Correction and context: 0:16 Song Dynasty should began with Northern Song and followed by *Southern* Song. 0:16 The Chinese character for Liao is *遼*. 6:36 Diao *Chan* 貂蟬. 1:18 The film on screen is Green Snake (1993)
宋朝, Song Dynasty was divided into two periods Northern and southern that was similar to the Zhou or Han dynasty etc... (west and east). After the incident of Jingkang , Jurchen Jin sacked Bianjing (Kaifeng) the capital of Northern Song capturing emperors Huizong and Qinzong. Zhao Gou or emperor Gaozong created the southern song dynasty after escaping the sacking of the imperial capital Bianjing (Kaifeng).
I wanted to make some comparison to Islamic history The dates may not be parallel especially in the first half because the focus is more on themes: Xia/Shang - The times of the Prophets. Zhou - Dark chaotic age between the previous prophets and the rise of Islam. Qin/Han - The rise of Islam and the start of the Caliphate with Rashiduns & Umayyads. Tang - Abbasid Caliphate. Song - Ayyubids against Crusades. Yuan - Mamluks against Crusades & Mongols. Ming - Ottoman Caliphate. Qing - Decline of the Ottomans and colonization. Chinese republic - Modern time
The Song dynasty was so impressive engineering-wise that the amount of steel it produced per year wouldn't be matched or exceeded until the Carnegie steel company was established in 1892. It took *seven hundred years* and not even the Bessemer process by itself could overcome just how efficient they were at producing it.
@@Gutraidh Yeah but the point was there were producing a lot and my question was, was it a lot per person? If they were throwing at it a million people then outperforming a single industrial company does not seem that impressive. The OC claims they were efficient and it makes it sound like one medieval Chinese person was producing more steel than one American steel worker.
I am pretty sure they don’t mean as efficient. But their efficiency would not be met and surpassed till almost 700 years later. There are many studies about the Song Dynasty, you can check them out
I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t talk about the Tang’s impact on religious and fantasy visuals! I’m Vietnamese, and even we see Tang style as the most mystical and divine aesthetic: even today, Vietnamese fairies and goddesses are drawn in Tang clothing, and the clothing and physical features of Buddhist statues all around Vietnam, Korea and Japan are influenced by Tang styles. It really defines what looks mythical, magical and divine to a lot of Asia.
Hey that's a very interesting fact about Vietnam. I would love to learn more about your country, are there any channels like accented cinema that focuses on vietnamese culture?
@@dttth7192and Taoism is a religion whose aesthetics are influenced by the Tang! See what we can learn when we read people’s comments carefully before responding?
@karaqakkzl I know. I am Vietnamese. I used the word “fairy” because it’s how tiên is usually translated and I thought it would be easier for the English-speaking audience of this channel to understand than “semi-divine magical immortals of the natural or celestial realms, often associated with the landscape or with minor godly status”
This is probably my favourite thing you've done on the channel. It's really easy for the dynasties to come off as a collection of names and dates, so a focus on the individual cultures of each, and the way modern culture perceives them, is incredibly valuable.
I wanted to make some comparison to Islamic history. The dates may not be parallel especially in the first half because the focus is more on themes: Xia/Shang - The times of the Prophets. Zhou - Dark chaotic age between the previous prophets and the rise of Islam. Qin/Han - The rise of Islam and the start of the Caliphate with Rashiduns & Umayyads. Tang - Abbasid Caliphate. Song - Ayyubids against Crusades. Yuan - Mamluks against Crusades & Mongols. Ming - Ottoman Caliphate. Qing - Decline of the Ottomans and colonization. Chinese republic - Modern time
@@Gutraidh both is blamed for causing the downfall of a country, Marie Antoinette being in the wrong for wearing luxurious clothing （she was regarded as a fashion icon too） and eating fancy foods even though the folks were dying from starvation was blamed for her lack of attention towards political corruption, basically being just a pretty but useless flower （I remember she did not have any authority in that field though）. While Yang Guifei is blamed for seducing the emperor, making their leader someone who only focused in gifting her luxurious things to make her happy, and never properly governing the dynasty, causing the government to be corrupted （that and how she had her relatives come in as government officials, unsure if Marie did the same though , but my history textbook never emphasized on this）, that's why she was regarded as "妖妃", the demon concubine for direct translation.
@yue5558 "... wearing luxurious clothing" was customary for the dauphines of France. The comparison would be a little too harsh since Marie Antoinette never even liked wearing the grand corps (heavy-boned corset) and preferred robes a la chemise... oh, well, that too didn't sit well with the nobility and MA was eventually used as a scapegoat, as in Madame Deficit. Yuhuan, however, may have been extravagant and insensitive to the political and socio-economic woes during her time, but she was (or even vilified) as a woman who danced while the empire fell. Anyhow, both women were nonetheless blamed for something beyond anyone's grasp and became legends in their own right.
@@tehnoobgamer yeah I was aware of it too, I've just simplified it down to why they were blamed. But since my English isn't as fluent as my Chinese, it might've been too vague? I replied via the commoners pov :) (Since Marie was ridiculed for living such luxurious life even though the commoners were dying from the lack of everything, I mean all the nobles were ridiculed but she had it worse)
Song Dynasty was weak because it was missing the 燕云十六州 - the 16 provinces of Yan and Yun, given away to the Liao Empire by one of the many pathetic warlords during the 5 dynasty & 10 kingdoms period. Those 16 provinces are some of the most crucial provinces to a militarily strong central plains empire, why? Because they contain the mountain passes between the nomadic country and the central plains. Without those mountain passes, the entirety of China's northern countryside has no defensive barriers against nomadic cavalry. They also contain the vast majority of China's suitable horse pastures, so a dynasty without those territories would never be able to raise considerable cavalry. Northern Song fought the Liao for almost 50 years to try to reclaim those lands. They came close many times but always fell short due to the lack of mobility, with their armies being heavily based on infantry. Whenever they advance deep into Liao territory their supply lines would always get overstretched and cut off by superior Liao cavalry. Thus, after 50 years of bloodshed, the two dynasties signed a truce. Even crippled by lack of cavalry during the most cavalry-dominant period of human history, Song still managed to fight the powerful Liao, Jin, and Mongol Empires to a standstill for decades. That should not be considered militarily "weak". As for the 重文轻武 - focus on civil and not the military - Song emperors had very good reason to do so. The Five Dynasty Ten Kingdom period was arguably the most morally corrupt and chaotic period of Chinese history. All order broke down and the only rule was Might makes right. Coup d'etats happened so often that a dynasty would be lucky to last even 1 generation. Powerful generals acted with no regard to central authority and wanton cannibalism was prevalent. Among the many things people don't give Song dynasty credit for, it's ending this period of chaos and repairing the moral compass that was destroyed by the end of Tang dynasty.
@@peterii3512 Nomadic societies have very different economic structures compared to agrarian states. They can always mobilize a far higher percentage of their population, and they have much better mobility. Logistically, nomad armies are also far better on the offense since their high mobility allows them to supply themselves from the defenders’ countryside. So the localized numbers are typically a much different story compared to absolute population. Han, Tang, Ming all faced this issue - the nomads would concentrate their tribes and raid from the North into select weak points along the border. While the dynasties had to mobilize their farmers from inland, turn them into armies, and march them and their supplies on foot to the northern frontier. By the time they get there, the nomads either run away or surround and destroy. Huge infantry armies are slow and economically ruinous to maintain, smaller forces get defeated in detail by horde cavalry. The only way for central plains empires to succeed against nomads are to field significant cavalry themselves (which only the Song couldn’t), use political manipulation to cause divides along nomadic tribes (in this period, the north was very unified), or just build forts and try to outlast. By the time the Jin and Mongols happened, the Song was already politically stagnant and declining. All that is to say, it’s a lot more complicated than simple population. War is 95% logistics.
@@CannibaLouiST In fact, the Southern Song was the only country strong enough to truly confront and hold off the Mongols' main force for years (without relying on typhoon like Japan or difficult landscape like Vietnam) at that time, and even killed their Khan once. Song was weak (military wise) relative to the more dominant dynasties like Tang, Han, Qin and early Ming, but by itself it's not truly weak.
@@peterii3512 The Mongols and Song China were neighbours and yet before the Song was finally defeated the Mongols already invaded Europe & Central Asia
For those who haven't watched the series "Longest Day in Chang'An", you're missing out one of the best modern era series from mainland China. It's a very long series, but I can assure you, you won't be disappointed.
Yup, it's basically like the show "24", but set in Tang Dynasty China. The production team did a lot of research and really tried to capture what it was like during that time.
@@Sleven77 It has that real-time concept that 24 has, certainly, but it's also notable for great cinematography, wardrobe, and set design, something I don't think anyone would say about the Jack Bauer show.
Love these series. I would love to see a list of the best movies set in each dynasty. Both in terms of representing the era, and in terms of good cinema.
Also worth mentioning that a lot of medieval Japanese aesthetics take inspiration from the Tang. Since the Tang were the cultural hegemon of the time, the Japanese sent out a ton of missions to find out more about them. There is a tendency for people to often see Japan as this far-away, isolated place but it really wasn't.
Okay Yang, I know this is asking a lot but... can we get a video about adaptations of the Water Margin? I have introduced my friends to the 3 Kingdoms successfully, but with the 90's Water Margin series far less accessible in English, I'm sure many of us would love an overview of the good adaptations of that legendary tale~
technically Wu Zetian wasn't Tang emperor. When she ascended the throne and claimed the mandate of haven, she establish a new dynasty called the (second) Zhou dynasty that lasted thought out her rein till the restoration of the the Tang.
The segway into the Squarespace ad was hilarious! The mongol reference using Crash Course was as well! Great video for sure though! Really enjoying this series of videos.
Was kinda expecting Justice Bao in the mix for Song. To me if you want how the common folk thinks of Northern Song politics/civil justice, Justice Bao is image of that. Good video however!
yep, i am slightly disappointed that Bao Zheng wasn't mentioned in the Song dynasty period too dude was the epitome of justice in the otherwise corrupted Song government
@@weirdofromhalo it's really the fault from Tang's collapse; Song which is the continuation of the five dynasties never recovered the the most strategically regions of Northern China that was lost to foreign power during that period; such as the Yin and Yan Mountain ranges which served as natural barriers betweern China proper and the steppes, or the northwestern regions near the bend of the yellow river which was cruical for raising large number of horses, the lack of which made the Song armies slow in comparsion to it's enemies, which made Song armies more defense oriented, so even when they won the battle they really cann't chase down fleeing enemies; also the raise of Western Xia made Song split military forces between the Western Xia and Liao, never had the decisive advantage because the two front war are really hard to win; eventually Song became stagnated and decadent just like all the other, and it all went downhill from there...
@@polarhunter Thank you for saying this! Peopel don't give northern song enough credit for their military prowess. Imagine winning in medieval battles without cavalry. They fought Liao to a standstill for 50 years. Southern Song with Yue Fei was poised to defeat the Jin before the truce. AND they held on against the Mongol onslaught far longer than any other opponent. That is not weak.
@@michaelcao5883 Yeah, I think Song was offered a truce which Yue Fei saw as a scheme to give the Jin time to recover their strength, and to lull the Song into a false sense of security, which was how bad Yue Fei had trounced them. The Song government were also on guard against Yue Fei's growing authority which came from his victories against the Jin. The Jin then took advantage of this to slander Yue Fei, saying that he was a threat to peace between both nations which the Song used as an excuse to remove Yue Fei's authority and kill him. Thus, the Jin managed to kill 3 birds with one stone with their truce: buy time to recover their strength, weaken Song, and get rid of Song's capable general (Yue Fei).
I love this series. Even though the attention is focused on how these different dynasties are portrayed in Chinese media, it actually serves as a really engaging introduction to them for people that aren't familiar with the history.
The Song Dynasty is grossly underestimated. In fact, the Song Dynasty had great industrial and commercial development, many scientific and technological inventions, prosperous folk life, and equality between men and women.
Tang as the 2nd golden age is also why Southern Chinese refer to themselves as Tang ren (Tang people) rather than Han ren (Han people). It's also why Chinatowns in foreign cities which are mostly settled by Southern Chinese are typically named Tang ren jie (Tang people street) in Chinese.
It's really a southern Chinese thing really. Northern Chinese people don't really use Tang people as much as Southern Chinese like Cantonese and Fujianese people do. Much of it was due to a lot of the culture and language being driven south to the southern provinces after the fall of the Tang dynasty. Thus much of Tang poetry actually rhymed when you recite it in Cantonese for example versus Mandarin.
Well most of the first overseas Chinese populations were Cantonese and Fujianese. The later northern Chinese immigrants don't necessarily see it that way.
Thanks to these videos, I have started watching c-dramas online. I'd love to see a video on the Shaw Bros. Movies. I remember picking up 5-packs of the those at Walmart as a kid
The story of Yang Guifei is so powerful that the Japanese actually made a film in 1955 (Yōkihi) based on the legend which was directed by the legendary Kenji Mizoguchi. It is not counted as one of Mizoguchi's best efforts! Which you mention in the outro!
If you read Heian era literary classics like the Genji Monogatari, the imperial court of the time was obsessed with "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Bai Juyi ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_Hen_Ge_(poem) ) and the courtiers were dropping references to the poem left and right. The Genji Monogatari even begins explicitly comparing the romance between lady Kiritsubo and Genji's father to Yang Guifei and emperor Xuanzong.
I'm thoroughly enjoying these overviews of Ancient China. Really helpful for Westerners who barely learn any of this, even though they may watch some movies or read some media. Can't wait for Part 4!
The Mongoltage! Was not expecting that (appropriately) and it filled me with delight. :) And, really, this whole series has been a delight, thank you for putting it together!
Just wanna say that I thoroughly enjoyed this series. As an overseas Chinese (not from China), I have always been fascinated by the culture of China but there was no resources that break the different dynasties and their cultural differences down in such an easy-to-digest format. This is hard work and I truly appreciate it! 🧡
Like using stained glassed windows your interweaving of cinematic vignettes is sooo engaging and even educational. Loving this YT series so much. Thank you.
This isn't a bad video or series by any means, and I get it's filtered through a popular culture lens, but the narrator presents it as fact so: The Song wasn't some effeminate flowery dynasty who cared too much about culture and poetry and so neglected its military affairs. If the Song was so weak, it wouldn't have resisted the (Jurchen) Jin Dynasty for another century after the disastrous loss of the North after 1127, and it certainly wouldn't have resisted the full force of the Mongols for nearly six decades - longer than the Jin and longer than just about anyone else the Mongols conquered. The inability of the Song to decisively defeat the Liao, Xi Xia, and Jin speak less to the Song's weakness and more to the Liao, Xi Xia, and Jin's strength. The Tang on the other hand faced two divided and weakened Turkic Khaganates
I think this was mentioned, if slightly in passing, in the video. I forget the exact phrasing but something like, an actually weak dynasty wouldn't be stable enough for the arts to flourish, was brought up.
@@randomnobody660 He called it "strong in civil affairs. Without stability, without offering people security, there would never be such a flourishing arts scene," with the implication that the dynasty was good at governing internally but not defending itself externally. The idea that stability -> flourishing arts scene isn't wrong, but the expanded cultural scene in the Song compared to the Tang really had two intertwined causes: The expansion of the economy (remember the economy grew so much in the Song that they had to start issuing paper money), which meant that more people could buy food and go into trade, which meant more people (still a minority, but a larger minority) got wealthy enough that they could start getting into these cultural pursuits, or more likely hire tutors and teachers to train their children in things like poetry, art, and music. And one of the reasons they did so was: The destruction of the hereditary aristocratic class in the Huang Chao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which had previously held much of the wealth and most of the political power in China. With the existing elites mostly gone, a new, larger elite that built more of their wealth on trade emerged, and the Song government had no choice but to hire people from this class, which meant holding more civil service exams, which meant more people were educating their children so they could sit for and pass the civil service exams This wasn't happening in the Tang because again people needed wealth, which was largely in the hands of the aristocracy. And since aristocrats were in the government already, and could pull strings to make sure their relatives and connections passed. At 2:49 when he talks about Wu Zetian reforming the exams to be more fair he has text onscreen talking about how she was the only emperor who had candidates' names sealed to ensure impartiality, which should give you a sense of how prevalent this practice was. There was also the "Shadow Privilege," where officials straight-up recommended their relatives or friends for office directly Also the population grew (Wikipedia says "almost doubled") from Tang to Song, so that probably also had something to do with it
@@nguyenvietanh2152 That's way too oversimplified. You can say the Han was militaristic, but then so was the Tang, who subjugated the Turkic Khaganates, conquered the Tarim Basin, and fought the Umayyads until an internal rebellion forced them to stop. You can say the Tang was cosmopolitan, but so was the Song, with just as many travelers coming to Song cities to trade. Arguably even more so, since they weren't restricted to just Chang'an and its market wards anymore. You can say the Ming was despotic, but how were the Tang, Song, and especially the Han not? The Han literally made Confucianism political orthodoxy, and in the Eastern Han great families started championing it as intellectual justification for their large estates and houses. The Ming also had an extensive civic bureaucracy and experienced an equally intense flourishing of culture, with the proliferation of print novels such as Journey to the West or Jinpingmei, or the flowering of kun opera for example. Each dynasty existed in and adapted to its own unique historical context and simplifying them to basically personality traits is unhelpful
"Emperor being dumbass" Yes the extremely hard-working emperor just had too large of an ego that swallowed itself Pretty similar to the also quite large ego of Li Longji, whose incompetence was treated more like better than he was.
Since you are doing the progression of Chinese history in media, I would suggest you about this topic of a unique genre in Japanese media (mainly NHK), the “taiga drama” or the annual historical drama that has been going on since 1960s.
All movies mentioned (might have missed one) The man with the curly beard Heroes in sui and tang dynasties (tv 2013 Chang an (2023 The longest day in chang an (tv 2019) Detective dee and the mystery of the phantom flame (2010 Secret history of empress Wu (2011 The empress of China (tv 2014 Empress Wu (1963) Legend of the demon cat (2017 The monkey king 2 (2016 Journey to the west Yang guifei The magnificent concubine (1962 Lady of the dynasty (2015 The untold tale of the three kingdoms An lushan rebellion House of the flying daggers The banquet (2006 Curse of the golden flower (2006 Full river red (2023 Eight diagram pole fighter (1984 Water margin (1972) and novel General of the yang family Legendary Amazons (2011 General yue fei The patriot yue fei(tv 2013) The lion roars (2002 Palace of devotion (tv 2021 The dragon chronicles-the maidens (1994)
I absolutely love Chinese Action films so this is great! I didn't start watching the straight historical films until well into adulthood. This video series is wonderfully helpful for watching those! Thank you!
I would absolutely love if you made more of these and brought it up all the way into the current day, personally. I know you wanted to do ancient/pre-modern mostly, but this series of videos is just so captivating! Lots of flashbacks to my Chinese history course back in school, but now with perfect film visuals!
Another EXCELLENT video! (By the way, I've never seen ads so well-placed in another creator's video. They should hire you to make their commercials -- you made the ad relevant, persuasive, funny, and intelligent.) I'm really enjoying this series, and look forward to the next video!
Im constantly amazed at how Japanese recreates Chinese history through its lense. From movies like Yang Kwai Fei, Anime movies like Kingdom, and even games like Dynasty Warriors. They truly admired Ancient China. I actually read somewhere that Scholars from Japan thought that Chinese civilization died after the Song and Japan was the true successor to the Middle Kingdom after it fell to the Mongols. Much like how many empires wanted to be the second Rome.
10:37 You forgot the famous blackfaced Justice Bao from the Song dynasty. My elderly mom binge-watched all his shows on TH-cam. I've noticed that the Japanese "yes" or "hai" is borrowed from the Song dynasty? Korean and Japanese also use "fast" as "Fiaa!" (Cantonese version)
Just throwing it out there that Ruyi's Royal Love is amazing and I can't shut-up about it and highly recommend to everyone! :D omg its so good!!! literally the only CDrama I've seen but i lucked-out on quality and now I'm obsessed.
So history-nerd me obviously is fascinated with this era as it covers the golden & silver age of Imperial China (or China as a whole for certain nationalist). I’ve always been particularly curious of the Great Jin Dynasty that ruled concurrently with the Song as it turned-out to be the preview of the Qing Empire. On the movie side, here is some trivia: the 1955 film Princess Yang Kwei-Fei is the only collaboration between the Shaw Brothers and one of the golden-age Japanese film directors (this one being Kenji Misoguchi). Not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to the video on the Ming Dynasty as one of my favorite film-makers, King Hu, mainly made his films from this time period.
Good video, but I would have loved it you mentioned Jin Yong's stories of the Song Dynasty as well. To me these stories captured the fatalism of the period.
Yes! The other traditional Song dynasty stories are interesting but I think a lot of people these days were introduced to Song dynasty through the different Jin Yong novels and adaptations of them.
Yeah, in chaos era is very interesting to make hero story because so many enemy & villain u can make the story right 😅😅 I love Jin Yong novel from demi god, semi devil to Condor heroes trilogy (the last trilogy in yuan dynasty). But the story so cool, many people think is real history, not a fiction novel
Thank you for your insight and educating video on this topic. I would love if we can go deeper and talk more about great classic and modern movie or literature depicting those era, which is accessible to most people all over the world
7:13 Whats funny is I was looking at the "the right place" cos I was wondering whether the pushed up bust was a historically-accurate depiction of the silhouette or just a matter of modern movie sensibility So it was interesting to hear that it was in fact a pop culture interpretation of an old account haha
Wait a moment…this channel is greater than a cinema studies channel. It’s cultural and historical education….offering glimpses into history and culture through a camera lens 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🤣😂❤️
This is really interesting. I've been watching Chineses period dramas for a few years now and was always interested to know why there was news about wrong costuming and dynasties.
While the flamboyant, over-the-top imagery of the Tang era makes it my personal favorite (along with the horses, I do love those horses!) the Song dynasty's style has such a delicate, somber beauty almost in spite of the impending Mongolian apocalypse thundering towards them. It makes me feel something, what I cannot quite say but. I like it.
I wanted to make some comparison to Islamic history The dates may not be parallel especially in the first half because the focus is more on themes: Xia/Shang - The times of the Prophets. Zhou - Dark chaotic age between the previous prophets and the rise of Islam. Qin/Han - The rise of Islam and the start of the Caliphate with Rashiduns & Umayyads. Tang - Abbasid Caliphate. Song - Ayyubids against Crusades. Yuan - Mamluks against Crusades & Mongols. Ming - Ottoman Caliphate. Qing - Decline of the Ottomans and colonization. Chinese republic - Modern time
Huh, I didn't know Yang Gui Fei was misunderstood as being chubby. I've only heard of comparisons of her beauty. Like this part from 《穷开心》 她是谁家那小谁 身材赛过杨贵妃
The Song dynasty was way beyond the Tang in terms of cultural, economic, and political importance, without even talking about agriculture. They invented modern rice. Multiple times of year harvest, and great yield per stock. That was the biggest population boom outside of modern time.
Hi, Accented Cinema! Been a long time fan of your channel and your videos have always been a great watch during my lunchtime. If I may make a video topic suggestion, the new movie "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" has been gaining a lot of traction lately, specifically in the Indonesian audience. The movie plot and the acting are all also really great, in my opinion. Even not for a video, hopefully you can give some time to watch the movie ^^
I'm surprised that only the Liao and Song were mentioned during the Song period, because there were also the Tangut Western Xia and the Jurchen Jin dynasty replacing the Liao, these 4 coexisted as checks and balances on each other across what is today modern China, collectively named as 宋遼夏金 (Song•Liao•Xia•Jin dynasties)
Correction and context:
0:16 Song Dynasty should began with Northern Song and followed by *Southern* Song.
0:16 The Chinese character for Liao is *遼*.
6:36 Diao *Chan* 貂蟬.
1:18 The film on screen is Green Snake (1993)
and in simplified chinese it is 辽.
宋朝, Song Dynasty was divided into two periods
Northern and southern that was similar to the Zhou or Han dynasty etc... (west and east).
After the incident of Jingkang , Jurchen Jin sacked Bianjing (Kaifeng) the capital of Northern Song capturing emperors Huizong and Qinzong. Zhao Gou or emperor Gaozong created the southern song dynasty after escaping the sacking of the imperial capital Bianjing (Kaifeng).
I wanted to make some comparison to Islamic history
The dates may not be parallel especially in the first half because the focus is more on themes:
Xia/Shang - The times of the Prophets.
Zhou - Dark chaotic age between the previous prophets and the rise of Islam.
Qin/Han - The rise of Islam and the start of the Caliphate with Rashiduns & Umayyads.
Tang - Abbasid Caliphate.
Song - Ayyubids against Crusades.
Yuan - Mamluks against Crusades & Mongols.
Ming - Ottoman Caliphate.
Qing - Decline of the Ottomans and colonization.
Chinese republic - Modern time
3:10 Xiran Jay Zhao talks a lot about her
@@17-MASYso the three kingdom time is between the umayyad caliphate and abassid caliphate, right? If yes, how close it is to the anarchy at samarra?
The Song dynasty was so impressive engineering-wise that the amount of steel it produced per year wouldn't be matched or exceeded until the Carnegie steel company was established in 1892. It took *seven hundred years* and not even the Bessemer process by itself could overcome just how efficient they were at producing it.
And the Song came up with a method to partially decarbonize iron, which is seen as a predecessor to the Bessemer process.
Isn't this partly due to large population? I imagine their agricultural production was also unmatched throughout the history.
@@kacperwoch4368 efficiency have nothing to do with population. Efficiency is throughput not output.
@@Gutraidh Yeah but the point was there were producing a lot and my question was, was it a lot per person? If they were throwing at it a million people then outperforming a single industrial company does not seem that impressive. The OC claims they were efficient and it makes it sound like one medieval Chinese person was producing more steel than one American steel worker.
I am pretty sure they don’t mean as efficient. But their efficiency would not be met and surpassed till almost 700 years later. There are many studies about the Song Dynasty, you can check them out
I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t talk about the Tang’s impact on religious and fantasy visuals! I’m Vietnamese, and even we see Tang style as the most mystical and divine aesthetic: even today, Vietnamese fairies and goddesses are drawn in Tang clothing, and the clothing and physical features of Buddhist statues all around Vietnam, Korea and Japan are influenced by Tang styles. It really defines what looks mythical, magical and divine to a lot of Asia.
Hey that's a very interesting fact about Vietnam. I would love to learn more about your country, are there any channels like accented cinema that focuses on vietnamese culture?
These imaginations actually come from Taoism.
@@dttth7192and Taoism is a religion whose aesthetics are influenced by the Tang! See what we can learn when we read people’s comments carefully before responding?
@@thekuan7002 channel like this in English? Hardly.
@karaqakkzl I know. I am Vietnamese. I used the word “fairy” because it’s how tiên is usually translated and I thought it would be easier for the English-speaking audience of this channel to understand than “semi-divine magical immortals of the natural or celestial realms, often associated with the landscape or with minor godly status”
"Oh shit, it's the Mongols"
-Said nearly every medieval Civilisation
Thanks to AoE2, people still say that.
@@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm and Mediaeval 2 Total War
Except to the Crusaders apparently. Enemy of enemy my friend situation
@@zainmudassir2964 the Song also allied with the Mongols against Jin
@@nguyenvietanh2152Then get crashed by the Mongols after Jin fall
This is probably my favourite thing you've done on the channel. It's really easy for the dynasties to come off as a collection of names and dates, so a focus on the individual cultures of each, and the way modern culture perceives them, is incredibly valuable.
I wanted to make some comparison to Islamic history.
The dates may not be parallel especially in the first half because the focus is more on themes:
Xia/Shang - The times of the Prophets.
Zhou - Dark chaotic age between the previous prophets and the rise of Islam.
Qin/Han - The rise of Islam and the start of the Caliphate with Rashiduns & Umayyads.
Tang - Abbasid Caliphate.
Song - Ayyubids against Crusades.
Yuan - Mamluks against Crusades & Mongols.
Ming - Ottoman Caliphate.
Qing - Decline of the Ottomans and colonization.
Chinese republic - Modern time
I nearly fell out of my chair laughing at the thought of Empress Wu running her blog and insta so that she’ll be better received by historians.
I wish someone would make a Wuzetian account on all platforms. And just troll everyone.
@@thekuan7002 better yet, make it historically accurate and her insta be representative of actual events in her life.
and using her own 字 she invented
Well, youtube.com/@xiranjayzhao?feature=shared
@@thekuan7002 Can someone please take up this project?
Yang Guifei is the Marie Antoinette of China, or you could say Marie Antoinette was the Yang Guifei of France
Well put, I'm French and I gotta agree
How so?
@@Gutraidh both is blamed for causing the downfall of a country,
Marie Antoinette being in the wrong for wearing luxurious clothing （she was regarded as a fashion icon too） and eating fancy foods even though the folks were dying from starvation was blamed for her lack of attention towards political corruption, basically being just a pretty but useless flower （I remember she did not have any authority in that field though）. While Yang Guifei is blamed for seducing the emperor, making their leader someone who only focused in gifting her luxurious things to make her happy, and never properly governing the dynasty, causing the government to be corrupted （that and how she had her relatives come in as government officials, unsure if Marie did the same though , but my history textbook never emphasized on this）, that's why she was regarded as "妖妃", the demon concubine for direct translation.
@yue5558 "... wearing luxurious clothing" was customary for the dauphines of France. The comparison would be a little too harsh since Marie Antoinette never even liked wearing the grand corps (heavy-boned corset) and preferred robes a la chemise... oh, well, that too didn't sit well with the nobility and MA was eventually used as a scapegoat, as in Madame Deficit.
Yuhuan, however, may have been extravagant and insensitive to the political and socio-economic woes during her time, but she was (or even vilified) as a woman who danced while the empire fell.
Anyhow, both women were nonetheless blamed for something beyond anyone's grasp and became legends in their own right.
@@tehnoobgamer yeah I was aware of it too, I've just simplified it down to why they were blamed. But since my English isn't as fluent as my Chinese, it might've been too vague? I replied via the commoners pov :)
(Since Marie was ridiculed for living such luxurious life even though the commoners were dying from the lack of everything, I mean all the nobles were ridiculed but she had it worse)
Song Dynasty was weak because it was missing the 燕云十六州 - the 16 provinces of Yan and Yun, given away to the Liao Empire by one of the many pathetic warlords during the 5 dynasty & 10 kingdoms period. Those 16 provinces are some of the most crucial provinces to a militarily strong central plains empire, why? Because they contain the mountain passes between the nomadic country and the central plains. Without those mountain passes, the entirety of China's northern countryside has no defensive barriers against nomadic cavalry. They also contain the vast majority of China's suitable horse pastures, so a dynasty without those territories would never be able to raise considerable cavalry.
Northern Song fought the Liao for almost 50 years to try to reclaim those lands. They came close many times but always fell short due to the lack of mobility, with their armies being heavily based on infantry. Whenever they advance deep into Liao territory their supply lines would always get overstretched and cut off by superior Liao cavalry. Thus, after 50 years of bloodshed, the two dynasties signed a truce. Even crippled by lack of cavalry during the most cavalry-dominant period of human history, Song still managed to fight the powerful Liao, Jin, and Mongol Empires to a standstill for decades. That should not be considered militarily "weak".
As for the 重文轻武 - focus on civil and not the military - Song emperors had very good reason to do so. The Five Dynasty Ten Kingdom period was arguably the most morally corrupt and chaotic period of Chinese history. All order broke down and the only rule was Might makes right. Coup d'etats happened so often that a dynasty would be lucky to last even 1 generation. Powerful generals acted with no regard to central authority and wanton cannibalism was prevalent. Among the many things people don't give Song dynasty credit for, it's ending this period of chaos and repairing the moral compass that was destroyed by the end of Tang dynasty.
that is weak considering the jurchens and mongols have tiny population compared to china
@@peterii3512 Nomadic societies have very different economic structures compared to agrarian states. They can always mobilize a far higher percentage of their population, and they have much better mobility. Logistically, nomad armies are also far better on the offense since their high mobility allows them to supply themselves from the defenders’ countryside. So the localized numbers are typically a much different story compared to absolute population.
Han, Tang, Ming all faced this issue - the nomads would concentrate their tribes and raid from the North into select weak points along the border. While the dynasties had to mobilize their farmers from inland, turn them into armies, and march them and their supplies on foot to the northern frontier. By the time they get there, the nomads either run away or surround and destroy. Huge infantry armies are slow and economically ruinous to maintain, smaller forces get defeated in detail by horde cavalry. The only way for central plains empires to succeed against nomads are to field significant cavalry themselves (which only the Song couldn’t), use political manipulation to cause divides along nomadic tribes (in this period, the north was very unified), or just build forts and try to outlast. By the time the Jin and Mongols happened, the Song was already politically stagnant and declining.
All that is to say, it’s a lot more complicated than simple population. War is 95% logistics.
they were not weak at all. its the enemies were waaaaaaaaay too strong.
@@CannibaLouiST In fact, the Southern Song was the only country strong enough to truly confront and hold off the Mongols' main force for years (without relying on typhoon like Japan or difficult landscape like Vietnam) at that time, and even killed their Khan once. Song was weak (military wise) relative to the more dominant dynasties like Tang, Han, Qin and early Ming, but by itself it's not truly weak.
@@peterii3512 The Mongols and Song China were neighbours and yet before the Song was finally defeated the Mongols already invaded Europe & Central Asia
Best part when he said "Oh shit is the Mongols"
That's pretty much what every Chinese said during the fall of the Song.
"God damn f*&!#ing Mogolians! Leave my city wall alone!"
"We've invaded China! Please respect us, or else we might invade you as well!"
John green would be proud
Unlike the 4th crusaders, thinking the golden horde is the lost tribe of Christians coming to save them.
For those who haven't watched the series "Longest Day in Chang'An", you're missing out one of the best modern era series from mainland China. It's a very long series, but I can assure you, you won't be disappointed.
I echo this. It is a remarkable series.
Yup, it's basically like the show "24", but set in Tang Dynasty China. The production team did a lot of research and really tried to capture what it was like during that time.
@@Sleven77 It has that real-time concept that 24 has, certainly, but it's also notable for great cinematography, wardrobe, and set design, something I don't think anyone would say about the Jack Bauer show.
I wish TH-cam had some kind of Grammy-style award, this would absolutely deserve it!
The webbys are a thing. Though I'm not sure how nominations work. Or if you could nominate a youtube series from a channel.
Love these series. I would love to see a list of the best movies set in each dynasty. Both in terms of representing the era, and in terms of good cinema.
I think if you gonna do that. It has to be tv series rather than movies.
@@yolooo5081 Yep.
@@yolooo5081 Yeah, I think you could mention both.
I second this motion. BTW Are the Mongols coming yet?
Also worth mentioning that a lot of medieval Japanese aesthetics take inspiration from the Tang. Since the Tang were the cultural hegemon of the time, the Japanese sent out a ton of missions to find out more about them. There is a tendency for people to often see Japan as this far-away, isolated place but it really wasn't.
Japan basically stopped learning from China after the Tang dynasty, and developed their own style.
@@nguyenvietanh2152错了，历史是流动的，日本向中国学习一直到清朝中末期，只有不了解历史的人才会简单笼统的称之为仅仅向唐学习。我十分赞同博主的话，宋是一个文化发展非常兴盛强大的时期，无论是宋画还是兴起的儒家学派都对日本产生了极大的影响，明代影响也没有断过，看一下宁波与日本频繁的贸易文化交流就知道了，比如国内流传甚广的日本女性的发型受唐代影响也是错的，真实情况是学习了明代女性流行的三绺头。日本摒弃中国，转而学习西方始于西方打开了日本的大门，并且清朝衰落了。
@@nguyenvietanh2152 송나라까지 계속문화받아드렸고 일정부분 교류를 계속했다
As far as I know, some Japanese became officials of the Tang government in the Tang Dynasty. His name is Abezhong Malu.
Okay Yang, I know this is asking a lot but... can we get a video about adaptations of the Water Margin? I have introduced my friends to the 3 Kingdoms successfully, but with the 90's Water Margin series far less accessible in English, I'm sure many of us would love an overview of the good adaptations of that legendary tale~
There was a 2011 version under the English title "All Men Are Brothers"
@@RighteousBeardArts2011年版本的“水浒传”拍摄的很一般，还是推荐1998年版的“水浒传”，1998年那一版本拍摄的比较好，道具也更具年代感。
"You are looking at the right place" Lmao 🤣
I was looking at the right place
He did it several times & I caught it several times. Guilty as charged 😂😂
He should rename his channel accented culture
I was really confused by that. I was looking at the center of the screen and then noticed that there was text further down.
The seamless transition from Wu Ze Tian to Squarespace deserves a like all on its own! lol
Finally, he got to my favorite dynasty, the Tang. The tie-in to the Squarespace ad with Wu Zetian was genius too.
technically Wu Zetian wasn't Tang emperor. When she ascended the throne and claimed the mandate of haven, she establish a new dynasty called the (second) Zhou dynasty that lasted thought out her rein till the restoration of the the Tang.
the 武周?
@@埊 Yep.
武周是个闹剧，一般历史是不把这个当回事的，还是默认武则天是大唐女皇
@@陈宫-k4m ok
@@陈宫-k4m 那王莽新朝同样是个闹剧
Babe, wake up
Accented cinema finally released part 3!!!
damn, that commercial bit is indeed awesome
Best series about China! It’s great seeing the hints and flairs of different dynasties.
The segway into the Squarespace ad was hilarious! The mongol reference using Crash Course was as well!
Great video for sure though! Really enjoying this series of videos.
Was kinda expecting Justice Bao in the mix for Song. To me if you want how the common folk thinks of Northern Song politics/civil justice, Justice Bao is image of that. Good video however!
yep, i am slightly disappointed that Bao Zheng wasn't mentioned in the Song dynasty period too
dude was the epitome of justice in the otherwise corrupted Song government
Song wasn’t even weak. They were defensively very effective.
Sure, they could defend the river, but they also lost tons of territory and could never get very far north.
@@weirdofromhalo it's really the fault from Tang's collapse; Song which is the continuation of the five dynasties never recovered the the most strategically regions of Northern China that was lost to foreign power during that period; such as the Yin and Yan Mountain ranges which served as natural barriers betweern China proper and the steppes, or the northwestern regions near the bend of the yellow river which was cruical for raising large number of horses, the lack of which made the Song armies slow in comparsion to it's enemies, which made Song armies more defense oriented, so even when they won the battle they really cann't chase down fleeing enemies; also the raise of Western Xia made Song split military forces between the Western Xia and Liao, never had the decisive advantage because the two front war are really hard to win; eventually Song became stagnated and decadent just like all the other, and it all went downhill from there...
@@polarhunter Thank you for saying this! Peopel don't give northern song enough credit for their military prowess. Imagine winning in medieval battles without cavalry. They fought Liao to a standstill for 50 years. Southern Song with Yue Fei was poised to defeat the Jin before the truce. AND they held on against the Mongol onslaught far longer than any other opponent. That is not weak.
They being able to hold off the Mongols for so long is already impressive
@@michaelcao5883 Yeah, I think Song was offered a truce which Yue Fei saw as a scheme to give the Jin time to recover their strength, and to lull the Song into a false sense of security, which was how bad Yue Fei had trounced them. The Song government were also on guard against Yue Fei's growing authority which came from his victories against the Jin. The Jin then took advantage of this to slander Yue Fei, saying that he was a threat to peace between both nations which the Song used as an excuse to remove Yue Fei's authority and kill him. Thus, the Jin managed to kill 3 birds with one stone with their truce: buy time to recover their strength, weaken Song, and get rid of Song's capable general (Yue Fei).
I love this series. Even though the attention is focused on how these different dynasties are portrayed in Chinese media, it actually serves as a really engaging introduction to them for people that aren't familiar with the history.
YAY THE NEXT INSTALLMENT I have been LOVING this series of yours!
The Song Dynasty is grossly underestimated. In fact, the Song Dynasty had great industrial and commercial development, many scientific and technological inventions, prosperous folk life, and equality between men and women.
Tang as the 2nd golden age is also why Southern Chinese refer to themselves as Tang ren (Tang people) rather than Han ren (Han people). It's also why Chinatowns in foreign cities which are mostly settled by Southern Chinese are typically named Tang ren jie (Tang people street) in Chinese.
It's really a southern Chinese thing really. Northern Chinese people don't really use Tang people as much as Southern Chinese like Cantonese and Fujianese people do. Much of it was due to a lot of the culture and language being driven south to the southern provinces after the fall of the Tang dynasty. Thus much of Tang poetry actually rhymed when you recite it in Cantonese for example versus Mandarin.
Well most of the first overseas Chinese populations were Cantonese and Fujianese. The later northern Chinese immigrants don't necessarily see it that way.
Ironic as the Tang Dynasty had its roots in the North.
From my experience we use Hua Ren 华人 more. Also aren't Tang Dynasty capital either Chang'an or Luo Yang which are both in North-Central China.
@@Gutraidh Isn't that more a Cantonese thing?
I love this series, cause you can always count on people to expand on the points you made in the video and learn more! 👍👍👍😎
Thanks to these videos, I have started watching c-dramas online. I'd love to see a video on the Shaw Bros. Movies. I remember picking up 5-packs of the those at Walmart as a kid
The story of Yang Guifei is so powerful that the Japanese actually made a film in 1955 (Yōkihi) based on the legend which was directed by the legendary Kenji Mizoguchi. It is not counted as one of Mizoguchi's best efforts! Which you mention in the outro!
If you read Heian era literary classics like the Genji Monogatari, the imperial court of the time was obsessed with "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Bai Juyi ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_Hen_Ge_(poem) ) and the courtiers were dropping references to the poem left and right. The Genji Monogatari even begins explicitly comparing the romance between lady Kiritsubo and Genji's father to Yang Guifei and emperor Xuanzong.
Watch lady of the dynasty movie
I see that Crash Course reference, Yang, and I salute you
I'm thoroughly enjoying these overviews of Ancient China. Really helpful for Westerners who barely learn any of this, even though they may watch some movies or read some media. Can't wait for Part 4!
The Mongoltage! Was not expecting that (appropriately) and it filled me with delight. :) And, really, this whole series has been a delight, thank you for putting it together!
Just wanna say that I thoroughly enjoyed this series. As an overseas Chinese (not from China), I have always been fascinated by the culture of China but there was no resources that break the different dynasties and their cultural differences down in such an easy-to-digest format. This is hard work and I truly appreciate it! 🧡
I would love to also see a series of videos about themes and visuals of Modern China
Like using stained glassed windows your interweaving of cinematic vignettes is sooo engaging and even educational. Loving this YT series so much. Thank you.
This isn't a bad video or series by any means, and I get it's filtered through a popular culture lens, but the narrator presents it as fact so:
The Song wasn't some effeminate flowery dynasty who cared too much about culture and poetry and so neglected its military affairs. If the Song was so weak, it wouldn't have resisted the (Jurchen) Jin Dynasty for another century after the disastrous loss of the North after 1127, and it certainly wouldn't have resisted the full force of the Mongols for nearly six decades - longer than the Jin and longer than just about anyone else the Mongols conquered.
The inability of the Song to decisively defeat the Liao, Xi Xia, and Jin speak less to the Song's weakness and more to the Liao, Xi Xia, and Jin's strength. The Tang on the other hand faced two divided and weakened Turkic Khaganates
I think this was mentioned, if slightly in passing, in the video. I forget the exact phrasing but something like, an actually weak dynasty wouldn't be stable enough for the arts to flourish, was brought up.
The Han was militaristic, the Tang was cosmopolitan, the Ming was despotic. The Song was too Confucian and civic.
@@randomnobody660 He called it "strong in civil affairs. Without stability, without offering people security, there would never be such a flourishing arts scene," with the implication that the dynasty was good at governing internally but not defending itself externally. The idea that stability -> flourishing arts scene isn't wrong, but the expanded cultural scene in the Song compared to the Tang really had two intertwined causes:
The expansion of the economy (remember the economy grew so much in the Song that they had to start issuing paper money), which meant that more people could buy food and go into trade, which meant more people (still a minority, but a larger minority) got wealthy enough that they could start getting into these cultural pursuits, or more likely hire tutors and teachers to train their children in things like poetry, art, and music. And one of the reasons they did so was:
The destruction of the hereditary aristocratic class in the Huang Chao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which had previously held much of the wealth and most of the political power in China.
With the existing elites mostly gone, a new, larger elite that built more of their wealth on trade emerged, and the Song government had no choice but to hire people from this class, which meant holding more civil service exams, which meant more people were educating their children so they could sit for and pass the civil service exams
This wasn't happening in the Tang because again people needed wealth, which was largely in the hands of the aristocracy. And since aristocrats were in the government already, and could pull strings to make sure their relatives and connections passed. At 2:49 when he talks about Wu Zetian reforming the exams to be more fair he has text onscreen talking about how she was the only emperor who had candidates' names sealed to ensure impartiality, which should give you a sense of how prevalent this practice was. There was also the "Shadow Privilege," where officials straight-up recommended their relatives or friends for office directly
Also the population grew (Wikipedia says "almost doubled") from Tang to Song, so that probably also had something to do with it
@@nguyenvietanh2152 That's way too oversimplified. You can say the Han was militaristic, but then so was the Tang, who subjugated the Turkic Khaganates, conquered the Tarim Basin, and fought the Umayyads until an internal rebellion forced them to stop. You can say the Tang was cosmopolitan, but so was the Song, with just as many travelers coming to Song cities to trade. Arguably even more so, since they weren't restricted to just Chang'an and its market wards anymore. You can say the Ming was despotic, but how were the Tang, Song, and especially the Han not? The Han literally made Confucianism political orthodoxy, and in the Eastern Han great families started championing it as intellectual justification for their large estates and houses. The Ming also had an extensive civic bureaucracy and experienced an equally intense flourishing of culture, with the proliferation of print novels such as Journey to the West or Jinpingmei, or the flowering of kun opera for example. Each dynasty existed in and adapted to its own unique historical context and simplifying them to basically personality traits is unhelpful
1:14 Accented Cinema got no chill! 😂
Holy Crap, Accented Cinema quoted the Mongols (enter invasion montage) from John Greene's Crash Course.
"Emperor being dumbass"
Yes the extremely hard-working emperor just had too large of an ego that swallowed itself
Pretty similar to the also quite large ego of Li Longji, whose incompetence was treated more like better than he was.
This is actually my favorite period in Chinese history.
appreciate you for always putting in effort for the ad sections
Since you are doing the progression of Chinese history in media, I would suggest you about this topic of a unique genre in Japanese media (mainly NHK), the “taiga drama” or the annual historical drama that has been going on since 1960s.
I LOVE this series! It makes it so much easier to remember the dynasties! Can't wait for the rest~
兄弟你的视频期期精彩，点赞。讲完朝代以后才好细讲属于每个时代的热门题材，感觉可以弄好多期主题了。也期待你讲的其他主题!
All movies mentioned (might have missed one)
The man with the curly beard
Heroes in sui and tang dynasties (tv 2013
Chang an (2023
The longest day in chang an (tv 2019)
Detective dee and the mystery of the phantom flame (2010
Secret history of empress Wu (2011
The empress of China (tv 2014
Empress Wu (1963)
Legend of the demon cat (2017
The monkey king 2 (2016
Journey to the west
Yang guifei
The magnificent concubine (1962
Lady of the dynasty (2015
The untold tale of the three kingdoms
An lushan rebellion
House of the flying daggers
The banquet (2006
Curse of the golden flower (2006
Full river red (2023
Eight diagram pole fighter (1984
Water margin (1972) and novel
General of the yang family
Legendary Amazons (2011
General yue fei
The patriot yue fei(tv 2013)
The lion roars (2002
Palace of devotion (tv 2021
The dragon chronicles-the maidens (1994)
this is a wonderful series. earned my sub
This series is so great
Yay, we finally got to The Water Margin! For a split second mention, but 'yay' anyway!
I absolutely love Chinese Action films so this is great! I didn't start watching the straight historical films until well into adulthood. This video series is wonderfully helpful for watching those! Thank you!
I would absolutely love if you made more of these and brought it up all the way into the current day, personally. I know you wanted to do ancient/pre-modern mostly, but this series of videos is just so captivating! Lots of flashbacks to my Chinese history course back in school, but now with perfect film visuals!
This series is amazing.
Another EXCELLENT video! (By the way, I've never seen ads so well-placed in another creator's video. They should hire you to make their commercials -- you made the ad relevant, persuasive, funny, and intelligent.) I'm really enjoying this series, and look forward to the next video!
Im constantly amazed at how Japanese recreates Chinese history through its lense. From movies like Yang Kwai Fei, Anime movies like Kingdom, and even games like Dynasty Warriors. They truly admired Ancient China. I actually read somewhere that Scholars from Japan thought that Chinese civilization died after the Song and Japan was the true successor to the Middle Kingdom after it fell to the Mongols. Much like how many empires wanted to be the second Rome.
That segue was smooth. I was really thinking about how Wu Zetian would use Squarespace
10:37 You forgot the famous blackfaced Justice Bao from the Song dynasty. My elderly mom binge-watched all his shows on TH-cam.
I've noticed that the Japanese "yes" or "hai" is borrowed from the Song dynasty?
Korean and Japanese also use "fast" as "Fiaa!" (Cantonese version)
This is a great series!
Just throwing it out there that Ruyi's Royal Love is amazing and I can't shut-up about it and highly recommend to everyone! :D omg its so good!!! literally the only CDrama I've seen but i lucked-out on quality and now I'm obsessed.
That one is on my list, after I finish "For The Holy Gui Gu Zi", which I think you would like
I remember that one because it came out the same year as "Story of Yanxi Palace", which has an alternate telling of the events in Ruyi.
You should watch the prequel - Empresses in the Palace (aka Legend of Zhen Huan). It's so much better than Ruyi
That was Qing Dynasty though
@@MagicalKid Yes, I know. So what? Its still a good movie/show worth mentioning so I did.
Magnificent series, fascinating stuff.
Thank you for sharing, absolutely fascinating
Learning about my ex-home country 🇨🇳 is quite insightful
you have a super interesting narration style, & thank you for subtitles!!
I just watch part 1 and 2 before sleep and when i wakaup part 3 just release. Thank for the content.
Such a rich history, I know this barely scraps the surface of history l, but is a great overview through cinema
So history-nerd me obviously is fascinated with this era as it covers the golden & silver age of Imperial China (or China as a whole for certain nationalist). I’ve always been particularly curious of the Great Jin Dynasty that ruled concurrently with the Song as it turned-out to be the preview of the Qing Empire.
On the movie side, here is some trivia: the 1955 film Princess Yang Kwei-Fei is the only collaboration between the Shaw Brothers and one of the golden-age Japanese film directors (this one being Kenji Misoguchi).
Not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to the video on the Ming Dynasty as one of my favorite film-makers, King Hu, mainly made his films from this time period.
Your work has been entertaining educational and epic, please keep producing!
Love these series! I cannot wait for the next one!! 加油
Good video, but I would have loved it you mentioned Jin Yong's stories of the Song Dynasty as well. To me these stories captured the fatalism of the period.
Mad respect for the Crash Course reference
FINALLY the Tang Dynasty episode!!! 🤭🍾 Tang Dynasty Lovers are UP!
Wuxia's golden age is also Song Dynasty
Yes! The other traditional Song dynasty stories are interesting but I think a lot of people these days were introduced to Song dynasty through the different Jin Yong novels and adaptations of them.
你错了，真实武侠是游侠，隋唐两朝这种人最多，宋朝的都算山匪
Yeah, in chaos era is very interesting to make hero story because so many enemy & villain u can make the story right 😅😅
I love Jin Yong novel from demi god, semi devil to Condor heroes trilogy (the last trilogy in yuan dynasty).
But the story so cool, many people think is real history, not a fiction novel
Thank you for your insight and educating video on this topic. I would love if we can go deeper and talk more about great classic and modern movie or literature depicting those era, which is accessible to most people all over the world
Amazing stuff. Really puts into perspective how cyclical the world is
thank you so much for your work ❤
7:13 Whats funny is I was looking at the "the right place" cos I was wondering whether the pushed up bust was a historically-accurate depiction of the silhouette or just a matter of modern movie sensibility
So it was interesting to hear that it was in fact a pop culture interpretation of an old account haha
Love your videos, learn a lot from these.
Loving this series
when you'll be done with this serie, a recapitulation video would be very great to see side by side each esthetic.
Wait a moment…this channel is greater than a cinema studies channel. It’s cultural and historical education….offering glimpses into history and culture through a camera lens 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🤣😂❤️
This is really interesting. I've been watching Chineses period dramas for a few years now and was always interested to know why there was news about wrong costuming and dynasties.
Fun fact: in Battletech, the Chinese inspired Noble House is also called Liao
Loving this series!
"You are looking at the right place" Bro caught me in 1080p
While the flamboyant, over-the-top imagery of the Tang era makes it my personal favorite (along with the horses, I do love those horses!) the Song dynasty's style has such a delicate, somber beauty almost in spite of the impending Mongolian apocalypse thundering towards them. It makes me feel something, what I cannot quite say but. I like it.
Oh yeah! More learning! I love your vids!
Love this series !
Can't wait for Yuan, Ming and Qing!
these guys might be no longer Ancient China anymore, but more like Medieval China
@@tranquoccuong890-its-orgeit's equivalent of Renaissance and industrial Europe
This video talk about medieval china
@@tranquoccuong890-its-orge medical China is still interesting. Ming attire renaissance is interesting to look into, and Qing era attire is iconic
@@tranquoccuong890-its-orge Medieval China is Tang. Ming and Qing is more renaissance.
I wanted to make some comparison to Islamic history
The dates may not be parallel especially in the first half because the focus is more on themes:
Xia/Shang - The times of the Prophets.
Zhou - Dark chaotic age between the previous prophets and the rise of Islam.
Qin/Han - The rise of Islam and the start of the Caliphate with Rashiduns & Umayyads.
Tang - Abbasid Caliphate.
Song - Ayyubids against Crusades.
Yuan - Mamluks against Crusades & Mongols.
Ming - Ottoman Caliphate.
Qing - Decline of the Ottomans and colonization.
Chinese republic - Modern time
Huh, I didn't know Yang Gui Fei was misunderstood as being chubby. I've only heard of comparisons of her beauty. Like this part from 《穷开心》 她是谁家那小谁 身材赛过杨贵妃
Amazing video!
"If only she had SquareSpace," made me laugh so hard my flatmate ran into my room to see if I was okay 🤣
The Song dynasty was way beyond the Tang in terms of cultural, economic, and political importance, without even talking about agriculture. They invented modern rice. Multiple times of year harvest, and great yield per stock. That was the biggest population boom outside of modern time.
Oh it's Wu Zetian! I have a book where she fights with mechas.
Hi, Accented Cinema! Been a long time fan of your channel and your videos have always been a great watch during my lunchtime.
If I may make a video topic suggestion, the new movie "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" has been gaining a lot of traction lately, specifically in the Indonesian audience. The movie plot and the acting are all also really great, in my opinion.
Even not for a video, hopefully you can give some time to watch the movie ^^
武则天…只是一个平庸的皇帝，在她治内，唐失去了大片土地。
她之前是贞观之治，她之后是开元盛世。
毫不夸张的说，盛世被她拦腰截断。
但是她远远算不上昏君，只是平庸的皇帝而已
I've become familiar with the Song dynasty thru the Judge Bao series.
Please do a video on Journey to the West! You make so good content :)
Yay new video
I'm surprised that only the Liao and Song were mentioned during the Song period, because there were also the Tangut Western Xia and the Jurchen Jin dynasty replacing the Liao, these 4 coexisted as checks and balances on each other across what is today modern China, collectively named as 宋遼夏金 (Song•Liao•Xia•Jin dynasties)