Spirit path to the tomb of the first Ming Emperor

Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the tomb of the Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang (the first Ming emperor), Nanjing, begun 1381
A conversation with Dr. Kristen Brennan and Dr. Beth Harris
errata: wen and wu are mistakenly reversed in the video

[@dumoulin11]

I'm pretty sure this channel is my favourite on KZbin for this year. Smarthistory #1!!!

[@steaminglobster]

Wow, the quality of the photography is supreme! It is thrill to see Smarthistory on China! Well done, bravo! Thanks and Happy Chinese New Year!

[@marthavillegas6250]

You are right, great videos! As always Thank you!

[@stasiugaska2838]

I’m so glad you are not afraid to talk about other cultures than only western. I’m art history student and most of my professors and colleagues are just so Eurocentric...

[@tsm1013]

Gorgeous structure. colors are trippin' me out maaaan. Thank u China

[@persontimr5052]

These videos could be muted and I could still hear the intro music and the great ASMR narrators.

[@septube26]

Awesome! Thank you for taking me on this journey of discovery.

[@Mark-fv8vt]

4:40 - "She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion, wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.…" Great stuff as always SMARTHISTORY!

[@lewhensilvar3521]

What are you referring to?

[@Mark-fv8vt]

@@lewhensilvar3521 Always wondered what the Babylonian paintings looked like, maybe they looked something like the Ming Emperors with their belts and flowing hats.

[@purplepunch4904]

Beautiful

[@bromance_y]

yess first comment! I LOVE your videos!!!

[@lewhensilvar3521]

Why was the camel considered a power animal? Also, please, more videos on Chinese art and architecture

[@______-mz3vk]

Camels are not native to the Nanjing area, obviously, they are a associated with the Silk Road. As a result, they quickly became symbols of prosperity in China and were often depicted in art, along with other animals like horses. horses and camels in China : depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/trade/horcamae.html Bactrian camel tomb figure : www.ashmolean.org/camel-tang-dynasty Bactrian camel in jade : asianreviewofbooks.com/content/ships-of-the-silk-road-the-bactrian-camel-in-chinese-jade-by-angus-forsyth/

[@nm9857]

I'm interested to know more about @3:31 (sacrificial hallway) and the historical time/dynasty it is associated with.

[@intmainvoid8227]

the original one was damaged by fire in 1853 ，this tiny one was rebuild in 1873 .

[@intmainvoid8227]

There are three large sacrifices and five small sacrifices every year, and there are also two meal sacrifices every day. There are also different seasonal fruits, vegetables, and animals sacrificed every month: January: leeks, lettuce, shepherd's purse, chickens, ducks; February: celery, moss, mugwort, goose; March: tea, bamboo shoots, carp; April: cherries, apricots, green plums, king melons, pheasants, pigs; May: peaches, plums, apples, eggplants, barley kernels, wheat flour, wheat kernels, tender chickens; June: lotus pods, melons, watermelons, Melon, winter melon; July: jujube, grape, snow pear, fresh lotus root, water chestnut; August: lotus root, taro seedling, wild rice, young ginger, glutinous rice, corn, millet, mandarin fish; September: orange, chestnut, red bean, sugar, bream; October: tangerine, mandarin orange, yam, live rabbit, honey; November: sugar cane, deer, musk deer, wild goose, buckwheat noodles, red bean, sugar; December: spinach, mustard greens, white fish, crucian carp.

[@bookofdust]

Any more comment on the reconstructed roof, when it was done and why?

[@Sasha0927]

There was (unsurprisingly) a lot to learn in this one! Small mind-blown moment when Nanjing and Beijing were explained - I didn't know that. Bixi's are amazing. I wonder if they inspired Terry Pratchett at all in his Discworld series. I also enjoyed hearing about the various animals and soldiers along the spirit path. Kinda fun to wonder what would line mine if I had one. 🙃 I'm also curious what they believe the emperor would need protection from in the afterlife... Another very interesting video. ❤

[@muhammedsalihsefiloglu6516]

please keep going on these videos about Chinese culture

[@MrMayorqw]

Great video! Just one note, I believe you switched wen (civil) and wu (martial/military), which you glossed as 'military' and 'civil', respectively.

[@clumsydad7158]

Mind blown

[@monkeygraborange]

It's stunning to think of the literally billions of people who were worked to death over countless centuries to extol the benevolent virtues of forgotten bureaucrats.

[@qus.9617]

Don't forget colonialism. Once they had the means and the power they just wrecked havoc on the rest of the world. Depressing stuff. Like German colonies in South America bought up all the land of the Maya and made them slaves to the farms they tended to for thousands of years. Then they only paid them in their own currency meaning they get the money back anyway when the Maya people purchases goods from their monopolised German shops. Or breaking treaties after treaties against very peaceful indian tribes to very hostile indian tribes. Be a good tribe, still be in the firing range and have your entire villaged razed, raped and butchered. Makes no difference. Even cooperating Christianised tribes with their own lands were forced off their prosperous towns and corralled into reservations. It was all a political farce that gained the Americans near the entirety of North America with Canada right up the seventies still trying to snuff out their Tribal remnants through forced boarding schools where children suffered so many abuses at the hands of their teachers. Great wall wasn't built to extol benevolent virtues. The grand canal (longest artificial river system in the world) wasn't built to extol benevolent egos. The great northern hydraulic ditch of Hebei wasn't built to extol benevolent virtues. The two artificial forrested belts of the northern border wasn't grown to extol benevolent virtues. I think it is not enough to say that the amount of organisation, investment and manpower was simply only to stroke the ego of bureaucrats. Today living standards are almost unprecedented. At least half of the world has enough disposable income to at least afford shelter, education and money set aside for recreational purposes. Human population has exploded going from a relatively flat line to an almost 90 degree angle shoot up. Only very recently in history did the human population even make it into the single digit billion figure. Today there is a far greater gap between the rich and the poor. The rich seem to be getting richer despite the quality of life improving. I am concerned about this. Confucian and Taoist governments preferred to have low taxes to the individual or the family household system. To the point that state monopolies of salt and iron were implemented after much debate in order to ensure the state coffers would not be empty. Taoist and Confucian were at their basic tenants anti-war, anti-expansionism and laissez faire economics. That's not to say they weren't big hypocrites in that regard. Historically buddhist countries should have been the most peaceloving nations on earth. Instead Buddhism as an institute cosied up to the regimes, military dictators and monarchies and acted as a crucial lever of power in Southeast Asia(warring between Buddhism kingdoms), Japan, India, Sri-Lanka and China (Tibet). Religion and politics in China blended with different ideas being copied and co-opted by other groups such as Taoism, Ying-Yang and Buddhism borrowing from each other. Folk religion and Ying-Yang absorbed by Taoism. School of Agriculture being absorbed by Confucians and Legalists. Confucians in-turn taking in Legalist doctrines. One example being the real-politik elements of Legalism never going away even after the fall of pro-legalist regimes such as the Qin dynasty. Deregulation of the empire at times (Qing) also meant that urgent money, cash and military response when required would not be available.

[@mariep.cichon8006]

what did they sacrifice?

[@mdstanton1813]

'All of his virtues were listed here'. I'd have a bloody stumpy stele

[@jjm6797]

Wen and Wu are opposite in the video. Wen means civil, and Wu means military

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Thank you. Yes, this was misspoken. We have a note on the video explaining this.

[@ChiefRxcka]

Holy sheesh! Chinese history is incredible.

[@chrisk5651]

The Yongle emperor moved the capital back to Beijing!

[@arbutus12]

2m35s: wen = civil and wu = military