynasty, whereas histories written in the Tang Dynasty even after Wu Zetian's time were mostly favourable. While every Emperor tended to have committed terrible bloodshed, she likely wasn't any more tyrannical to others and was smeared later on. Patriarchy probably is a part of this historical interpretation - the Song Dynasty is more patriarchical and conservative than the Tang Dynasty.

[@andrewlogan2101]

Idk man she just sounded bad ass to me

[@pathfindersavant3988]

Dang, that Empress must've been reeeeeeeeeeeealy good at Crusader Kings

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

Those Three Kingdoms need to chill out and just accept that none of them are the *_CHOSEN ONE!_* It was said that they would unite the kingdoms, not destroy them! Bring balance to China, not leave it in darkness!

[@Kitkat_004]

Seriously man, I keep seeing you

[@kushastea3961]

wei kingdom had the heir to the throne under its thumb, the leader of shu was a royalty, the wu kingdom had the divine seal used by emperors to declare things. so it was not about which was the chosen one, it was about who had the right to claim the throne.

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

@@Kitkat_004 The Force often brings us together in the places where we least expect it...

[@Kitkat_004]

Obi-Wan Kenobi true true

[@nobblkpraetorian5623]

@@kushastea3961 Actually the divine seal was never in Wu's hands. Sun Ce sold the seal for his and his men's freedom before he conquered the territory that would become Wu.

[@emptank]

No one could ever unify China after all this chaos. Except for the Mongols!

[@ojutay8375]

We’re the exception

[@ItRemindMeOfHome]

For a century, then they collapsed and were replaced by the Ming

[@ascendingfire8404]

Cue the Mongoltage!

[@lemax6865]

@@ascendingfire8404 I remember the Mongoltage, which KZbinr was it that used it?

[@ascendingfire8404]

@@lemax6865 It's from Crash Course, specifically their World History series hosted by John Green.

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

Finishes Avatar, does a video on Medieval China. COINCIDENCE?!

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

I THINK NOT!

[@cobraglatiator]

@@Obi-Wan_Kenobi General Kenobi, you *are* a bold one!

[@valsvlogs7459]

@@kaushallsenthilnathan4175 go i

[@caridadchang7895]

China: everything is fine The Mongols: hold my beer

[@lamcb.9476]

holy shit, I knew the Chinese power struggle was amazing, but the melodrama, holy shit. I need to read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms

[@TheNN]

And then Genghis Khan busts through the Great Wall of China, explosions happening behind him, and he's like, "Sup, nice empires you got here, would be a shame if somethin happened to em."

[@johncao6516]

Except the Great Wall you're probably thinking didn't exist yet. Not until the Ming drove out the Mongols.

[@TheNN]

Oh i know, but it was just a joke.

[@unclecaramel]

Funny enough genghis never got past the song. And lets just say that song might have used him to to fuck over the Jin at the time. Which was the true foundation which how the mongols shat on the rest of thr world. Song collapse because of corruption and traitorts. Of course the Yuan lasted about as long as the Qin before being overthrown by the second low born nobody.

[@albertwang3536]

The Nothing Nobody Actually, when Genghis invaded Song had already collapsed.

[@kimchow4729]

The Great Wall, although not truly existed yet at the time, was fully capable of defending China from invasions. One reason the Song was so invulnerable against Northern invasions is that during the Five Dynasty and Ten Kingdom periods, the Emperor of Later Jin ceded the Sixteen Prefectures to the Liao Empire. The Sixteen Prefectures are a huge land which act as a natural barrier. Losing the Sixteen Prefectures basically rendered the defensive wall existed at that time useless. Despite how people might think, walls are pretty damn useful. That being said though, a single hole is what it takes to make the entire thing useless.

[@MeatGuyJ]

Man, red would probably go nuts drawing and summing up ROTK. Probably would be about three times as intensive as Journey to the West.

[@samtrue3]

You mean dragonball Kai right?

[@PandaGamingBE]

How have you not seen the Avatar series until now?

[@IamnotfromUSA]

++

[@jonsnor4313]

Now he has to regain his honorrrrr!

[@BeckettBaladas]

I believe he had seen it once when it came out but only recently watched it for the first time since then

[@bmoney2011]

I haven't seen a single episode

[@helenanilsson5666]

I have seen a single episode, but not much more. Sorry kids, I just didn't have time. There's too much good content available in the world for me to watch every great show, and that's not a problem.

[@0ld_Scratch]

"...this (bad)boy is dense!" please stop quoting my father, thank you!

[@Integer_Overload]

China's history is like those cheesy off-brand legos that your parents bought you off the clearance shelf at walgreens. It just can't stay together, so you try to put it together a little differently, but eventually it falls apart again. Repeat over millenia.

[@Alaryk111]

There is no state that last forever.

[@potatonoodlebear8035]

I mean many dynasties lasted for two or three hundreds years. But again, China History is thousands years old. So, not that a long time, if you are thinking in a perspective of thousand year

[@princ2024]

中国的大部分的王朝拿出来一个都比美利坚的历史要长久

[@Repider]

Oh my, Blue must be proud of his pun at the beginning

[@victoriasternberg481]

This isn't history. This is Dynasty Warriors.

[@fireredemblem4943]

Lol exactly!!

[@BlackBirdGuardian]

*sees a Being of true power riding a Red Demon horse* "They said 'Do not Pursue Lu Bu', they never said anything about 'Lu Bu pursuing you!'"

[@lovinglydull]

A) That pun was horrible. Good job. B) I'm hyped for the inevitable Three Kingdoms (probably) crossover video. C) Wu Zetian is best Emperor.

[@lucasbeck1391]

wu is a ck2 player

[@sarahcole9661]

If I’m a tenth as clever as Empress Wu when I turn (however old she was at her ascension), I will be an exceedingly lucky woman.

[@fluffycat1293]

Sarah Cole when she actually named herself empress, I think she was in her late 50s (though, she had technically been ruling through her husband/son for way longer). She was a kickass innovative emperor, unfortunately historians didn’t like her since she was a woman (and probably also cuz she wasn’t from a noble family) :( She died at the ripe old age of 84, which was damn old at that time

[@TheJboy88]

I think I speak for everyone here when I say that your little moments with Red in these videos is just pure delight :)

[@trumpeteer4601]

Coming here after reading Iron Widow is such a trip in the best way. Wu Zetian, meet Wu Zetian

[@noaccount4]

Is that the age of mythology soundtrack I hear? prostagma

[@erg344]

I've been replaying AoM lately, and I was always expecting to hear Blue's voice while playing! I thought it might also appear in Age of Empires, and that is why I haven't commented on it yet XD Inwe

[@dylanchouinard6141]

John Merces volumen

[@saittugrulturhal]

Esto

[@t40xd]

He uses it a lot.

[@athosbirra627]

Màlista

[@riverbecomesastorm375]

This was the video that introduced me to Jack Rackham's channel and I am eternally grateful.

[@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870]

You should do the history of pasta, where you also compare the parallel history between the Italian and the Chinese one.

[@rateeightx]

What's Chinese Pasta???

[@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870]

@@rateeightx Chinese rice noodles. Which are also called pasta in Italy, and evolved parallerly to Italian pasta.

[@rateeightx]

@@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870 Hmm. Didn't Know Italians Called Chinese Noodles Pasta,

[@rickr9435]

The First Primaris Cato Sicarius ummmm china has flour noodles, rice noodles, starch noodles, and even jellyfish noodles. so, only rice noodles is called chinese pasta?

[@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870]

@@rickr9435 All of them are called pasta. It's just that I only know of the rice noodles.

[@kala_asi]

I've *just* finished binging Avatar yesterday, and today I hear this 1:26. That was perfect freaking timing.

[@whoknows7968]

Great job, now go watch it again. Or just read the follow up comics, that works too.

[@kala_asi]

I will as soon as I get some free time!

[@matthewmuir8884]

Just don't watch Korra. Even in season 1, Amon was interesting, but the love triangle between the heroes was nearly unbearably bad and took up way too much time.

[@IrishMappermapsmore]

@@matthewmuir8884 17 year old teens, what do u really expect Pretty realistic if u ask me

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@IrishMappermapsmore Ugh; I dislike that excuse. "A love triangle is realistic because teenagers", that's not my issue with it. My issue with it is that it was badly written, terribly cliché, and took up way too much screen time. It's the same issues that almost every YA love triangle has, because they're all written almost identically. Also, I dislike the excuse of "We should have a love triangle because they're teenagers" as if that's the only way to write a YA romantic subplot, when that is far from the case. Avatar: the Last Airbender had no love triangles even though it had a lot of teenagers. Ed, Alphonse, Ling and their respective love-interests in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are teenagers, yet there isn't a single love triangle in that whole show. There are multiple ways to write a realistic teenage romantic subplot. Love triangles have gotten to the point where they seem stale and cliché rather than realistic.

[@icarusancalion3523]

What I really appreciate is how you connect viewers to other good history channels -- thank you!

[@NeedsMoreSubs]

[raises one Mr. Spock eyebrow] "Fascinating." Thanks for introducing us to Jack Rackam.

[@psachickennugget8617]

That was a great, bad pun. Do more pls

[@anonemuss1418]

This recent focus on Asian history lately makes me wonder if you'll ever do an episode over the Toungoo Empire, or any of its predecessors/successors really. Burma needs more love.

[@Felishamois]

hear hear

[@hxhuang9306]

Damn, you are using some correct pictures of architectures corresponding to each time period. 9:27 Foguang Temple! Nice

[@thomaspowell1582]

Can I just say that Age Of Mythology soundtrack gave me serious nostalgia.

[@lipan2757]

2:20 correction. The Protagonist of the novel is the Shu kingdom, given its emperor is very remotely related to royalty and thus was considered the more legitimate heir to the Han throne, although he was the least powerful and capable of the three. But the book shed a lot more positive light on him, given it fits Ming dynasty's agenda at the time as Ming was the last ethnic Han dynasty in China.

[@bkjeong4302]

To be frank, none of the three kingdoms were run by sane, reasonable people. Wu especially had a lot of incompetent leadership (though it actually lasted the longest of the three, as both Shu and Wei fell very quickly to the Wei splinter faction that founded the Jin, and that splinter faction was itself so corrupt and insane from the start that it took forever for it to briefly put aside its internal issues and conquer Wu).

[@ArgentDeer]

Do I praise you, Blue, for your web-blind/web-site joke or nah?

[@bloodstoneore4630]

Yes

[@thunderstorm5754]

You know my favorite history/ information KZbinrs are you guys and crash course because you guys go into things where chrash course is great for if your just trying to learn the basics history . I wish they would show your guy's videos at school because even in a seventh grade social studies class you would would have explained all what we are missing from our curriculum this year because they essentially completely made us gloss over Egypt and I like Egypt . ❤️u guys

[@sheller153]

I loved that pun! And your interaction with Red was adorable! Makes me wish I had a close friendship

[@arrowheadanimations5111]

Could you guys do a Legends summarised on Jason and the Argonauts?

[@pfefferfilm]

"took me three days to get through the table of contents" lolol same I still have no idea who worked for who in that book

[@RoseArtemis24]

Oh my god Blue why did I have to listen to this pun with my own two ears

[@GreenTideStudio]

I can not wrap my head around the fact that you guys have not hit, like a billion subscribers. Your videos are both educational and funny. Breaking the laws of physics. Ps: eat a snicker bud

[@dubyaw9511]

Red Cliff: Wu: We're the descents of Sun Tsu! Wei: Prove it!

[@suenzhong7891]

RotK is one of my favourite epics of all time. The amount of GoT worthy (if not more) shenanigans that occur during that one dynastic era is truly mind-blowing.

[@imarioiv]

Ok, this topic is really interesting but, thanks for giving me flashbacks to Age of Mythology. Literally the entire time listening to the music, I’m thinking of Greek villagers going “Fritomos.” “Metalef.” Ajax collecting a relic, and Odysseus firing arrows at a Nord Giant. Great game, has nothing to do with China unless you count the expansion lol.

[@Demonslayre]

Just wanted to say, love the videos. Especially the er... captions? Annotations? Text quotes. Anyway, they're great and simple to follow. Simple enough that I'm using Red's Norse mythology (more please?) and (later) Egyptian videos to help my mother understand the mythos for her playthroughs of the latest God of War and Assassins Origins. And probably Blue's on anything Peloponnesian war when she gets to odyssey in... A few years probably. Keep it up!

[@justinlan7940]

Love the Age of Mythology soundtrack

[@phosphoros60]

Whenever I hear something like 'Six successive southern dynasties' all I can think is 'Samson the Sadducee strangler, Silas the Syrian assassin, several seditious scribes from Cesarea..."

[@keebler1778]

Historia Civilis and Overly Sarcastic Productions upload on the same day... around the same time...

[@indiesongwriter5474]

One thing, I would suggest that you put the names of people on the screen. I wasn't sure who the empress was that your guest was talking about and I had to rewind it like three times to tell what he was saying. Great video!

[@SheBeastJehanne]

Jack Rackham's use of the consort Gaozong picked because she looked like Wu in the show to represent Wu in his videos about Wu is one of my favorite details

[@gorgonzolastan]

Wonder if the little girl in this video representing the consort will ever see it. That would be so weird to have posed for a stock photograph and find all the places where you pop up.

[@NeostormXLMAX]

Better than greg Hefty being used for constipation

[@alecchristiaen4856]

China: *united for a solid 50 years* China: "BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN"

[@HistoryHouseProductions]

Two of my favorite creators on one video? What kind of dark magic is this?

[@Jkirek_]

Red is the one that does the magic, maybe ask her instead :p

[@ryuukatamura]

Filial piety is SUPPOSED to be mutual, but everyone understands and practices it as only flowing one way: up toward your elders. Children are treated as the property of those that raised them, in the Tang dynasty, just as they are now.

[@McMaster1471]

Jack Rackam’s so underrated!

[@michaelnelson2976]

REally great sidebar by Jack Rackman, I love his newcaster style of presentation. I'm checking him out

[@May-cu3vs]

The Tibet part took me OUT man I shouldn’t have laughed that hard

[@Gotenhanku]

What are you talking about? There was no such thing called Tibet in this video. It totally never existed as a legitimate establishment that could fight against China.

[@dragonknightleader]

I cheered when I heard Red was creating a summary of The Romance of The Three Kingdoms, I love that time period from China's history.

[@kochasaito4628]

It's not 16 separated kingdoms in a same time, but there had been 16 kingdoms from Jin's Fallen to the Found of Northern Wei. During this time the rest of Jin Dynasty remained in the south of China and those 16 Northern Kingdoms iterated in the north until the Northern Wei(北魏) unified the North.

[@drakonemperor144]

The entirety of medieval china is kinda like my grades in school, it gets better only for it to crash and burn repeatedly

[@battleofjericho4540]

Could you do a history of mideival Poland, or one of the Native American civilizations?

[@silverwolf28]

oh and about Gaozong/唐高宗, there was this whole thing where his dad Li Shimin- a famously good emperor - originally had a different heir that was described as a lot smarter than Gaozong, but he became too ambitious and not 'kind' - my memory's kinda hazy on that - so Li Shimin replaced the original heir with Gaozong, who wasn't as 'smart', but is a lot more 老实 - not quite sure how to translate Also, iirc, Wu Zetian's monument describing her accomplishments was described to me as a choice on her part in an act of self awareness, since she knew as she did as much bad as she did good, and that she knew her legacy was waay too complicated to summarise that simply. Idk if that's factually correct, but that's what I was taught

[@kurtpeterson3398]

Just want to say these videos are amazing and hilarious, couldn't stop laughing at the Wu Zetian segment.

[@tagalongtoourpast]

Excellent....and loved Jack Rackam's contribution!

[@LuinTathren]

Awesome video! Thanks for all your hard work!

[@studio._.z]

Xiran jay zhao did a wonderful multiple part series on Wu Zetian

[@silverwolf28]

It's rlly interesting seeing this as a Chinese person, since my memory of Chinese history is three children's series' on Chinese history, filtered through the memories of me as a 4-8 yo written and published in China lol

[@elg6197]

Thank you OSP, for introducing me another great KZbin channel.

[@elg6197]

Here you go Jack, a new subscriber

[@JackRackam]

@@elg6197 Much appreciated!

[@amrathpaul2966]

This is a collaboration I didn't know I wanted!

[@french_bread4961]

Blue: *finally posts medieval China video* Me: Yes!!!

[@spencerabdo5144]

Poor Red... 3 days on a Table of Contents. Is that a Circle of College Hell? Like for those who just use Sparknotes instead of actually reading the books for College?

[@Felishamois]

ok that's nice

[@archazriel]

wooooo! You have a Tibetan fan BTW.

[@thefirstprimariscatosicari6870]

2:55 *Holy Mess Empire laughs in the distance*

[@ReySilverskin]

I still love how you use Age of Mythology music for these. It's so good.

[@DrakenAshen]

All the names on Blues wall are in a mobile game called Light in Chaos. That's funny. Cao Cao is a badass.

[@charliespurr7325]

There is no war in Ba Sing Se. Here we are safe. Here we are free.

[@Artur_M.]

Amazing video made even greater by the cooperation with Jack Rackam. Everyone go check his channel out if you haven't already! Seriously, he's pretty awesome with a sweet mix of sarcastic humor with facts. Plus he did mention the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth already a couple of times.

[@JackRackam]

Hi, Artur! Thanks for the plug :D

[@christaing4real206]

The an-lushan rebellion was one of the bloodiest in human history, killling up to 20 million people, calling the rebellion bloody would be an understatement.

[@coal_inks4793]

BEFORE I WAS WEB BLIND NOW I HAVE WEB SIGHT I NEED THAT ON A SHIRT OH MY GOODNESS

[@Silk-hj5jm]

You forgot to mention the Tangut empire that existed between 11th-13th century located between Khitan and Song. There's a very good 10 episode documentary series in Chinese that talks about it.

[@georgiaholmes5199]

Love your videos, thank you and keep it up! 😁

[@gonaldginkus6228]

“I’m running out of sponsor joke ideas” Well after that “but now I have website” one, there was nowhere to go but down.

[@pixii7551]

i love the Age of Mythology music

[@stevenyd644]

There's a strong parallel between China in the early 4th century and Rome in the 5th century. Both were embroiled in decades of civil war that left them hopelessly vulnerable to barbarian invasions (China even had its own sack of Rome moment: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_of_Yongjia ). The sixteen kingdoms, much like their Germanic counterparts, carved up regions that were traditional heartlands of the Chinese/Roman civilization (Yellow River valley/Italy), while the latter retreated and survived as the southern dynasties and byzantine empire respectively. It's interesting though that China somehow put the pieces back together again whereas Rome never did (despite efforts by Justinian and the like). Perhaps more interesting that this was achieved by Sui which was a northern dynasty; the European equivalent would be if Charlemagne was able to conquer all of eastern rome, north africa, egypt, etc. and proclaim a truly reunified (Holy) Roman Empire.

[@ryanbowmann9626]

Steven YD as a Roman fanboy that’s hella interesting

[@MisterJasro]

It's such a shame how European history always gets so much more attention. Two questions that rise to me from this video. One is easy to solve by just digging deeper into Chinese history, but the other? Can we see medieval Europe with such a birdseye view instead of all the minutiae? Or have I been drowned in the details that I'll never unsee?

[@wangqi1387]

The dynasties of China all have professional institutions to record their history. This tradition has been maintained since the Zhou Dynasty for 3000 years. Moreover, all levels of administrative and regional governments have a special recording system for local political & social events, called "local biography", so China's historical records are very detailed. When surrounding countries examine their own history, they all like to look for evidence in Chinese records. Europe does not have a long-term and stable unified government agency, and there is no systematic historical record and habits. It can only compile materials or even creations based on folk legends. The historical records of other sub-civilizations and countries in the world are even more incomplete, and there is even no historical understanding at all.

[@danryan1611]

Tang emperors was called Great Khan of the Heaven by all the steppe tribes since Taizong(2nd emperor) super powerful and criminally underrated

[@inestrix7377]

That Age of Mythology soundtrack :D

[@Loxalair]

Can I recommend a podcast? Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast is not super brief, it has 154 episodes, plus a few extras, but it is significantly easier to get through and less dry than every other english translation of the novel. I just finished listening to it (and started on the other one the guy did on Water Margin) and it was excellent background noise for my embroidery

[@TheHornedKing_27]

China in a nutshell “Let’s split up gang!”

[@brokenbridge6316]

This video was very informative. Good job. I enjoyed it.

[@vinhny2406]

Uhhhh the novel follow the Shu which is found by Liu Bei and usually seen as the main character in the novel

[@SwedishSinologyNerd]

Dang, who's out here disrespecting the Warring States? It's one of the most interesting periods in Chinese history, arguably marking the transfer from Ancient China to Classical China, with a whole BUNCH of smart dudes doing smart dude stuff and a WEALTH of culture and literature that influences China and the world TO THIS DAY. My favorite is Chu closely followed by Yue (the little country that could!), but Qi, Qin and Zhongshan are all super cool as well