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Get a live narrator!! This artificial voice is unpleasant.

Not a fan of colorized photos, but interesting none the less. What an amazing task Albert set for himself - 70,000 photos from around the world!

Y those were fascinating photos

Thing is the women are not ugly! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so no one is ever truly ugly

Qinglian dramas subtitled in English. THE STORY OF YANXI PALACE and RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE.

The emperor got first pick. The rest he would use to make matches between families. Or he would discreetly prevent certain matches to prevent families from uniting, becoming too powerful. The lower ranking ones with not much political clout were actually luckier as they were free to marry whoever they fancied or childhood sweethearts

What nonsense? Even 100 years ago, aesthetic standards differ from today's standards like heaven and earth. The thinness of the Han Dynasty is incomparable to the anorexic beauty of the 20th century. Not a single beauty out of 21 in ancient times would have been considered beautiful. Thinness was generally considered a sign of poverty. Everywhere. In all countries of the ancient world and the Middle Ages. It's strange to hear about the poor quality of the photographer. Why are there millions of beautiful black and white photos taken in all corners of the planet and only the concubines were poorly photographed? Oh well. The truth is that the greatness of the Qin Dynasty and China in general is too exaggerated) China in the 18th-19th centuries looked like a wretched, crumbling barn. Affected by corruption and nepotism. Chinese medicine is 99% pure quackery. And girls were tortured with it from childhood, which killed more women than nature. Stop believing myths)

the emperors and princes were really ugly too ... that pure manchu bloodline didn't amount to much 😂

Qing Dynasty was Manchu Dynasty, and Han Chinese were subjugated people.

Later Qing is poor and decadent, all wealth has been plundered by colonial empires during the century of humiliations of China

Very funny.

Han people are not and were not more, beautiful than other Chinese ethnicity. This is a racist myth spread by Ham majority.

Something that should also be considered is the fact that these photos degrade the appearance of people. People today who take photos with the same technology look much older and less “pretty” than a modern sharp color photograph would convey.

Imagine Wallace Huo as Emperor Qianlong in Ruyi doing that routines for real.

That’s why it didn’t get much support by the whole nation. Tribal style of governance over such large territory. Very selfish. Well

"....belongings, CARS, soldiers, horses, eunuchs, and maids made of paper". China had cars in 1908?

Ugly, is in the eye of the beholder ❤

it's always the old farts casting evil to everyone

Beauties? 😅🤣😂 I've seen old pics of chinese processes & they were all UGLY!!!

Even today beauty standards vary in cultures... this is just an idiotic assumption.

I’ve heard of this type of selection before. This is also something matchmakers and other cultures have sort out for wives to join families. A woman of average and of nonoffensive appearance was preferred over great beauties. Mothers choosing this for their children for the same reasons.

Han culture is highly prasied by the Qing Emporers who wrote Han language in national matters and enjoyed the arts, drawings and calligraphy of Han people. Manchurian horsemanship is nearly lost in the end of the Dynasty.

Dont forget that manchus used mongol tribes extensively and they helped manchus conquer china

Why is this never taught about deadliest 1 day battle ever

It's also worth noting that when these pictures were taken, these women were already old. It's only age that seperates a beauty from an old crone.

End of the Machus…back to the Hans.

Makes sense why the Chinese were always at war. I would be unhappy too lol.

Why ? The rich business groups and powerful official betrayed the country and people. They still live in luxury and maintaining their post who's the king doesn't matter , they even can sell their soul and ancestors including oppressing poor countrymen. Today's history will repeat once the rich and corporate company control the government and bribery for the power toward their benefits.

I find it difficult to believe that the emperor would not have access to a charcoal brazier for heat.

Great video. I learned something today .

4:40 they look alright to me, surely not supermodel level but alright..

Omg I’m Chinese and looking at the many real photos of the harem I see beauty had a low standard back then. Guess beauty is really in the eyes of the beholder 😂💦

most came from peasant level expose to hard labour, the Qing is technically foreign in the south. Easier to control peasant too.

Not all beautiful, but not ugly. Based on what did you make the conclusion? No photos in earlier years!

The Chinese are angry in the comments, but they don't understand that this is a very common phenomenon in history. France was founded by Franks Spain and Portugal by Vandals, Suevi and Goths. Russia by the Rus Bulgaria by the Bulgars etc. One small warrior culture, conquers many non-warrior, farmer cultures.

This is really bad history. Presumably the Emperor’s chambers had a heating system.

That isn’t true. Punyi’s wife and secondary wife were very pretty. You are incorrect.

Didn't the Qing population explode to almost 450 million? Overpopulation was part of the reason there was so much civil unrest and rebellions during the latter Qing years.

for a moment i thought they're all men doing some cosplay shyt

This Empress caused the downfall of the Chinese Empire. She stole the treasury budget from Navy Expenses to protect against the Japanese Navy, to build her Summer Palace destroyed by the French and British. The Chinese Navy short of budget to produce weapon to defense herself lost the Naval Battle to the Japanese. As a result China ceased Taiwan to the Japanese.

Work smarter, not harder. He sounds like a micromanager and has serious trust issues. Delegation would have made his life much more enjoyable. And did he really stand in the cold to get dressed? You are telling me an emperor did not have the money or people to preheat a room for his morning ritual?

Its ok, the Manchu assimilated themselves into Han so they basically became Han...=.=ll

This is a typical misinformation of the Chinese history by the westerners. First Manchu was assisted by the Han general who were given the job to guard the border to contain the Manchus. He betrayed his country by "open" the border to let the Manchus in. He and 3 other generals were known as the four warlords of the early Qing dynasty. They all got own land for helping the Manchus and later slaughtered by the Manchus. Secondly the Manchus once took over China dropped their own language and system and switched to the Han language and culture. Today Manchu language is no longer maintained, almost unused and modern Manchus speak only Mandarin like Han. Thirdly Han isn't a specific ethnicity in China. It is just for referring to people who use Han language as their mother tongue.

Let's not kid ourselves. The clans were closed societies and the gene pools were shallow and the bloodlines thin. Every recessive feature one could think of was brought out from being ugly to outright deformed, not to mention mental health and intelligence. The only ones who had to intermarry were the Emperors. Otherwise the pickings were slim.

The movies show beautiful women…aka actresses. The real concubines are another sight to behold.

amazed to see these royals were so huge & manly faced definitely opposite from dramas

We also failed to mention that the most well known qing emperor, kangxi, was half han and manchu

Forgot to talk about how many of the bannermen were Han. The Han who joined the banners during the jin dynasty were immediately identified as manchu unlike their later han counterparts.

The Qing Dynasty rulers are so similar to the Chinese communists. They controlled the thoughts of the Chinese people and had superior military power over the people.

Now in 21st century manchus population getting endangered towards extinction by abandon their own name, custom and language. Preservation had been enacted to ensure it would not one day disappear from the face of the earth