Sanxingdui and Ancient Shu | The China History Podcast | Ep. 276

[@michawierszyo2783]

Laszlo, another great episode about period quite unknown here across the pond, and longer just as you promised. Thanks a bunch! Looking forward to next hidden gems uncoverd in future episodes.

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Thanks Michal. Glad you liked this one. It was too short to be a two-parter so I made it a longer than usual standalone episode....just for you.

[@bobthebuilder8100]

Yep 11 years of Montgomery!!!

[@fredguo2538]

Hi Mr. Montgomery, great work as always. Ba-Shu and Sanxingdui has always appealed to me but I lacked the willpower to do thorough research on it. If I may, I have a few suggestions for topics that might be interesting: the West Borneo kongsi and the Shanxi merchants. Out of the two, I think the former may be more intriguing for new timers (it discusses how overseas Chinese established autonomus states in Indonesia during the 1800s), and I recommend Yuan Bingling's Chinese Democracies: A Study of the Kongsis in West Borneo as a fantastic source. The second one is also interesting too, it can be cool to tackle how a rural province like Shanxi bred some of the most powerful merchant guilds in imperial Chinese history (one of the Shanxi banks controlled as much as one half of the Qing economy!). I don't have a solid source for this unfortunately. Hopefully you can take these into consideration! Both are obscure but very fascinating pieces of Chinese history nontheless.

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Thanks so much Fred. I added the West Borneo kongsi to my list. Dr. Yuan's book is not easy to find but I'll see if I can rustle up a copy. As for the Shanxi merchants and bankers...I am presently working on this topic as part of a bigger study of the history of finance in China. I'll know in the next few weeks if I'll be able to move ahead with this very interesting topic.

[@fredguo2538]

​@@ChinaHistoryPodcast No worries! I've actually located Dr. Yuan's publication (along with some of her other intriguing works) on the University of Fuzhou's website here (www.xiguan.org/yuanbingling/ ), which anyone can read for free. Excited for the Chinese episode on finance as well :)

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

@@fredguo2538 Excellent! My son found a few copies in the hands of various university libraries but this makes it much easier.....You may be seeing this topic sooner than you think. Thanks Fred!

[@fredguo2538]

@@ChinaHistoryPodcast Looking forward to it!

[@igor-yp1xv]

This was great! Thank you so much.

[@huzhuiwei]

Woohoo, at last! The finds from Sanxingdui and Jinsha are truly bizarre, a very alien view of the world; many thanks for dedicating a program to them

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

I've been peppered with requests for this one since the days I started the CHP. I hope you liked it.

[@kennedyjfk9964]

From Texas United States. My birthday 🥳 today! Age 41. loved your broadcast!

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Happy Birthday my Lone Star State friend. I hope you'll check out some of the other content on this humble channel. Enjoy this day!

[@gaidgav1387]

What are the origins of Han Chinese people?

[@georgetreepwood1119]

If I lived there I would very quietly dig up my basement .... and get rid of the dirt at night..

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

You'd get caught and probably end up in Qinghai breaking rocks for a few years. But if you could get away with it, you'd be rich.

[@gnenian]

I do that. It's called Bugging Out.

[@gamingw1527]

We are the Lazlo Montgomery Army! 🇨🇳 🇨🇳 🇨🇳

[@joeguan9746]

First Overseas Chinese from Kaiping. My parents told me that our ancestors came from somewhere from Henan Kaifeng, in 1276 AD, The Mongolians came and attacked us and forced my great great great great great grand parents to wonder down to Kaiping. By the way there were indigenous people down south but the mixing rate was actually a quarter % 25/100... 25 or less percent baiyue

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Very interesting!

[@shinjrikimingming5991]

I question. Which Dynasty was China’s most powerful? Tang, Song, or Han?

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Relative to the times they lived in, I'd guess it was the Han.

[@goodis9358]

Hey Montgomery 👋. I always wanted to ask you this but I think this is a little too much on your opinion. Can you make a face reveal video? Because I had been watching this channel since 2013!! I loved watching your video and keep it up Lazlo!!!

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Coming later in the year....You're gonna get sick of seeing me!

[@japanesekumoto6522]

Why do Northern Chinese call them selves Han Chinese, and why do southern Chinese call them selves Tang Chinese. Is it because the Southern han Chinese migrated down south during the Tang Dynasty? Or is it because the Han dynasty decided that the south should be called tang instead of Han?

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Northern Chinese have been calling themselves Han since the Han Dynasty, that much appears to be true. Not sure why southern Chinese are called 唐人. I think this all started in Fujian and Guangdong with the migrations down there. I myself have only heard Guangdong people use the 唐人 term for Chinese.

[@shinjrikimingming5991]

I had heard of that the Southern Chinese were brainwashed when they came to the south

[@johnyricco1220]

There is a theory that bronze knowhow came from India to Sanxingdui and spread east. It makes sense since bronze spread from Mesopotamia to India vey early.

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Could be true. Geographically it certainly was possible.

[@MadHatter42]

Ooh, interesting tidbit. I just watched the 2019 animated Nezha film for the first time, and in that movie, Nezha's demon-hunting father has little golem-like servants made of jade and bronze. I was really confused what they were doing there, since they looked, as you said, more Mayan than Chinese. Lo and behold, I listen to my favorite podcast and learn that they were based on these masks from the Shu culture. Pretty cool that the filmmakers incorporated some newer, more diverse elements from China's ancient history into the film.

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Far out! I haven't caught that movie yet, though I've been meaning to. Yes, this Sanxingdui civilization is a nice new addition to the history and culture of China. Get used to it. As the years unfurl you'll be seeing more and more amazing things coming from Sanxingdui and other parts of the Chengdu Plain. I keep an eye on Chinese archaeological news all the time. This is a pretty good site: www.kaogu.cn/en/News/. ("kaogu" 考古 means archaeology)

[@nigeltang8738]

Lazlo how do you know so much about Chinese history? Like learn from where? At any rate very cool!

[@thewisetzar5363]

Great episode and nice anniversary! Peter Adamson 'History of Philosophy without any gaps' recently had their 10th anniversary last year October

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

One of the great podcast shows out there. but he doesn't touch on much, if any, Chinese philosophy.

[@thewisetzar5363]

@@ChinaHistoryPodcast historyofphilosophy.net/chinese-philosophy-announcement

[@oldrabbit2121]

Very interesting... Xie Xie Laszlo! 👍🙏👍

[@nonononononononoboi2086]

From Beijing. I had heard of that back in 1600 BC. China was the only modernized empire in east Asia.

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Comparatively speaking they were indeed quite advanced.

[@gamingwithjoe7243]

From United Kingdom living in Kong Hong. Then I’m I considered as British HongKonger citizen?

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Slightly more complicated than that. I'm not sure where you fit in. Do you have a 回乡证 or a Chinese passport?

[@kennedyjfk9964]

Sea shells are expensive back then I heard

[@ChinaHistoryPodcast]

Used as a currency for centuries. From seashells to Bitcoin.....how far we've come.