Xi'an (Chang'an) Part 1 - Geography and Early History
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2024
- Xi'an (Chang'an) was the capital of many of the greatest dynasties in Chinese history. In this part one of a two-part video, we explore its early history and geography as the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the state of Qin.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:18 General Geography & Early History
4:40 The Road Between East and West
6:40 Western Zhou Rule
9:15 The Early History of Qin
13:13 The Rise of Qin & the Geography of Guanzhong
17:44 Qin vs. the Eastern States
22:10 The Qin Dynasty
23:32 The Founding of the Han Dynasty
References:
Shaanxi Province local annals (provincial government website with detailed descriptions of the terrain, archaeological sites, and ancient roads):
dfz.shaanxi.gov.cn/sqzlk/dqcs/
Discussions regarding the meeting of the Jing and Wei Rivers (涇渭分明)
- dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/idiomV...
- m.cgzdl.com/kepu/ziran/14142.html
Liu, K et al. Large-Scale Detection of the Tableland Areas and Erosion-Vulnerable Hotspots on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Remote Sens. 2022, 14(8), 1946.
饶胜文. (2002). 布局天下-中国古代军事地理大势. 解放军出版社
谭其骧主编. (1982). 中国历史地图集. 中国地图出版社
Attributions:
Maps were created using maps-for-free.com/ by ©OpenStreetMap www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons
#chinesehistory #china #geography #ancienthistory #history #chengyu
Recently found your channel, subscribed immediatly. It's such a hidden gem!
Thanks, appreciate the support!
Same, just subscribed with the quickness yesterday!
@@gatesofkilikien
New subscriber here.👍
God it's so nice to just get well researched, knowledgeable, and concise history about China without unecessary and uncomfortable "jokes" and/or political statements that boil down to naked orientalism. Keep up the amazing work.
While I generally agree with your statement, the term "naked orientalism" engenders some strange visions of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres paintings or Sir Richard Burton in the nude. This is probably a bad joke, I suppose...
Thanks, appreciate the support!
I'm a big fan of Chinese history and have learned the history mostly in texts. Your channel has just brought my understanding to a deeper level by adding knowledge of maps, especially the terrain ones. This, elaborated through your videos, has illustrated reasons behind many decisions and strategies in the history.
History of China is inextricably linked to its geography and landscape terrains. Thank you so much for sharing the invaluable knowledge in such a comprehensible way.
I'm now a big fan of your channel and looking forward to next great videos!
Thanks, I'm glad to hear you've found it helpful. I think with Chinese history especially there's been a long tradition of studying the geography and terrain, but it also means that so much of the narrative is linked to this knowledge, and especially for political history there's a basic assumption that the readers already know these things.
It also doesn't help that so much information is lost with romanization. Chinese is a very descriptive language, and a lot of times when reading in Chinese the readers can make very good guesses on the geography simply by the etymology of the place names.
The non Chinese materials you find are often inaccurate, which can make learning history more difficult. I know some Chinese channels, but they are not friendly to non Chinese users (involving a lot of Chinese professional vocabulary). As a history enthusiast, I feel regretful about this situation.
I am so glad that I found this channel. I would have wanted to do this kind of research myself, but I run into issues with translation and the fact that the names of geographic features were called different things in different times.
Same. I’m so grateful to the algorithm 😂
Even native Chinese people have issues with names: sometimes people believe "A is the ancient name of B", but in fact the center of A is far away from the center of modern B.
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful. Chinese historical geography names can be a ridiculously complicated subject, especially since it seems like educated people both past and present like to outsmart each other by naming ever more obscure ancient names for a place. It also doesn't help that romanization gets rid of the characters, which contain a ton of context in themselves.
Superb stuff, really puts Chinese geography and its effect on history into perspective. Im looking forward to the next part!
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm working on part 2 right now and have gotten lots of helpful feedback in this comment section, so am working on updating some of the earlier draft for it too.
It's awesome you always mention old geographical information that shades more light on the situation
Thanks, yeah history and geography, both for Chinese history and the rest of the world, are such intertwined subjects that we'd be missing out on a lot of context without the historical perspectives.
Great presentation. I read a lot of history, but an opaque part is the complex geography of China. The Maps and narration are superb.
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful. To be fair there's virtually no sources I can find in English that talk about a lot of these concepts, and my initial motivation for starting the channel was just to explain some of this geography.
Your detailed description of historical geography gives so much context to the historical events themselves. Often I find myself more fascinated with the geography than the narrative.
I've always known the Qin were powerful because of this vague idea of their territories being naturally fortified, but no one really described the passes and mountains and rivers like you have.
Thanks for the kind words, and glad you've found the video helpful! Some of this geography can be quite complicated to explain, and I feel like the video format on RUclips, especially with topographical maps, works very well to illustrate these concepts.
I wish I had access to this video when I watched the Qin Empire series, as I was never quite able to fill in on all the geography of the area and its political context. Thank you for making this.
Glad you've found it helpful! I've watched a few episodes of the Qin Empire series, and IIRC they have a map in the series, albeit in Chinese and very simplified.
I can't stop learning about the ancient history of China and thanks to you it's so much easier and comprehensive!
Thanks, very happy to hear that!
I recently found your channel and it’s the best Chinese history content I have found on RUclips. I love how you describe the origins of idioms and allusions in the chinese language. Please keep making these great videos!
Wow, thank you, glad you enjoyed it! This channel has been a big passion project for me and it's very meaningful for me to be able to share these concepts that I'm very interested in with a broader audience, so I look forward to doing a lot more in the future.
Amazing video, thank you. Guanzhong, Shanxi etc. were terms I'd read before in histories of this period but I hadn't really understood what that meant in practical terms for the polities inhabiting them until now.
Thanks! And yes Chinese texts, especially ancient ones, tend to throw these words around assuming the readers already know about them on a map.
I never knew I was interested in ancient Chinese history until I found your channel, but now I am hooked! :D
Thanks, glad you've found the info helpful!
Hat off! One of the greatest pieces of geographical history of China!
Thanks, glad you've liked it!
these keep getting better and better!! thank you for your hard work. just moved to China for school as a 2nd generation Chinese American and have been obsessed with these
Appreciate the kind words, and enjoy your time in China too!
The Qin people to the Central Plains Chinese powers were similar to how the Macedonians were to the Greeks--a fringe, almost barbarian entity that eventually managed to surpass everyone.
This is a really neat analogy - never thought of it like this before, will have to use it in the future sometime!
Of course China has Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces right next to each other 😂 I love this channel. Geography and history go hand in hand
Haha to be fair plenty of Chinese people get them confused too.
Found your channel very recently and really loved it. I was bummed out when I notice that you only upload about only once a month so I'm going to be eating good tonight.
Your focus on geography really answered a lot of questions I had when I watched other chinese history videos on RUclips.
Welcome aboard, and thanks for the support! My goal is to post more than once/month too, just lately things have been busier than usual and I'm working to improve my maps and production workflow, so things are backed up more than I'd like.
This channel is a hidden gem.... await your video on the unification of China of the Sui Dynasty.
Thanks. I'm looking forward to talking about that period too, just have to get through the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the meantime.
Amazing. Please keep doing what you are doing. I am an American that loves learning about Chinese history, and our English-language historical sources are severely lacking. If you type Qin into youtube search you get a thousand videos about Qin Shi Huang. This is apparently the limit of interest and curiosity of most English-language history channels. What about the thousand years of Qin history prior to Qin Shi Huang? What about all the kings and dukes and counts who ruled these lands prior to unification? What of Duke Mu? Duke Xaio? King Zhaoxiang? They are silent on the matter. Your channel goes into the minutiae of important geography and historical events spanning the ages. Please continue to produce this content. You have a viewer in me.
Thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed this video. Yes I eventually want to do a chronological series on ancient Chinese history (to the fall of the Han Dynasty) and would want to cover these rulers in detail. For now though I'll try to go around the main cities in China doing geography/history videos on them to explain their significance, and may also be helpful for people who are traveling to those places.
The non Chinese materials you find are often inaccurate, which can make learning history more difficult. I know some Chinese channels, but they are not friendly to non Chinese users (involving a lot of Chinese professional vocabulary). As a history enthusiast, I feel regretful about this situation.
Most gate passes found in this fortified domains are now identified, but there are more along the Hexi and Henan that are needed to be told!
Oh yeah there's quite a few more, I'll be talking about them starting in the Chang'an Part 2 video and then in other videos too.
Love your focus on geographic features. Always has me looking things up after I watch.
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful!
This channel is gold. Is so difficult to find this kind of explanations including geography, meaming of words etc. Thank you for your work and keep it up please!
Thanks, will do!
Thanks for making these videos! The geographical perspective of ancient history you offer is immensely useful, and I wish more content was taught with this approach. Spatial relationship is such a strong aspect of the human mind, and information is so much easier to process, remember, and connect when presented like this.
Glad you like them! I feel like with geography, it definitely helps to have topographical maps and a video format to show things.
I love this channel, thank you for the these well informative videos. As a history lover, i really find great joy in learning about other cultures and histories especially eastern cultures. From Carthage with love.
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful! You must be Tunisian then? I'm looking forward to making videos on the Mediterranean too, and Roman Africa is definitely on the list.
Yes indeed, i'll be waiting with much anticipation for your next videos.@@gatesofkilikien
Wow, this is such a good video! I've been reading up on Chinese history, but nowhere have I found accounts of ancient geography and strategy as detailed as this. There are many channels on Roman or modern history, but not enough about Chinese history even though it's such an amazingly interesting topic. Keep up the good work!
fyi, I personally would like and consume any multi-hour-long lecture/essay videos you produced.
As a westerner, I've long known that Chinese history was a gap in my knowledge base, and that gap remained for many years. I wanted to learn more, but I always had to remain concerned about any biases of the researcher/teacher, that are often inherent to the study of history.
I've been watching you for awhile, trying to determine if you're a propaganda outlet or not, and I've slowly concluded that you are not. You actually try to make academically neutral content.
The reason I tell you all this is because I hope you understand how important your work is. We do not have many people that are doing what you are doing.
So, if any given topic is genuinely worthy of a very long exploration and discussion, I would encourage you to simply make it that way. Even if it doesn't achieve the same success as other videos you produce, the information, with all the little details, will at least be accessibly out there, for interested people to watch.
Thanks for your support, and yes this lack of information on Chinese history and geography was what motivated me to start the channel. I feel like the Chinese history stuff available in English tend to focus on vague descriptions of culture or be very in-depth explorations of certain socioeconomic themes, all of which are definitely important, and are areas even Chinese historians often feel don't get emphasized enough in traditional Chinese historiography. But at the same time, I grew up reading Chinese history in Chinese, and so much of it is centered on learning key events, culturally significant stories, and geography. I feel like Chinese history is some of the most story-driven history around the world, and so much of it is quite exciting and dramatic, but also not well-accessible in non-Chinese circles given the language barrier and the large amounts of background information needed, so I hope I can help demystify some of that.
@@gatesofkilikien Now that you mention it, your heavy focus on interweaving the cultural and linguistic elements was the main thing that convinced me you were delivering a non-Western-biased account.
I don't actually have a sound way to determine that myself, I can't check your work because I don't read Mandarin. I have no choice but to trust you to a certain degree, really, as far as I can determine.
Incidentally, I determined you weren't delivering a Chinese-biased account simply because your account is not flattering enough. That was actually pretty easy to figure out.
And don't get me wrong, I do have a lot of appreciation for things like Kings and Generals covering the Three Kingdoms period, but I know that without direct access to scholarship in Chinese, their accounts can never be fully trusted to not have some (possibly important) details incorrect. They're missing that ability to draw the whole, cohesive picture together into that gigantic, socio-historical milieu that is China.
btw, looking forward to your Warring States Period coverage. For years now my brain has been getting Chinese Warring States Period (which I know nothing about but periodically hear) and Japanese Warring States Period (which I know a little bit about) crossed.
I never knew that I'd be super interested in Chinese history, geography, and language until I found your channel
Welcome aboard, hope you find the info here helpful!
I love how clear your explanations are, really helping me understand Chinese history
Amazing video! Everything was easy to follow and context was provided. I really like your geography focused videos and can't wait for the next part!
Awesome, thank you! Looking forward to uploading it too once it's all done.
Amazing stuff. This channel is a diamond in the rough.
Thanks, appreciate the support!
The Hangu Pass has been used to name several passes around that Xiao mountain. The Qin's Hangu Pass is different from Han Hangu Pass and even different from Three kingdom Hangu Pass. Hangu pass, though with a different name, dated back to the Shang dynasty.
Thanks for the feedback, and yes I plan to talk about the Han Dynasty Hangu Pass in part 2. I couldn't find any information on any Hangu Pass fortifications prior to the state of Qin, and it looks like even though people have been traveling through it long before Qin conquered the region, the eastward facing fortifications started under Qin.
@@gatesofkilikien According to this video here the scholar mentioned Taolin fortress (桃林塞) dated back to the Shang: ruclips.net/video/MQPI4BO1hrk/видео.html
Love your content. Never have I ever expected to learn so much when geography and history come together.
Now I see and understand Kingdom much better.
Wow I wish that video like this existed when I was a kid. A lot of historical stuff I read make much more sense now
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful!
right? I feel Ive learned more about world history from YT creators then I did in 16 years of school!
This is incredibly well done. I learned so much. Thank you for making this channel available for educating the world about Chinese history.
This is incredible. It’s like learning about the majesty and influence Constantinople again for the first time.
Glad you've enjoyed it, and I'm glad I can help share some of that wonderment about the past which I also feel when I read history. Chang'an and Constantinople at their heights were two of the most splendid cities ever built, and I'm looking forward to writing more about the heights of Chang'an in Part 2.
Great video and I like the format you use.
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed it!
Excellent video, looking forward for more.
Thanks! I'm working on future videos right now, looking forward to uploading them when they're done.
What great content! This explains so much about early Chinese history. Thanks for doing the research and presenting the material in such an easily digested form!
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed it and found it helpful!
This Channel is amazing I love how in depth you are with history and I couldn't help but to binge all your videos.
Thrilled to have found your channel! The maps are so helpful ( I found myself googling locations while trying to watch other history channels vids) Getting ready to binge watch...
I learn more about history from you and then anything else.
Thanks, glad you've found these videos helpful!
Love your channel, deep dive history is my jam, and especially deep dives of neglected periods.
Fantastic job! Can't wait for part 2!
Amazing video, i enjoyed it greatly. I thought your narration was on point. It was very informational. Ill definetly subscribe to your channel because I want to see what the future videos will be. Wishing you the best, thank you very much for this great video! Cant wait for the next part!
Thanks, appreciate the support! I've definitely learned a lot since I started this channel 1.5 years ago, and looking forward to sharing a lot more in the future too.
@@gatesofkilikien no problem! Thank for sharing your knowledge, it's very helpful. I've gotten a better idea of China thanks to your videos.
Brilliant Work! Thank you for making and sharing this.
My pleasure!
Impressive details! Looking forward for the next episode!
Wonderful site. Love the geographical explanation. Awaiting part 2. Keep up the good work👍👍👍
Thanks, appreciate the support! I'm working on part 2 right now along with a few other videos, hoping to publish all of them soon.
Absolutely wonderful! Full of detail and excellent articulation!
Glad you liked it!
I truly appreciate your videos!
Glad you like them!
Thank you for all the content you make!
My pleasure!
Excellent! Well explained and illustrated. This really helps me to understand why Chang'an became the capital.
Thanks, glad you found it helpful!
Great stuff, love your content and i appreciate more pictures, graphs and photographs
Awesome, thank you!
we are so back
You're the first non-brazilian I have seen that pronounced Manaus correctly. Instant like (Even though I was already planning to like at the end because your channel is awesome).
Can't wait for part 2!
Thanks, looking forward to finishing it and uploading too!
I'm a simple man.
I see a notification of your channel and I click. Simple as.
Haha thanks appreciate the support :)
you have the BEST videos! i watched all of them in 2 days
Thanks, glad you like them!
Thank you very much for preparing these videos.
PLS PART 2 :D THIS IS TOP TIER CONTENT!
Glad you enjoyed it. I'm working on part 2 now, and incorporating some additional stuff based on the feedback for part 2. Looking forward to releasing it when it's done.
Another banger. Cool to watch your channel grow.
I know everyone is saying this but finding this channel has been such a wonderful accident for me! Thanks for making these videos!
Thanks, appreciate the kind words! Working on this channel has been very rewarding for me, albeit something tiring too lol, and looking forward to making a lot more in the future.
Yess!! Another upload!!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Hey please continue the series on the Warring States period you started in your second video. I was really exited for it :)
I listen to a ton of history content and this channel is quality. Keep grindin brother u will be a big channel.
Thanks, appreciate the support, and will definitely keep it up!
In Germany, we also have a small loess area, as mentioned in 3:00. It's an old extinct volcano.
Every history lesson should have a geographical component, knowing the land forms makes the political, cultural, and military changes vastly more understandable
ABSOLUTELY! Geography plays a vital role in history and culture
Amazing explanatory style and attention to detail. As a non-Chinese student of Chinese history, I really appreciate that you're a native speaker. It's so frustrating to listen to audiobooks or watch videos about China narrated by people who can't pronounce things right, because it makes it some much harder to learn the correct pronunciation.
Thanks for the kind words, and glad you've enjoyed watching the video. Yeah it helps me a lot when making the videos that I'm bilingual, so at least pronunciation hasn't been an issue.
Guanzhong is very good starting point to build empire,
Excellent work! Please do a vid on early Zhou history, especially the feudal system.
I will do so eventually - planning to do a series on ancient Chinese history in addition to the current one I'm working on for medieval Chinese history.
真好的、很有趣。希望快看第二次。学了很多
I had so much fun watching this video!
Glad you've enjoyed it! I'm starting to work on Part 2 now too and looking forward to sharing that as well.
Well presented history lesson. Thank You.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Recently found your channel. Don’t know much about Chinese history and appreciate you going into great detail. Keep doing a great job!
Thanks, appreciate the support!
This is such an amazing channel
Thanks!
BTW, love your content! Keep up the good work 👏 🙌 👍 ❤!😊
Thank you! Will do!
I've been binge watching your videos, they are so interesting. Any plans in the future to do some episodes on key geographical features/cities of non-Chinese origin? Namely I'm kinda interested in the importance of Jerusalem(especially in light of recent events), was it a key geographical location, or it's importance is mostly religious?
I just saw the movie Chang An yesterday it was so beautiful and enlightening.
This kind of information is like the foundations of chinese internal geopolitics
Yes the explanation of the geography explained how they became powerful.
Can’t wait to watch this tonight
Thanks, hope it was enjoyable!
Just found this channel, and have spent the last several days trying to marathon the vids here. Literally caught up just now, and I now want to drop my two cents.
I can't for the parts dealing with the interactions with Goguryeo, and I can't wait for the "meme emperor" Taizong to show up.
Thanks, glad to hear you've enjoyed the videos, and I'm looking forward to writing about those topics too. I should be able to introduce Gorguyeo slowly in my videos on 400s-500s AD China and then build the narrative from there.
"They remained secondary to the main road through San pass"
Boy... I can't imagine why, lol.
Great video man
Thanks!
Fascinating
Thanks!
I just found your channel. I’ll be subscribing and thank you.
Thanks, appreciate the support!
Great work
Thanks!
I feel like I´ve gained invaluable knowledge of chinese history through this channel.
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful!
Another great video
Thanks!
Thank u for this absorbing and well narrated documentary on Xi’an history.
Visited there in 2018. One of the coldest cities. Saw the summer palace and the qing army statues. Also stayed at a haunted hotel 😅.
秦Qin -221-207 BC ...+1000more years +... 清 Qing Dynasty 1616-1912 AD😅
Great channel, can you by any chance recommend any good english book on ancient chinese history?
History as it should be done...
Thanks, appreciate the support!
Great video
Thanks!
Hello this Channel is very very good by video let to days Chinese peoples n world peoples our country land scape s great of its resources of all kind n our ancients how live n developed China great n wealthy of civillized .Any how I am lack of high knowledge .But I like to know about our Country ancient history You Channel is good to let peoples know about China is great of her land resources n wealthy
Thanks, appreciate the support! Yeah there's so much depth with Chinese history, looking forward to writing more about it in the future.
amazing just what i needed today ❤❤❤
Thanks, glad you've enjoyed it!
I love your channel so much! Your highlighting of geographic features is unique on RUclips! Do you mind if i ask what programs you use for your video development? I'm looking into a simple Adobe Illustrator -> Adobe After Effects workflow.
Thanks, and glad you've enjoyed it! Right now I'm just using (very embarrassingly) PowerPoint and then Adobe PremierPro. I've been meaning to learn how to use After Effects for over a year now, but just haven't had time. And since I've so far been able to get what I need illustrated just on PoewrPoint have also not been too motivated to upgrade.
I'm going to China in a couple weeks and will be seeing the Terracotta Army. It's cool to know the background history of place before visiting to know why it is important and significant. I hope the part 2 gets uploaded soon.
Thanks, glad you've found it helpful. I visited Xi'an in 2016, including the Terracotta Army of course, and it's definitely quite impressive, although don't forget Mt. Li nearby which also has lots of famous sites. I'm working on part 2 right now along with a few other videos, it's just taking longer than expected since I'm also incorporating feedback from Part 1, but hopefully the pieces fall together for it soon.
Been waiting for you to upload. ;)
Hope you enjoyed it! Things have been busier than usual lately and I've been spending a lot of time improving my maps and production technique, so haven't been able to upload as much. Working to speed up things in the future though.