I'm so glad there's finally (or will be) a serious account of chinese history in youtube. And by a creator who I know to be very good! Just one thing. Qian is pronounced "Chian", not "Kian". The Q is a sort of alveolar 'ch' sound.
Takes all of five minutes to look up how pinyin (romanized Chinese) works phonetically. Letter 'Q' sounds like /ch/ Letter 'X' sounds something between /sh/ and /s/ Letter 'U' sounds like /w/ when in a dipthong (more than one vowel). When alone it sounds similar to what you initially expected. Letters 'Zh' sound like /dʒ/ as in 'dg' in budget or 'j' in 'January'. The vowels tend to be complex so I've added them on the condition you were interested. The above information is a solid start to redefining your perspective as an exclusive Anglophone. Vowels tend to be 'lower' than their Indo-European counterparts like 'Heng' would be pronounced something like 'Hung' but this also depends on tonality and generally excludes open/back vowels like /u/, /o/, and /ɑ/ meaning only the fronted /i/ and /e/ share this effect (yet never in a dipthong).
not really, Yao ans Shun are in Five Emperors, but not Yu, Yu is the first king of Xia Dynasy, it is better toi associated him with Tang of Shang Dynasty, Ji Cang of Zhou Dynasty, the Triad of Anciens Chinese Civilisation is Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi/yellow emperor,
I love your videos, and I'm glad you're doing some stuff on China! One thing I do have to say is I'd recommend you check out the pronunciation for Pinyin romanization, which is the kind used here and the most common for modern sources on Chinese history. 'Qi' makes a 'ch' sound with the front of the mouth, and the i in 'Si' makes a lower noise like the first i in "illusion," so Sima Qian is pronounced more like "Suu-ma Chien". 'Huang' makes a sound somewhere between 'wong' and 'wang.' 'Xia' is a single sound, like a "shaa."
Thanks, I haven't done an extensive search for popular material on China, but I did find a History of China podcast which is very good, but doesn't seem to have a historian's perspective. As for TH-cam material, I don't know how much is available, but I assume that there are a smattering of videos here and there.
Angus Rhodes look up CCTV. That’s china’s national station. There are tons of historical videos by CCTV. Look up on TH-cam, username “bronze goblet”. You’ll find tons of videos at his account.
Another guy i like is a channel called "cool history bros". The presentation is a little goofy (doesnt bother me, but it might bother you idk), but the information is good. Ue does a good job telling the story in w way that the figures and characters stick in your brain
in fact Shun's abilities to control rivers were one of the reasons he was promoted by Yao. The work he did solved the problems of flooding that ravaged plantations and cities
Hi, great video: while this era is clearly in the realm of myth (where as the Xia is where myth start to enter into real history) I think it is most reasonable to view this period in the context of various tribal coalitions, beginning to form, as in the stories it is stated for example, how the Yellow Emperor actually defeated the clan of Shennong, (and later another major rival clan, which is sort of where his claim of "founding civilization" comes from) . The Story of things like Yao and Shun passing their seat to non-family based on merit, would make perfect sense in the context of a tribal coalition, where senior / capable members of various clans take turn as leaders for example. Also, it should be noted that Sima Qian actually did NOT write about the 3 Sovereigns (at least directly, some of it was brought up in auxiliary text regarding other things.) but most of Shiji was written as individual biographies, and the biography started with Huang Di , not any of the 3 sovereigns supposedly predating him.
Your first line is interesting because within China, the three emperors and five sovereigns are taught as history, not mythology and all Chinese are taught that China has 上下五千年的历史 5000 years of history. The 5000 years begin from the birth of Huang Di. There’s also a yearly ceremony where the Yellow Emperor is honored as the great ancestor of Chinese civilization and it’s even attended by Party officials who also participate (not something that’s done for Buddhist or other religious ceremonies). Even if these people didn’t do all the things the stories say they did, most Chinese people would agree that they at least existed. This is different from say modern Italians who don’t generally believe in the story of Romulus and Remus.
There are so many stories about shennung. The Chinese said he's an emperor, while the hmong people said that he is of hmong decent and was hunted by the chinese and later killed. Ofcorse people are people and things changed over time due to their ideas of adding somthing new and taking away somthing that serves no benifets to them. Eventually history becomes stories due to no concrete records.
Will you continue this serie of China's history? China's history is really interesting and I find you to be a very good source who try to be as neutral as possible and when you have a personal opinion you just say that. Makes you all the more credible. Keep up the good work otherwise!
Yes, I am planning to do a video on pre-Xia China in the near future. All of the research is done, I just have to find the time to put together a presentation and record it. Thank you for your vote of confidence, it means a lot especially when I am dealing with a subject that I haven't studied very much in the past.
Learn history and culture from the people of that culture, not from the misinterpreted understanding of someone completely ignorant of that culture and can only provide conclusions and information based on their limited perspective.
Well he’s still trying his best and is pretty historically accurate. He may not be Chinese but at least he’s out here educating people with his TH-cam videos.
I'm so glad there's finally (or will be) a serious account of chinese history in youtube. And by a creator who I know to be very good! Just one thing. Qian is pronounced "Chian", not "Kian". The Q is a sort of alveolar 'ch' sound.
Thanks for the vote of confidence.
there can't really be a good investigation into chinese history in the west because barely any material is translated unfortunately.
Takes all of five minutes to look up how pinyin (romanized Chinese) works phonetically.
Letter 'Q' sounds like /ch/
Letter 'X' sounds something between /sh/ and /s/
Letter 'U' sounds like /w/ when in a dipthong (more than one vowel). When alone it sounds similar to what you initially expected.
Letters 'Zh' sound like /dʒ/ as in 'dg' in budget or 'j' in 'January'.
The vowels tend to be complex so I've added them on the condition you were interested. The above information is a solid start to redefining your perspective as an exclusive Anglophone.
Vowels tend to be 'lower' than their Indo-European counterparts like 'Heng' would be pronounced something like 'Hung' but this also depends on tonality and generally excludes open/back vowels like /u/, /o/, and /ɑ/ meaning only the fronted /i/ and /e/ share this effect (yet never in a dipthong).
Interesting parallels between the Yao-Shun-Yu triad of emperors in the alternate tradition and the Greek myth of the Olympian-Titan War.
not really, Yao ans Shun are in Five Emperors, but not Yu,
Yu is the first king of Xia Dynasy, it is better toi associated him with Tang of Shang Dynasty, Ji Cang of Zhou Dynasty,
the Triad of Anciens Chinese Civilisation is Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi/yellow emperor,
I love your videos, and I'm glad you're doing some stuff on China!
One thing I do have to say is I'd recommend you check out the pronunciation for Pinyin romanization, which is the kind used here and the most common for modern sources on Chinese history. 'Qi' makes a 'ch' sound with the front of the mouth, and the i in 'Si' makes a lower noise like the first i in "illusion," so Sima Qian is pronounced more like "Suu-ma Chien".
'Huang' makes a sound somewhere between 'wong' and 'wang.'
'Xia' is a single sound, like a "shaa."
I'll check that out for sure.
I'm so glad you've making this video, there is a great shortage of proper videos on Chinese History.
Thanks, I haven't done an extensive search for popular material on China, but I did find a History of China podcast which is very good, but doesn't seem to have a historian's perspective. As for TH-cam material, I don't know how much is available, but I assume that there are a smattering of videos here and there.
Angus Rhodes look up CCTV. That’s china’s national station. There are tons of historical videos by CCTV. Look up on TH-cam, username “bronze goblet”. You’ll find tons of videos at his account.
Another guy i like is a channel called "cool history bros". The presentation is a little goofy (doesnt bother me, but it might bother you idk), but the information is good. Ue does a good job telling the story in w way that the figures and characters stick in your brain
in fact Shun's abilities to control rivers were one of the reasons he was promoted by Yao. The work he did solved the problems of flooding that ravaged plantations and cities
Hi, great video: while this era is clearly in the realm of myth (where as the Xia is where myth start to enter into real history) I think it is most reasonable to view this period in the context of various tribal coalitions, beginning to form, as in the stories it is stated for example, how the Yellow Emperor actually defeated the clan of Shennong, (and later another major rival clan, which is sort of where his claim of "founding civilization" comes from) . The Story of things like Yao and Shun passing their seat to non-family based on merit, would make perfect sense in the context of a tribal coalition, where senior / capable members of various clans take turn as leaders for example.
Also, it should be noted that Sima Qian actually did NOT write about the 3 Sovereigns (at least directly, some of it was brought up in auxiliary text regarding other things.) but most of Shiji was written as individual biographies, and the biography started with Huang Di , not any of the 3 sovereigns supposedly predating him.
Your first line is interesting because within China, the three emperors and five sovereigns are taught as history, not mythology and all Chinese are taught that China has 上下五千年的历史 5000 years of history. The 5000 years begin from the birth of Huang Di. There’s also a yearly ceremony where the Yellow Emperor is honored as the great ancestor of Chinese civilization and it’s even attended by Party officials who also participate (not something that’s done for Buddhist or other religious ceremonies). Even if these people didn’t do all the things the stories say they did, most Chinese people would agree that they at least existed. This is different from say modern Italians who don’t generally believe in the story of Romulus and Remus.
There are so many stories about shennung. The Chinese said he's an emperor, while the hmong people said that he is of hmong decent and was hunted by the chinese and later killed. Ofcorse people are people and things changed over time due to their ideas of adding somthing new and taking away somthing that serves no benifets to them. Eventually history becomes stories due to no concrete records.
You're an amazing channel, keep up the great history work, sir!
3 sages and 5 emporers are the 8 individuals who survived the flood!
Ooof that pronunciation
Look up pinyin pronounciation
Will you continue this serie of China's history? China's history is really interesting and I find you to be a very good source who try to be as neutral as possible and when you have a personal opinion you just say that. Makes you all the more credible. Keep up the good work otherwise!
Yes, I am planning to do a video on pre-Xia China in the near future. All of the research is done, I just have to find the time to put together a presentation and record it. Thank you for your vote of confidence, it means a lot especially when I am dealing with a subject that I haven't studied very much in the past.
Great to hear you'll do another video! I know you'll do great on the next video.
Thersites the Historian where it at
Still forthcoming.
Really intresting, thank you !
NuWa is Noah!
I have been watching your videos daily for months. Thanks for the great info and all the time and hard work.
You're welcome. I am looking forward to resuming this series by looking at the Xia early this coming year.
3 sovereigns. District of Columbia. Vatican City, London Sq
its called sima Chian.
yes the Q in chinese translation is weird.
thats why Qin dynasty is called Chin, the Chin in modern *CHI*NA
Shennong is Shem!
Learn history and culture from the people of that culture, not from the misinterpreted understanding of someone completely ignorant of that culture and can only provide conclusions and information based on their limited perspective.
Well he’s still trying his best and is pretty historically accurate. He may not be Chinese but at least he’s out here educating people with his TH-cam videos.
Great Video
History or mythology? Very confusing presentation.
History and mythology connects
Essentially mythology, but in China, it’s taught as actual history.
Fu Xi Abraxas?
Is that a reference to the Jesse Ventura movie?