FACT CHECK - Was Qin ShiHuang Really the First "Emperor" of China?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- This is the reason why Qin Shihuang was called the "First 'Emperor' of China".
🕒[TIMESTAMP]🕒
0:00 Introduction
0:29 Word Definition
0:45 Zhou Dynasty "Kings"
2:09 What is "Huang Di"?
🎶MUSIC by Epidemic Sound:
www.epidemicsound.com
🎉SUPPORT US ON🎉
Decide future contents and other rewards on Patreon:
/ coolhistorybros
One time donations on Kofi:
ko-fi.com/cjleung
🎥PLAYLISTS🎥
Qin Dynasty Origin
• Qin Dynasty Origin
Tang Dynasty Origin
• Tang Dynasty Series
Cool Chinese History (By release)
• Cool Chinese History
Hundred Schools of Thoughts:
• Hundred Schools of Tho...
📚SOURCES:
Samguk sagi, Book 21.
Jinwung Kim, 2012, A History of Korea: From "Land of the Morning Calm" to States in Conflict.
Hing Ming Hung, 2013, Li Shi Min, Founding the Tang Dynasty
Woodbridge Bingham, 2019, Wen Daya, The first recorder of Tang dynasty.
🖥WEBSITE & SOCIAL🖥
Facebook: / cool-history-bros-1028...
Twitter: / cjleung_dst
#History #Documentary #Asia
I made this video because someone asked a really great question in the comment section. So, ask away in the comments section if you have any questions.
Oh, and also to recalibrate my releases back to every weekends.
Huang Di is closer to the meaning of "King of Kings" than "Emperor". For the Emperor is an indisputable (or almost) ruler. The King of Kings has his authority supported directly by the nobility, kings, dukes and the like. Huang Di is closer to Shahansha from the Persians than from the Roman title.
@@ArthurLivio No the Chinese Emperor was an indisputable ruler when held by a competent ruler. There was no support needed from the nobility like in the case of the Persian Shah . China was as centralized (even more so) than the Roman Empire so comparing it to Persia makes no sense. The wang (feudal kings) had little to no authorities after the War of the Seven Princes in the Han Dynasty and the title after that point is translated as Prince showing even more how insignificant it had become. From that point most Wang held their title for a lifetime and their descendants got demoted to Dukes and lesser titles until they eventually just become commoners. Many dynasties didn’t even reward title of Wang to anybody except their family members.
Just a suggestion, maybe u could also add the difference between kingdom and empire bcs in my understanding, kingdom is ruled by a king and an empire is ruled by an emperor
The first emperor should be Buwei because he lay the foundation for the king by recruiting the most brilliant minds and made bribing great again by defeating other states without losing a single soldiers.
He was also famous for writing a book with zero flaw. Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals.
First. When you defeat all your enemies and rule a land comparable to the Roman Empire, you can call yourself whatever you want.
They discovered the new world, they slaughtered the Native Red Indians to the point of extinctions, completely wiped out their language and culture and stole the entire continent of North America. You can call yourself what ever you want.
@@yl128pang3 What?
@@yl128pang3 are you referring to the genocide of the native americans Indians?
@@426mak He's probably referring to the genocide of the native americans Indians.
Why dude
Interestingly enough, even the term "emperor" is erroneously used to describe the Roman emperors, as they primarily used the Latin word "princeps" (meaning "the first one") or "augustus" ("the venerable") to refer to themselves. The word "imperator", which is the Latin root for the word "emperor" in English, actually refered to a military title, and albeit being included in their official array of titles, it already existed during the Republic and was granted to a general that commanded two legions (imperator meaning somebody that gives orders). In this aspect the Chinese term 皇帝 actually bears more resemblance with "augustus", as 帝 was used to either refer to a very powerful ancestor, the highest god of the Shang pantheon or one of the mythical rulers of the 夏 Xia dynasty and 皇 meant something like "luminous" or "resplendent" (the character itself being composed of white and king) and as CJ said also called ancestral overtones. So the title of Qin Shi Huangdi could be translated as "the first luminous venerable ancestor of Qin" or something similar.
Just to clarify, in Republican Rome the title "imperator" was applied to any magistrate, that held the fasces which symbolized their "imperium". It did not apply to generals as Roman armies were recruited yearly and led by two consuls who were elected by the Senate for a one year term and who shared the fasces between them. After the Marian Reforms of the late Republic which created a standing army, the legions could proclaim a general as "imperator" for a military victory. If approved by the Senate, he would be given the right to a triumph. His imperium dissolved after the triumph as did the title. Imperator was an honorific title.
Interesting enough, the terms for emperor used in Europe were "Kaiser" and "Tsar", which both go back to "Caesar".
Zhou dynasty era of China reminds me a lot of the Carolingian dynasty era of France where you had a "high king" and many different country/state within the French territories who had autonomy but still had to "obey" the king. Funny enough, that dynasty ended when they actually did have an emperor, Charlemagne, but it ended after his death.
The Zhou King didn't have 600 wealth and 400 piety to form the Zhou Empire.
Also hoping you discuss further topics regarding the earliest dynasties from Xia to the end of Zhou. Shang Dynasty is very interesting because before the discovery of Oracle bones, many historians treat it as a mythological dynasty. And to think Sima Qian had got many names of the kings of Shang right, which means he might have access to old records and the historical writings that way goes back to that time.
Yeah, there are just too many missing records to separate fact and myth. But the myth itself is interesting though, because the people of the time believed the myths to be true.
For me xia seems possible.....of course without the magic lol. There was already civilizations
@no s81ノしょう
Eh, what is magic but sufficiently advanced engineering?
The short version: Yes he is, the reason why is because he is technically the first Huang Di of China, which are two words that both mean “emperor” in English, but in Chinese only the Di, or the Huang were used to describe a single ruler, for various complicated religious/spiritual reasons, but since Ying Zheng thought himself greater than any other before him, he combined both words into a single title, becoming the first to hold the title of “Huang Di”, and since then all Chinese Emperors have done the same, so yes Qin Shi Huang is the first Huang Di of China, despite not being the first ruler of China.
it's like the title of King of king then
3:50 actually this was a huge achievement at that time when Qin ShiHuang to abolished the Duke/King. So he had the absolute power instead appoint his land to Duke/King which he scared it going be back to the warring state again.
Very true. Qin Shi Huang was very careful of giving too much symbolic power to his subordinates. It is important to note that the title of Wang was basically usurped from most of the rightful Gongs of the states who lost power in the Spring and Autumn Era (Hence the Tripartition of Jin). It is also probably why most later dynasties only allowed blood relatives to be Wangs (and why Liu Bang wanted to nip that potential problem in the bud as quickly as he could).
Qin Shi Huang Di did try to eliminate a lot of recorded history so we don’t know a lot about the Zhao, and Shang and the mythical Xia dynasty except in some surviving texts that survived his book/ scroll burnings in which he wanted to be the beginning of a new age of history. However the reason he is remembered as first emperor isn’t because of this but mistranslation and that he created a title for himself to separate his power from being weak like the Zhao dynasty who ruled like a emperor of confederated warlords rather then a central state in which Qin established through implementing Legalism.
This was a great episode... really made me think and reexamine the little I thought I knew. Thanks for making this!
My Boy Ying Zheng can be anything he wants
lol😂
Hi Cool History Bros, I love your videos very much. I just want to add one thing to this video. During the Han Dynasty and its successors (until the Qing Dynasty), the title 王 ("king") was generally translated as "Prince" instead of "King" for Chinese nobles and the sons of the emperors. For foreign rulers, however (such as the Kings of Korea), the title 王 was translated as "King".
Great work! I can't wait to see the next one!!
Actually, the Chinese ruler title went through several upgrades according to Sima Qian. The Xia Dynasty rulers call themselves 后. This later was downgraded as title for Queen or Marquis, 侯. The 夏侯 surname of some Cao Cao's generals seems to be from this origin. The Shang first title was 公 or Duke. Later, they used the title 王. Towards the end of the dynasty, the last few kings upgraded their title as 帝, such as 帝乙 and 帝辛, which made Sima Qian wrongly assumed that all the previous kings used the 帝 title. The Zhou revert to 王 or king.
I don't think so, during the shang dynasty, the ruler were still been called as "后"，and the "侯"means those Princes who was guarding some place or marca. And the monarch of the Shang was called as King while he was still alive , but "帝" when he is dead ，because the word"帝" means God at that time. So when King Wu of Zhou attacked the Shang , he called the King zhou of shang as King shou of shang , "受"is his given name.
Excellent! Thank you for the explanation 👍
Love your videos! Can't wait til you start covering The Three Kingdoms.
Honesty I was. Wondering about that in the back of mind and now it makes more sense thank you so much
Please make videos about the pre waring states period. Pretty please. Especially the Shang. Love your videos bro keep up the heavenly work🙏
The korean dynasty also used to have kings, but in the last few years of the monarchy they changed it into emperor too so they would be equal to china
Yeah they did, but it was a short lived empire.
That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.
Great video..👍 anyway I hope you can show Us about earlier Chinese dynasty such as Xia, and Shang dynasty..thanks
One view is that the the Qin Emperor presided more of a central governed state, as opposed to a more feudal state that was the Zhou Dynasty.
A critical part you forgot to mention is that in the late Warring States right before the unification of Qin, virtually all the rulers of states(国君) broke ties from the diminishing authority of the Son of Heaven of Zhou (周天子) and entitle themselves Kings. Hence BEFORE Qin dynasty, the Zhou system already fell apart and instead of feudal aristocratic dukedoms, your have full-fledged Kingdoms all transforming (to different degrees) into centralized bureaucratic states for their survival.
That is the situation that compelled the first emperor to come up with a new type of hierarchy, and his success marked one of greatest milestones in the evolution of Human social organization, the formation of the first "modern state" (by Weberian definition). Francis Fukuyama made several talks on this that are available on youtube
I am following your channel why I never seen this qin dynasty series before. I just love your work here.
Would you be interested to create a new video? It'd be nice to see video that's all about how everything turnout after Shi Huangdi passed away. It'd be great to hear about his daughter if there's a record.
I would love for your to make some videos about xia dynasty and some ancient Chinese empires.
Every time Liu Bang show up in a video I crack a smile.
That's just a really good design for a fascinating historical figure.
Would you ever do videos that would cover most of china's multi-culture minorities? As a Hmong minority in the US I would like to know more about about the Hmong and other minorities as well.
Please make a video about thosr mythical kings of the past. I would love to know more about the yellow emperor, for example.
The yellow emperor sounds exactly the same as Huang Di but written differently
- Technically he's still the first because he invented the thing!
- Very smart Huang Di, very smart!
The first Huangdi of China invented the "Huangdi" title by himself.
Alexander Campos: Loved your answer and learned from it. Noticed one thing: I believe the Latin root of the word 'imperator' (commander) is actually 'imperare' (to command". I think you meant the word 'emperor' is an English derivative of the Latin 'imperator'. From 13th c. French 'amperour'; to Anglo-French 'empereor'; to Middle English 'emperour'; to finally Modern English 'emperor'. Feel free to correct me if I am in error. Thanks.
皇 = ruler of gods; 帝 = ruler of men. So, HuangDi = the rightful ruler of all gods and all men. Before the invention of this title, the highest ruler was referred to as 天子, son of heaven. Because Chinese at that time refers to the universe as Heaven (天) + everything under the Heaven (天下). So the Son of Heaven is the critical link between the Heaven and everything under the Heaven. Once the First Emperor invented the title Huang Di, the two became interchangeable.
You might ask: so if Chinese had already had a title, Son of Heaven, to refer to the apex ruler on Earth, then why did Zhou bother to also use the title King? Also, why this hype about King vs HuangDi? That actually touches on how the Son of Heaven is supposed to rule everything under the Heaven. In other words, the titles King and Huangdi inherently refer to different political systems. If you are the Son of Heaven, it's not clear how you should rule your subjects just by the meaning of the title. Sure, you can issue order and declare how you will do it. Like how Zhou did. But if another bloodline takes the title from you, they can change the rules just by declaring it. There is nothing inherently attached to the title Son of Heaven. So when Zhou declared they would call their ruler the King and other rulers subordinate titles such as Duke (公), they are saying the political system of this ‘everything under the Heaven, rule by this King Son of Heaven" is a feudal one. But what the First Emperor did was to invent the title of HuangDi, who, by definition, does not leave local matters to local rulers, but rules all affairs directly. So the "everything under the Heaven, ruled by a Huangdi Son of Heaven" is a politically unified entity.
Simply put, "everything under the Heaven" ruled by a King Son of Heaven is not one single political entity, but a international order consisting with sovereign states with a hierarchy among their rulers. Whereas, "everything under the Heaven" ruled by a Huangdi Son of Heaven is ONE SINGLE political entity, with ONE SINGLE government, directly ruled by the Huangdi himself. With local states being the counterexamples which need approval from the Huangdi Son of Heaven.
@@jeremyz653 I believe the King or Wang title are granted to the different area rulers within the Zhou kingdom, but all agreed on the monarch and authoritary that is Tian Zhi. This authority of course weakened overtime until the Kings themselves became more powerful than Zhou Tian Zhi.
it is like bronze age Mesopotamia, before Akkad all high rulers did use the word Ensi or king but when Akkad conquered all others the title of Ensi was not enough for them so they used Gal which before that just used for gods so Gal is a term for Emperor? during Akkad period yes but after that every ruler of a country used Gal so in later eras Gal was just a king until rise of Persia which they used king of kings so it could not be change like Wang or Gal really
thx!
The ancient king of Joseon could not wear yellow clothes because he was only a king under the emperor of China
I'm pretty sure Koreans wouldn't agree that tho
@@bxyhxyh But that is the accurate history. The Joseon kindom was a vassal state of Ming Dynasty & Qing Dynasty, their king could only dress red & blue, because those are the colors of vassal kings, and the dragons in the pattern on their clothes only have four claws, because only Chinese emperors can use five-claw dragon pattern
@@bxyhxyh because Korean history is write in Chinese ，modern Korean couldn't understand it
Joseon King didn't wear yellow robes but Goryeo Kings wore yellow robes. Besides, this video doesn't even talk about Ming and Joseon and it's different time period so why are chinese commenting this and liking it? Are you trying to feel superior through past? lol Do you ever wonder why whole world hate China, including it's Asian neighbors?
@@jakafe1188 棒子，Do you ever wonder why whole world hate S.Korea, including it's Asian neighbors?
Before Shi Huang Ti, China was a cluster of territories with every states controlled by powerful Chieftains. Shi Huan himself was also a chief of his states but he decided to unite all the states and made him the number Chief and so the words Emperors. He was successful in uniting all the states after a series of wars and conquest. Truly he was the first emperor of China and no China without him. At that time Korea was just a small territory but because the territory was located further from mainland, the Chinese employer gave less importance.
Not true. What you're describing is the aftermath of the weakening of the Zhou empire/kingdom whatever you want to call it. It fractured into hundreds of small states which fed on each other during the spring and autumn period, leading up to the warring states period when 7 powerful states remain, before the Qin state finally unified them all again.
@@alwaysright6358, China civilizations is 5,000 years old. Its inhabitants include people living in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Tibet and surrounding regions before the breakup of some territories.
@@aaronbaldwin2380 True but most ancient war history are involved in the middle of China between yellow river 2:32 Until latest dynasty more land are found in southern/West (Tibet) etc.
@@song1861, In the beginning, the Chinese dynasty in power called themselves the middle kingdoms. The Dynasty was located at the central plain of China, and thus the Emperors need to unite all the provinces around the central plain in the outer regions. The areas around what is now Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang were under attacks by intruders called barbarians and thus the Great Wall of China was build as security. Because of this, the Emperors paid less attention to regions in Korea, Japan and Vietnam as there were little threat from there and the Emperors considered them as the same race, what is later known as Han or Chinese. Because of this, Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese people were able to organise themselves quietly to form a kingdom of their own and challenge the middle kingdoms in the later part. Why is it, Korea, Japan and Vietnam are able to create their own nation but not Tibet, Mongolia, Xinjiang and provinces in the central plains. The attacks from outside the great walls region create more attention needed there. If the Emperors had no pay greater focus on the region, the kingdom would collapse. And true enough, at later stage, Gengzhis Khan conquer China. Gengzhis Khan expedition to conquer Japan failed because of maritime isdues. They were strong on land but not on sea. If his conquest of Japan succed, today Japan is a part of China, needless to mention Korea and Vietnam.
the use of the term "Shi Huan" are sign it is written by a complete idiot...
Nice Video Can You Make A Video About army About Tang Army?
Sounds like an interesting topic. Maybe sometime in the future.
@@CoolHistoryBros OK THANKS
search 【ENG SUB】大秦賦 01丨Qin Dynasty in youtube if you want to watch the Qin Dynasty tv series and it have English subtitle. It have over 78 episodes lol
The first emperor should be Buwei because he lay the foundation for the king by recruiting the most brilliant minds and made bribing great again by defeating other states without losing a single soldiers.
He was also famous for writing a book with zero flaw. Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals.
Good clarification video here, as its something that often gets mixed up when Western audiences take a look at it. Nice work once again
Zhou was a single feudal kingdom, Qin was however a unitary state rule by an imperial government that appoint all administrators. in Qin, the nobility hold only a title and is pay a salary by the state, they do not rule the land themselves, the emperor appoints his own administrator to rule all the land based on codified rule; LEGALISM. as such the emperor could standardise law, currency, language, measurement to with the noble control over. the creation of an imperial government created a new political power and balance to traditional local feudal power, forever changing the way power is structured. real power now lies with governors not lords.
China is the English form derived from Latin or Sanskrit forms (Cina and Sina - don't remember which is their espective one) of Qin, so if he was the "1st Emperor of Qin", he kinda is the "1st Emperor of China". It's just that the old imperial dynasties of China was very different to modern China in terms of territories it conquered or inherited, and depended on which ethnic group(s) ruled (e.g. Han, Mongolian or Qing majorities. And the sinicised group who founded the Tang dynasty).
Han majorities kept the map similar to Qin's Empire, whereas Mongolian and Qing dynasties expanded
Here is a Question: Was Sun Jian really such a great warrior as he is describt every time?
and this was while Rome was fighting Carthage as a republic.
Another two examples of a bad one to one translation off the top of my head, are Phoenix and Dragon.
Chinese Phoenixes are not “fire birds” like the Phoenix in English- there’s no fire. Likewise, the Chinese dragon, which is associated with water, a serpentine body, no wings (but can still fly), is not like the Western dragon...
That's probably why a handful of us westerners have started referring to the Chinese creature simply as Longs rather than "Chinese dragons"
Nice vid! Suggestion: do the scholar titles next. From wiki: Trạng Nguyên 状元, Bảng Nhãn 版沲 , Thám Hoa 探花, Tiến Sĩ 進士, Đại Phu 大夫, Đại Học Sĩ 大學士 etc (I am Vietnamese so I only know those in Vietnamese and not sure what the corresponding ones in feudal China was).
Bảng Nhãn actually 榜眼， the 2nd in imperial exam
@@6principlesforcartography61 i looked up the vietnamese wiki and the second place is written Bảng nhãn (chữ Nôm: 版沲), so this seems to be the vietnamese colloquial (chữ nôm). The term 榜眼 is also pronounced bảng nhãn. I'm not sure which one is correct. Better ask a Hán Nôm scholar in Vietnam when I can.
@@BritskNguyen That's interesting to know. Thanks.
Bảng Nhãn is榜眼 in China, the rest ones are all correct
This reminds me of the game Cursader King
I played CK2, so yeah I agreed.
Wasn’t the Kings of Zhou also known as the Son of Heaven to differentiate him from the nobles of Wei, Zhao, Qi, Qin, Yin and Han who declared themselves to be Wang (Kings) in the 300s BC and the Kings of Chu who held the title since the 700s BC
I think the difference was Qin ShiHuang (First Emperor) because there was no Duke/Wang/Kin.
While King of Zhou it was still rule with Wang/King/Duke..
Tianzi is a much older term than the Tripartition of Jin which lead to so many other lands declaring themselves Kings in time. Were I to guess, it's likely to do with their eternal southern rival. Chu never called themselves Gong/Dukes and always claimed that they were Kings of equal, if not greater, might than that of Zhou.
But I am having trouble determining when the term Tianzi/Son of Heaven was officially used. It is known that the ancient Zhou kings did always refer to themselves as the "orphaned" or "solitary one".
An Emperor is a king of kings. It is that simple. A king rules duchies. A duke rules towns or cities.
Even though the emperors of Han Dynasty turned back to appoint "kings" and sent them to their respective lands to "rule". It was more of an honourable title than anything. These "kings" didn't have that much power and the country funcioned mostly through the local ministers-officials system perfected and made a common practice by Qin Shihuang, especially after the "Rebellion of the Seven States" under Emperor Jing of Han, these "kings" basically lost their power.
So, Qin Shihuang being the first "emperor" is not only meaningful becuase of wording of his title, but rather, he was the first to establish a new political system in a unificated China, the first to 废封建 行郡县. After Qin Shihuang, the feudal system similar to what was in Medival Europa was replaced in China by a very different one.
A fair point. The Fengjian system had failed and everyone was aware of it. Something needed to change.
the lingering continuation of the Zhou dynasty well into this very time periord is such a curious oddity.
Matter of IDGAF nerves, for better or for worse are what defined Ying Zheng; from the prior hegemons.
It is not very surprising if you look slightly eastward, to Japan. The Zhou kings was probably treated as a symbol of their civilization like how the Japanese treats their emperor.
@@CoolHistoryBros true very true! that is a very distinct parallel. But the willingness to topple the cult of reverence was not truly broken until Ying Zheng. Even Alexander the great was technically and outsider to the realm of Persian dynasticism. Which is why his[the first emperor's] gall is so remarkable, even if his actions are self defeating to his own, but the ripples would hold. funny as the Japanese had many willing to topple their own state cult back to before 1000ad, just they didn't succeed.
@@anasevi9456 Qin Shi Huang actually didn’t topple the King of Zhou. It was his great grandfather King Zhao of Qin who conquered the remnant state of Zhou and kill King Nan, the last Son of Heaven from the Zhou Dynasty. There was basically half a century where there was no one claiming the title of Son of Heaven used by the Kings of Zhou. By the 300s BC, the other states stopped paying lip service to the Zhou kings when they declared themselves kings. Prior to that powerful dukes would adopt the title of hegemon (Ba) and serve as the protector of the Kings of Zhou. They would also lead alliance of the other nobles and hold conference between the warring nobles to settle disputes. The Kings of Chu basically stopped acknowledging Zhou even earlier in the 700s BC.
Wait I just realized something. Does this mean the yellow emperor is a pun on huangdi? Since Huang means yellow and emperor as well
it's possible the 2 characters sounded different in ancient days
@@kylin3197 yeah perhaps
It took me an embarrassingly long time for me to notice that Huangdi did not mean the same as Huangdi. They are homonyms, down to the tone, in modern speech, which confused me for a bit.
@@HighPriestFuneral yeah, this language is difficult when I learned English first
The kings of Zhou did not have direct control over the armies or administration of their client states. So Zhou was not an empire, it was more of a confederation like the Holy roman empire (which was also not an empire) or the Delian League. The Chin Empire had direct control over armies, taxation, administration and laws across multiple nation states so in that sense it was China's first Empire on equal footing with the Persian or Roman empires. A leader who has direct control over the military and administration of more than one nation state within it's borders is an Emperor regardless of translation.
Some of the Shang and Xia emperors had the country United at various times during their rule. But not enough written documentations to prove it.
The older example seems to me like a KING truly, not an emperor. The king and duke/vassal relationship is feudalism and that would distinctly make the over lord a king not an emperor. So he would not have been the first emperor. I still think Qin ShiHuang was the first. Until their is proof of an earlier.
if there is a direct translation for "huang di" it would be the "king of kings"
Yeah, the Persian shahanshah
So basically he’s upgraded his position randomly
He upgraded the governing system from feudalism to centralized imperial state, hence the upgrade in title.
My country has the same problem. We have two first presidents, the first one was from a centralized form of government, the second one was from a confederate state.
In the western mindset an emperor is a ruler who is above a king. So if _wang_ is commonly translated as king and _huang di_ is a title created to refer someone who is above a _wang_ the best way to communicate this idea is translate _huang di_ as emperor. In that sense is an aporopiate translation. But confusing if you don't know the history behind those titles.
Likewise, Tian Zhi is also above Wang and therefore also an emperor.
Do you think he will win his fight in shuumatsu no valkyrie?
Haha. I am going to watch it just for the ridiculousness.
what???
Say history bro, have you read Kingdom? If you did, would do some interesting analysis or thoughts on it. To how accurate or inaccurate it is? Because that would be fun.
Hmm... I haven't been following it for a while. Maybe I should go back and continue it huh?
Did wangs see themselves as rulers of the whole world? Was the King of Korea subject to the Wangs the way Koran kings were subject to the emperors?
Also one really interesting episode of the later part of the Warring States was when in 288 BC King Zhao of Qin and King Min of Qi took the title "Di", (帝 literally emperor), of the west and east respectively. Imagine if China developed into an Eastern and Western half like the Romans. Same scenario would have happened if Liu Bang didn’t betray Xiang Yu after their peace treaty
If the Zhou kings themselves Wang, what did the rulers of the Xia and Shang call themselves??
Officially Shang's ruler are kings (王 "Wang"), so Zhou has Zhou Kings (周王) and Shang has Shang Kings (商王). But Shang is somehow different because unlike Zhou, it puts a lot focus on the God, which is called "Di" (帝，the second character of "Huang Di", 皇帝). So after death, because now the king is dead and joins the Heaven, it can also be said that these dead kings are Di 帝 (but this only happens in the late Shang, early Shang still just use King). But in general both 皇 and 帝 are more generally referring to pre-Xia leaders, which are legendary figures, while King (王) are for actual political rulers.
But I guess there is another issue regarding how actually the rulers of Xia, Shang, Zhou call themselves. They certainly do not refer themselves as "I" or "me". They use "孤" “寡人” “余一人”, various names to refer to themselves, which can be translated as "This lonely man" "This only man", etc.
@@jialinlu5771 thanks for the info! Zhou is when Chinese civilization seems to become “Chinese” ... surnames, rituals, philosophy, bureaucracy, etc. Shang seems very strange to me even tho they were Chinese in language and writing. And Xia is basically mythical.
Zhou Tian Zhi
So the king of Korea was equal to a governor in China?
Makes sense given that China claimed the whole world from then on until 1912 and again from 1949 onward though in a different sense and with the opposite justification today
I often have doubt on how I should translate 王 into English, before Qin, it can be translated into "king" without doubt, but after Qin, would it better to translate it into "prince"?
Awesome vid ✌️but factually incorrect again...
True that Qin Shi Huang invented the political concept of “ Emperor” or ”帝” to symbolise his great achievement of unifying China (a one-up on his predecessors, the Zhou Kings) Shi (“始” ) means to begin or beginning.
But he is factually the first emperor of China and later dynasties and rulers conveniently borrowed his concepts.
The rulers before him, from the Xia, Shang and Zhou (Western and Eastern Zhou) dynasties, ruled a much smaller “empire” (largely the area between Yellow and Yangtze rivers; lands south of Yangtze was inhabited by other smaller tribes before the state of Chu was founded during Zhou dynasty while lands north of Yellow river was inhabited by the nomadic tribes, including Xiongnu). Also, earlier dynasties were a loose confederation of smaller states who enjoyed great political autonomy and suzerainty over their fiefdoms (Xia and Shang) or feudal political system of Zhou dynasty.
Qin Shi Huang abolished feudalism, centralised political power and exercise direct rule over his 40 commanderies (“郡”), an administrative unit (another of his creation) that lasted until the Tang Dynasty.
Hence he wanted to be known to posterity as the inventor and creator of the first Chinese Empire, naming himself as the First Emperor to distinguish Qin from earlier Chinese dynasties.
Qin Shi Huang remains a highly controversial figure in Chinese history but his ideas lay the foundation of future Chinese empire with centralised powers.
When you going to made video about awesome legendary general Li Jing (Tang), Su Dingfang (Tang), Huo Qubing (Han), Yue Fei (Song), Qi Jiguang (Ming) ?
You forgot the maverick Han Xin and the herculean Xiang Yu
I have Yue Fei and Qi Jiguang lined up in the future. I kinda touched upon Li Jing in the 7 military classics episode and HQB in the Han-Xiongnu war episode.
@@426mak I mean the legendary general who fought the foreigner 😂
Han Xin & Xiang Yu was China domestic awesome general, same like Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Dian Wei ext.
@@rijantohadianto3492 I see. So which one was your favorite?
@@CoolHistoryBros Hope you not touch only upon Li Jing instead made the 1 full video for him 🙏
From what I read before he was so legendary cause only using 3000 cavalry could defeat 200K - 300K Gokturk cavalry, that makes Li Shimin praise him so high with only small amount of soldiers could success subjugated Eastern Gokturk compare to Li Ling that got more soldiers from Han Emperor but failed in the campaign of Xiongnu
Huang = Deity, Di = Emperor. Huang Di = Deitical Emperor.
What is your native language ?
秦王扫六合，虎视何雄哉。挥剑决浮云，诸侯尽西来。嘻嘻，我还没忘。
its qin shi huang di, state of Qins first emperor.
When the first mythical emperors had the title hung di then HE was not the first hung di. By the way. I heard that later he hung di was shorten to di. And di was also the title of the Xia and the shani dinasty. So he was not the first emperor at al. He was not eben the first emperor of the sing dinasty. The zhou dinasty was conquered and its claims of supramcy Token over bevore he was born. He only force the kingdom to become what was on paper already his. The administrative System was invented bevore his rule in quin. The only special thing about him is that he was the first emperor Who runde over the whose empire and used byrocratic administrators for it instead of noble men.
king of kings, so = emperor .
Chinese is to China what American is to the USA and what British is to England.
Bro，the 1st to rule a united China
Actually i don't think there were real kings after Qin Shihuang. Chinese Kings（王） were more like Prince, a fancy title for the Emperor's sons. They don't rule any lands. HuangDi suppose to be the one and only ruler of all China.
They did a DNA test on his remains and found out he isn't chinese. As well as so called "ancient chinese kingdoms" aren't chinese at all but Turkic, Xianbei, Hunnic etc.
You are full of shit. His tomb is still not opened. Only the surrounding area has been excavated i.e. the terracotta warriors.
Idiot, Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum can’t be opened up to now, an idiot who talks about it.
Yu the great is the first king or emperor of china not qin shi huang di. He created the first empire of china the xia
you cant trabslate it to english. it means different things. 王 and 帝 doesnt exist in english.
btw do a comparison western feudalism
and eastern one. i think it is fascinating and people would love it.
The history of the Korean nation began 700000 years ago, N°1 in the world
Isn't it 100 million years?
Qin ShiHuang was not chinese
He is a Mongolian-speaking Jurchen tribe.
那時候哪來的蒙古族女真族？秦以前是給周王室在關山草原養馬的！
難道你們接下來要說秦始皇是韓國人？