With how much history we are glossing over, additional contexts are going to be a necessity. If you have any questions, leave a comment, and we'll try to answer to the best of our ability. Clarification on Xia Dynasty: There definitely was a dynasty, if not multiple concurrent dynasties before Shang. However, we have yet to found archeological evidence of a dynasty that refers to itself as "Xia". It's neither proven nor disproven, kinda like the city of Troy before 1871.
I would say that 'neither proven nor disproven' is not helpful epistemologically though. Something is only accepted as true if it is demonstrated and until such time as it is, professionals withhold judgement and sometimes, will not even comment to avoid confusion. Something is shown to be false in a sense, when something else is shown to be the case that negates the original proposition - one doesn't really prove a negative. A faulty hypothesis merely withers. Just saying :)
Also, there's the mythical Yu Dyansty (虞) that is said to have come before the Xia. There are some archeological findings that would match up to the supposed time of the Xia, but you're right that no one called themselves that. We just don't have records from that time.
When I heard you say "the Qin Dynasty would last an epic..." I knew what's coming and immediately burst into laughter. Chinese history is so epic and complex and yet so hilarious. It just proves that reality is stranger than fiction.
And all because some dude was going to get executed for having some of his prisoners escape so he thought that if he's going to do the time, he might as well do the crime.
His trusted minister conspired with a eunuch to forge a decree commanding the crown prince to commit suicide, only for said minister to have his immediate family slain along with himself. Many reasons why could be had of why Zhao Gao single handedly ruined the Qin.
To put it in a Western perspective: Xia/Shang - Trojan Age Zhou - Ancient Greece Qin/Han - Rome Tang - Medieval Song/Yuan - Pre-Renaissance Ming - Renaissance Qing - Industrial
That's a more temporal comparison. A more societal comparison would be Xia/Shang - Mythical Greece/Norse Western Zhou - Medieval Spring & Autumn/Warring States - Classical Greece Qin-Han - Absolutism Round 1 Three Kingdom-North and South dynasties - 3rd century Rome Sui-Tang - Absolutism Round 2 Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms - Medieval Dark Age Song - Renassaince & proto-industrialization Yuan - The Mongols, the Mongols Destroy Everything! Wait the K'han is my emperor, then I must serve him with all my loyalty. Ming-Qing - Absolutism Round 3 ROC - Industrial without Enlightenment
This is indeed a quite good comparison but according to many historians some of these periods should be more detailed. Forgive me if I go into little bit of a nerdy explanation. For example the Qin and Han dynasties do not cover just Rome( both the Republic and the Empire afterwards) but also the later part of the Hellenistic kingdoms after Alexander the Great in which some of them still had a huge presence and influence in the Mediterranean. So basically Qin and Han still cover, what the general population calls Ancient Greece too. Another example is the Tang up until the Ming dynasty. For the Western mostly European categorisation of history the Middle Ages, span approximately 1000 years so from 500- 1500 AD. basically from the Sui up until the middle of the Ming dynasty, belong to the Middle Ages and this is by no means an insult since contrary to popular belief the Middle Ages even in Europe were still a huge period of scientific, philosophical, cultural and technological advancement, just like the Middle East, China or Japan.
I'm certainly no expert on Chinese history, but it frustrates the hell out of me when people refer to movies clearly taking place in the era of Manchu rule as being in "ancient China". It's like seeing a movie about the American revolution and saying it takes place in "ancient America". It's not even medieval, let alone ancient. I've even heard people describe Wong Fei Hung movies as being set in ancient China, and I'm like "My great grandfather was alive at the same time as the guy!"
I would like to add that in China, Qing is somewhat considered as "ancient", as we usually don't say medieval or renaissance, for us it's usually 'ancient', 'near modern'(between late Qing and 1919 or 1949) and 'modern'
@@PenneySoundssorry to be nitpicking, but 1500 years ago was early medieval(Viking age). Ancient is before classical, which is pre-Roman, (so yeah basically late Bronze Age). So it was at least 2500 years ago.
My history professor, Fred Wakeman, said that he was sure that the Hsia/Xia dynasty was real and not mythical and that contemporaneous written materials would one day confirm this. After all, the Shang was already highly developed, from its bronze metalwork to its architecture to its systems of governance. And Shang never claimed it was the first dynasty, referencing others that came before it. While movies with their special effects and glamour have portrayed the Shang, Xia, Zhou and others in mythical ways, to historians, these periods - their art, culture, history, technology - were anything but mythical. In a sense, movies and videos do a disservice to our memory of these periods by making them seem fantastical, when in fact Chinese art and history is already amazing, beautiful, and marvelous.
I get the feeling Wakeman is right. Erlitou Culture is usually fingered as the Xia. It is very annoying that Qin burned so many books. The Zhou, who had every motive to destroy the records of the Shang, showed mercy to their family (the Yin) and allowed them to keep their books in the Song duchy, and even their status as nobles (if demoted). But Qin just destroyed everything. A nasty legacy to leave to the Chinese!
It's China's bronze age, sure the age is real with all the bronze artifacts left behind. But as for the Dynasty, it's like homer's iliac more myth than history.
The unsolved question is not "whether there was a dynasty before Shang", but "whether the civilization before Shang was a dynasty called Xia by themselves and Shang people, or something else".
@@zimrielQin didn't destroy much. Most of the records that were believed to have been destroyed were in fact preserved and rediscovered centries later. For example, this video mentioned Sun Bin's Art of War.
Many people really don't realise that the real problem is not whether Xia exists but rather that is it really called Xia or is it another name. Most professionals do acknowledge that there's something going on between ErLiTou and Shang, but yet there hasn't been any records of that dynasty being dug out yet. What's lacking is the confirmation of a name, which could very much differ because most records are gone. But then anti history guys will just continue to deny that because they just can't believe China's history last longer than theirs😂 @@deepseer
I really hope this channel blows up and gets the recognition it deserves. Been watching for well over a year or two. There are not enough places for people to learn of Chinese culture that's not imbued in politics. People seem to struggle to see the beauty of one of the longest-recorded histories ever, over the shadow of the government with in which they disagree with. I'm not questioning the validity of their opinions of the government, just wish we could see more of the stuff that makes Chinese history and culture so great more often than I feel like we do in the west.
Ah yes, the classic "if you like pancakes it means you hate waffles" scenario. I can find Chinese history interesting without having to suck up to a one-party state. I think that's the problem with nationalists everywhere: their country/ideolgy is the ideal, so all negatives about it either aren't real, are someone else's fault, or being worked on by the moral men in power.
@@wheresmyeyebrow1608lol, do you even know anything about China that doesn't come from propaganda? There are 9 parties that hold seats in the senate. Their political system can be thought of as roughly analogous to the UK system, but with a "communist-led" senate instead of a House of Lords.
@@pannychanman Except that China doesn't have a senate, it only has one branch of Government because they don't have separation of powers. Also, the other parties have VERY LITTLE decision-making power, much less so than in other multi-party states, because the CCP is the ulimate arbitrator of what goes and doesn't go. This isn't propoganda, it's a marxist-leninist system. Vietnam and North Korea are the same. How is this propoganda?
This is great. Westerners immediately know roughly what era a Western movie is in based on clothing and aesthetics. If you see someone in a toga, you know you're in Roman times. Although western movies sometimes do silly things with eras. Frozen has everyone wearing Napoleonic clothing but using medieval weapons.
The Napoleonic clothes but using medieval weapons is the one that really irritates me the most. Like why not just use Napoleonic era warafare, or just use medieval clothing.
I wouldn't really say that. People basically slap 3,000 years into 4 categories: Antiquity, Medieval, Renaissance, and Industrial And even then you'll see them mix up medieval and post-renaissance stuff all the time. Hollywood doesn't really care for accuracy because they think "this is entertainment, not a documentary, so just use whatever looks cool!" Even when it comes at the cost of making a historical film completely inaccurate.
@@Palatine-Knight I think that's possibly a bit of an exaggeration. Even somebody who is relatively ignorant of British history can _probably_ tell the difference in aesthetics and themes between a film set in the Tudor period and a film set in the Georgian/Regency period (even if they aren't consciously aware of it) Tudor = Women with neck-ruffs and structured corsets. Men with jaunty hats and ballon-y short-things, with generally quite a lot of volume 'up-top' and slim stocking-clad thighs below. Thematically, a big focus of Tudor/Stuart-period stories tends to be Christian religious schisms (e.g. Henry VIII breaking with Catholic Church, domestic and international catholic vs. protestant tensions). Into the Stuart period, this tend shifts to be a lot more dour and focused on religious extremism (e.g. Puritans banning dancing. witch-burning...etc). Georgian = Women wear float-y white dresses which sinch in under the bust, and their hair in very tight curls. Men wear waistcoats and fitted trousers. Thematically, everything is a lot more chill, although there's a vague sense of colonialism in the background. And pirates. Within Britain, Less of a focus on royalty, more on the nobility. Pride and Prejudice vibes - lots of focus on social scandals and noble courtship shenanigans. Lots of big white buildings with columns.
Reminds me of Edward Said's discussion on how Orientalism ideologically frames the history of the East as being timeless, unchanging, and without any significant history. Maybe he was on to something. ;)
@@MyLife-og2kr FYI the comment is referring to the scholar Edward Said and his book titled _Orientalism_ which deconstructs and critiques these ideas the West had/has about the “Orient”
One important visual theme of pre-imperial China that is shown in the video but not mentioned verbally: back then the Chinese wrote on bamboo strips strung together side-by-side to form "scrolls". Later, paper got invented in the Han Dynasty (the one after the Qin) :)
I wanted to make a comparison to Islamic history Some dates are not parallel especially at the start 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
Love the video idea! As someone who likes researching on Chinese fashion history, I can definitely recognize dynasties just by visuals alone, even easier if the fashion is historically accurate.
I plan on going into a bit of fashion history starting with the Han dynasty as well. The Hanfu revival movement has a huge continuing impact on how movies are made.
Thank you for showing this. I remember a promotional commercial for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, which said it was set during the Tang Dynasty. With what little I recall from Chinese History, I knew that ain't the Tang Dynasty. The hairstyles were a dead give away.
the similarities between the way you described Xia dinasty and the current understanding of Mycenaean Greece is extremely uncanny, you had me thinking of the Iliad and Odyssey
0:00 Man, imagine if someone did a comic that was supposedly set in the British Isles under Roman rule but everyone was wearing a 18th century style powdered wig. I can understand the "WTH" factor
One of the easy ways to tell is weapons and equipment, even when all kinds of anachronisms are present. If there are chariots, it is Zhou, unless the chariots are only used as mobile command platforms. Then it is either the Warring States rise of Qin, the Chu-Han Contention, or Three Kingdoms and it is one of the famous strategists on the mobile platform. Probably with a fan. If you see ji, Warring States through Three Kingdoms. If you start to see lots of cavalry, and it isn't about the heroes of the time on horseback, it is almost definitely Sui, Tang or Song, unless it is out in borderlands or a garrison duty, fighting the Steppe tribes, something like that. If you see weird guns and rocket launchers, hand cannon looking things, it is Song, or Yuan. If you see cannon, it is Ming or Qing.
as a Chinese I feel that there is an additional side of the Zhou Dynasty not quite present in cinema, represented by the classic of its time, Shijing (or Classic of Poetry), which represents the free spirited and naturalistic daily lives of the people who inhabit that ancient era, their daily lives, romance, sorrows, which really humanized the era beyond the chaos of division and wars. I hope we get to see more of this on screen
Yep, and maybe also worth noting that regardless of dynasty, and unlike the West, Chinese 'culture' has always had a very different POV of the role of government, the 'collective' in society, and the Emperor, aka, 'the Mandate of Heaven'. Which is also reflected in Chinese fiction and storytelling in general, where the characters are usually forced to adapt to their 'fate' and external circumstances... while the characters in Western movies and fiction are more 'independent' and 'self-directed'.
For many years i thought that the aesthetic of the qin dynasty wearing full black clothes from the hero movie is just a creative decision from the director. I never knew that black color is historically the official color of the qin dynasty
You have no idea how much I appreciate this video as a history major who is particularly partial to intellectual history. There are so many videos that can detail historical movies from start to finish and go “inaccurate armor, that’s inaccurate; nuh-uh” and be very literal with art which is supposed to represent history and narrative. it’s refreshing to see someone talk about what these films and cultural representations can mean through their use of historicity and symbols; it’s less so the films that matter, but what we put into them and what they in turn can mean to us culturally.
As an avid watcher of cdramas, I feel like there are more and more 架空剧 nowadays, that is films and dramas set in a fictional, vague era that mix styles and inspirations from different dynasties. I don't know if it's because of laziness or to avoid censorship connected to real historical events, but it's a pity
Because most of them are screen adaption of online fictions. Most of the online fictions set the story in fictional era so the author can have the creative freedom.
also practically it's probably cheaper to get costumes, sets and props not match up to the same dynasty and when the show isn't particularly invested in a specific dynasty, might as well go mix pot
@@bunnicula3221 And my point (that you didn't get) was exactly that nowadays there are a lot more 架空剧 than 历史剧 and I think it's a pity? I'm not searching for accuracy in jiakongs. On the other hand, I love when productions take the time to set their fictional stories in actual history and recrate how that period looked like. No need to get so riled up over this tbh
This is such a great idea! As an American with a Chinese partner, I watch a ton of Chinese TV shows but still can't easily identify the time period without my partner's help. So having a few things to focus on and look for will be super helpful. Thank you so much!
@zainmudassir2964 I disagree. Based on how the ladies in the palace and officials dress, it seems very similar to Tang or Song, but I am not sure. I might be out of my depth here.
but in the end, the anime/manga/LN's Country of Li is a fictional country that heavily inspired by imperial China, so inspiration and influence can come from many dynasties, so it is not set in stone.
@@levelupcastgaming It's the Ming for sure, they are sitting on chairs which was only widely adopted during the Song dynasty, added with references to western medicine it must be the Ming
i feel so seen by accented cinema, not only was i curious on how to differentiate between dynasties in chinese media, i also hate typing X into my web browser search bar. it's like this video was made specifically for me.
I am completely in awe of the amount of effort, thought, and research that was put into this 11-minute video. I am so looking forward to watching the rest of this series. You are an amazing RUclipsr whose example other RUclipsrs should aspire to.
The worst I think is probably Hong Kong TVB shows from the 80's and 90's where the time period is hard to tell due to military armors would be inaccurate, like in a Jin Yong live story that is set in Song would be wearing a mash of Tang and Ming dynasty armor... not to mention look like it was made of paper. Also I think Three Kingdoms sadly has the most inaccurate portrayal of armors and weapons, since the setting is set in late Han Dynasty but use alot of weapons that was made 1000 years later like Song or Ming Dynasty, maybe due to the novel Romance of the Three Kingdom was written in Ming Dynasty.
@@AccentedCinemaI think the best accurate historical drama was in late 90's with Water Margin 1999 with Yuen Woo Ping fight choreography by CCTV 1. That TV series basically was quite accurate to portray Song Dynasty time period with clothing, attitude, society and local government. (where some of the official end up as Outlaw due to circumstances). Hope you cover that one, as that show really deserve to be know, Also the 2012 version was dogshit.
TVB is very famous for their all dynasties bowl with a rooster painting.😂 Everyone will eat from it regardless what dynasty it is.😊 By the way, the Song dynasty people like to wear flowers on their head, guys included. Imagine the whole gang of Water Margin with flowers in their head. Oh my...
@@kennywong4239Funny enough... due to the "Chicken bowl", I asked my mom to get one when I was a kid (I loved chicken as pet when I was a kid, even bought live chicken whenever I was in HK during the 80's). Another funny thing with TVB set in Qing period is those footsoldiers would wear a pajama with a big circle letter that say "卒" on their belly. Even Stephen Chow early role as a stand in character in Deer and the Cauldron (or was it Book and the Sword"?) Stephen was a lowly soldier that appeared in a few minutes
Thank you so much for this series! I've been looking for an explainer like this for so long. I'm really glad I found yours. I actually do watch a lot of C-dramas but still find myself lost a lot of the time when it comes to nuances of aesthetics and literary references...
The Qin 秦 Dynasty in this video is the first dynasty of China, but the drama Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace was set in the last dynasty of China 清 Qing Dynasty. That's why a lot of technologies shown in that drama were rather advanced. It's also why Ruyi was dreaming about a faithful marriage between one husband and one wife. China was beginning to transition into the modern time.
mine would be: yume maboroshi no gotoku. also known as that time Oda Nobunaga conquer the world except america where he said " Don't conquer america, i live here now"
Absolutely awesome presentation! You're a very adept and informative guide through Chinese cinema/history. I'm still learning loads of nuanced details about these movies, even after having seen them years ago. Thanks for explaining the black emperor aesthetic as well. Can't wait for pt2
夏商周秦漢，魏晉南北朝，隋唐，五代十國，宋元明清 Ha! I haven't forgotten things I learned from high school. Is this a multi-part series? There were so many dynasties and so many things to talk about. I hope you can go more in-depth on this topic in future videos. edit: I forgot 隋 existed and 五代十國
Thank you so much for these videos. Every time I read about Chinese history I find it impossible to tell all the dynasties apart and have been wishing for something like this. This is absolutely perfect.
what a great video! i have lately gotten into fantasy/costume cdramas, and have always been curious as to what eras they were trying to portray. thanks bunches! can't wait to see the rest of this series.
Thank you for this excellent timeline and overview! I‘ve worked out most of it, having discovered Chinese TV series (with subtitles) several years ago. But it‘s really nice to have a concise summary! ❤
7:25 you can read a japanese manga about this era called "kingdom" with almost 800 chapters, it also have an anime series with 5 seasons (season 5 is still airing) and a movie series with 4 movies with the 4th movie coming this year
Accented Cinema coming out swinging this year. I actually was surprised you hadn’t made this video yet. Being a fan of King Hu meant that I have watched Imperial Chinese movies not set in the Qing Dynasty or Republican era. Most of King Hu’s works are set squarely in the Ming Dynasty with the noticeable exception of The Wrath of Lee Khan which takes place in the Yuan Dynasty. So glad we are getting so many video from you now!
When i saw a chinese movie i usually made a game for myself by guessing the era based on the male hairstyles. Its roughly divided in three: Long, uncut hair: pre-Qing movies Bald with braids: Qing-era movies. Short hair: post revolutionary era.
1:24 For any of those who haven't watched this series yet, I highly recommend you guys to check it out. One of the best series from Mainland China. It's a long one, but I can guarantee you it's worth it.
One thing I don't understand is why three kingdoms period is soo hyped up in chinese dramas when there are equally if not more interesting periods like Spring-Autumn or 5 dynasties 10 kingdom period.
Probably firstly, three kingdoms was documented better than the other 2. Secondly, some guy in the Ming Dynasty cooked with it so much that it became one of the defining literatures of China, soooo it's not that Chinese dramas hyped it up, it was already hyped centuries ago
Three Kingdoms is overrated due to the romance. No story about the Warring States/Spring and Autumn or 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms ever became as popular.
Of all the classics, ROTK is the easiest to retell because you can just take a small part of it and make a good standalone story. Same couldn't be said for other like water margin or red chamber. Which require complete retelling for it to make sense plot-wise.
The Qin Empire series (1-3 are on Netflix and the final one is on Prime) describes the rise of Qin during the Warring States period. Would highly recommend if you have a Warring States craving to scratch.
It’s only hyped up due to other pop culture products like video games and anime, so it’s more known to the western audience. Like AC alluded to in the intro, if you’re an avid watcher of C-dramas, they cover a variety of historical periods. Many of them focus on philosophies, political and military strategies, and even romance, which are harder to “sell” than RotTK.
Thank you for this. I know you said you were glossing over the historical aspect, I still found this informative, educational and entertaining. As a Chinese person, born afar, I found good material exploring my culture was lacking. I am grateful for your contribution!
I've been looking for something like this for a long time, it's hard to get an accurate idea of what aesthetics go where without any prior knowledge on the dynasties. This is really interesting and informative, thank you!
Thank you so much for making this video. It's crazy that I was stamping about for days annoyed I couldn't find anything about this specific topic anywhere, and here you have this & your whole channel. Amazing, lol.
As someone who studies some Chinese history (I am a Classical Military historian, so I focus on Rome, Greece etc, but China has always fascinated me as well), I can immediately tell, just as quickly as I can with a Roman or Holy Roman Empire or Norman setting that they...didn't bother to ask historians. In like 95% of cases. I've seen large, maple-stock Song era crossbows in movies set in the Warring States, just like I've seen plate armor in 13th century Europe settings. Most people don't care, so they just don't bother, at least until it gets to the Early Modern period. And while a lot of inaccuracy is bound to happen with equipment, when it is equipment that outright shaped warfare in a period, that is also a part of the culture. It is like giving everyone in your peasant army a full plate harness and a horse in a film about the Teutonic Knights.
Great video as always! Question: with you commenting that League of Gods is "sucks ass", I wonder if you have any recommendations for great Chinese films that represents each perspective dynasty.
Thank you, it's full of cultural details that are unknown to me. This will undoubtedly allow me to better understand the symbolic meanings of Chinese films. Looking forward to part 2.
the annoying thing about sun tze's art of war is that you will constantly hear westerners try and be edgy by lambasting its supposed simplicity. "this is the most basic, obvious stuff lmao." well, yeah, that's the entire point! art of war is how to military 101 because when it was written the failsons of nobility were given high-ranking positions like captains and generals. the book was meant to teach them the bare fundamentals so they weren't completely inept when war broke out.
I haven't ever heard a westerner badmouth Sun Tzu/Tze. Not even on 4ch*n. Everyone understands that it is a basic text. Completely the opposite actually, Sun Tzu upon being discovered (by the west) was immediately translated and widely spread around European states, for the exact reason you are saying about its spread in the east: because the west was full of spoilt and inbred princelings who were doing war wrong and getting soldiers needlessly killed.
@@zimriel what are you talking about. I uses 4chan and you can always get hundreds of westoids sperging out just by praising anything remotely Chinese.
I had read a comic of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979) when I was a kid and had forgotten about it until I saw it in your video. Thank you very much for including it!!
Two of my favorite (still running) history podcasts are Chris Stewart's History of China and Benjamin Jacobs' Wittenberg to Westphalia. It's kind of wild to compare them. Stewart does a lot of what you talk about: he's focused on events, mostly. Even when he does get into culture, it can sometimes feel like it's at a bit of a remove - and it's often about populations in China's orbit, like the Mongols or the natives of Taiwan, rather than what it meant to be a random villager in, say, north-central China towards the tail end of the 5 dynasties / 10 kingdoms period, and he only occasionally goes into how different Chinese states structured themselves or what their various governmental components actually *did* - I can really only think of some stuff that came up during his coverage of the Ming dynasty, and that was hard to follow because it always felt like it was out of context. Jacobs, though, takes reams of episodes to work through the social and political dynamics of the periods he's covering (his podcast is nominally about the wars of the Reformation and the beginning of the Early Modern period in Europe, but he's closing in on 100 episodes and only just now finished off the Ottonian and Salian dynasties of the HRE), how all the different parts of "Europe" fit in and rubbed against each other and their nearest neighbors, and how we get from historical sources to his narrative interpretation. I'd be really happy if I had an equivalent to get a fully textured look at China and/or India, but I don't know of any.
Thank you so much for this! I'm not educated in Chinese history so don't know the aesthetic touchstones for each era, or what each era symbolises in the popular imagination. Until your video, the styling in Chinese media was, to me, fairly homogenous. I also commend how clearly you articulated some very complex concepts. Bravo!
I have dedicated the last 20 years of my life to history (mainly sinology), I love cinema, and your videos have been something that gives me great pleasure to see two things that I love so much being spoken so well, congratulations to you for the great work, I speak as a film fan and as a historian.
Love this video essay! As an overseas chinese, growing up, I didn't get much education into the history of China and the different dynasties. Later on, I read about them, but never quite put 2+2 together as in this video essay. Thank you!
I think when modern Chinese artists are imaging the Shang dynasty, they were heavily influenced by “lost imperium” and “Ancient Greek city” narrative in Western novels. Ancient Chinese history records often describe Shang dynasty as an era of brutal rule, slavery and barbaric sacrifices.
This video is by far the best explanation of Historical accuracy in Chinese movies. Thank you Accented Cinema (I hope in the future episodes, others countries historical explanation would be great like Japan or Korea)
Never really was that interested in Chinese history other than their most important inventions, but after playing Wo Long I watched so many documentaries. And boomers still say videogames are bad
Woow that was a great start! I really liked watching it. I was very confused while watching historical movies. Now i'm beginning to have some understanding. So thank you!
Correction: There are dozens of archeological sites potentially to be the Xia dynasty, it's just never been linked to it due to lack of writing From Longshan culture all the way to Erlitou, they are all potentially Xia's
@@zainmudassir2964 A dynasty existed but... we don't know what they called themselves. For centuries the dynasty before Zhou was called "Yin". We know that the state called itself "Shang" because their (last) capital was found at Anyang, and excavated. So now we all call it "Shang". Likewise we only know the word "Xia" because that is what the Zhou historians called it.
Am loving this and I haven't even finished watching yet. I barely watch anything now but Chinese cinema and am so happy to be able to under some of its subtilities plus your voice is fairly hypnotic. ❤
0:01It's a bit like someone filming a play about King Arthur, but the characters are dressed in Victorian costumes. It's hard for local audiences to take it seriously.
With how much history we are glossing over, additional contexts are going to be a necessity. If you have any questions, leave a comment, and we'll try to answer to the best of our ability.
Clarification on Xia Dynasty:
There definitely was a dynasty, if not multiple concurrent dynasties before Shang. However, we have yet to found archeological evidence of a dynasty that refers to itself as "Xia". It's neither proven nor disproven, kinda like the city of Troy before 1871.
I would say that 'neither proven nor disproven' is not helpful epistemologically though. Something is only accepted as true if it is demonstrated and until such time as it is, professionals withhold judgement and sometimes, will not even comment to avoid confusion.
Something is shown to be false in a sense, when something else is shown to be the case that negates the original proposition - one doesn't really prove a negative. A faulty hypothesis merely withers.
Just saying :)
Does the Mongols count?
@@dolans.g7259 There is the Yuan dynasty for Mongols being in charge :)
Also, there's the mythical Yu Dyansty (虞) that is said to have come before the Xia. There are some archeological findings that would match up to the supposed time of the Xia, but you're right that no one called themselves that. We just don't have records from that time.
@@dolans.g7259Yuan counts, as do the Khitan Liao and Jurchen Jin (金）.
When I heard you say "the Qin Dynasty would last an epic..." I knew what's coming and immediately burst into laughter. Chinese history is so epic and complex and yet so hilarious. It just proves that reality is stranger than fiction.
And all because some dude was going to get executed for having some of his prisoners escape so he thought that if he's going to do the time, he might as well do the crime.
@@Moonstone-ReduxAncient problems require ancient solutions
@@prasanth2601 What's a little insurrection if you're getting executed anyway?
@@Moonstone-Redux and the first Emperor died trying to be immortal by drinking mercury
His trusted minister conspired with a eunuch to forge a decree commanding the crown prince to commit suicide, only for said minister to have his immediate family slain along with himself.
Many reasons why could be had of why Zhao Gao single handedly ruined the Qin.
To put it in a Western perspective:
Xia/Shang - Trojan Age
Zhou - Ancient Greece
Qin/Han - Rome
Tang - Medieval
Song/Yuan - Pre-Renaissance
Ming - Renaissance
Qing - Industrial
This is a very useful reference. I wish @AccentedCinema also put this in the videos.
@@tony_xuThanks. My list is only a very broad outline, I am sure Accented Cinema will give a better reference.
I would consider Qing more of a Victorian era, and Republic be industrial.
That's a more temporal comparison. A more societal comparison would be
Xia/Shang - Mythical Greece/Norse
Western Zhou - Medieval
Spring & Autumn/Warring States - Classical Greece
Qin-Han - Absolutism Round 1
Three Kingdom-North and South dynasties - 3rd century Rome
Sui-Tang - Absolutism Round 2
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms - Medieval Dark Age
Song - Renassaince & proto-industrialization
Yuan - The Mongols, the Mongols Destroy Everything! Wait the K'han is my emperor, then I must serve him with all my loyalty.
Ming-Qing - Absolutism Round 3
ROC - Industrial without Enlightenment
This is indeed a quite good comparison but according to many historians some of these periods should be more detailed. Forgive me if I go into little bit of a nerdy explanation.
For example the Qin and Han dynasties do not cover just Rome( both the Republic and the Empire afterwards) but also the later part of the Hellenistic kingdoms after Alexander the Great in which some of them still had a huge presence and influence in the Mediterranean. So basically Qin and Han still cover, what the general population calls Ancient Greece too.
Another example is the Tang up until the Ming dynasty. For the Western mostly European categorisation of history the Middle Ages, span approximately 1000 years so from 500- 1500 AD. basically from the Sui up until the middle of the Ming dynasty, belong to the Middle Ages and this is by no means an insult since contrary to popular belief the Middle Ages even in Europe were still a huge period of scientific, philosophical, cultural and technological advancement, just like the Middle East, China or Japan.
I'm certainly no expert on Chinese history, but it frustrates the hell out of me when people refer to movies clearly taking place in the era of Manchu rule as being in "ancient China". It's like seeing a movie about the American revolution and saying it takes place in "ancient America". It's not even medieval, let alone ancient.
I've even heard people describe Wong Fei Hung movies as being set in ancient China, and I'm like "My great grandfather was alive at the same time as the guy!"
Exactly
I would like to add that in China, Qing is somewhat considered as "ancient", as we usually don't say medieval or renaissance, for us it's usually 'ancient', 'near modern'(between late Qing and 1919 or 1949) and 'modern'
@@hanliu3707 In English, ancient means about 1500 years ago or more. Bronze age to prehistory, basically.
@@PenneySoundssorry to be nitpicking, but 1500 years ago was early medieval(Viking age). Ancient is before classical, which is pre-Roman, (so yeah basically late Bronze Age). So it was at least 2500 years ago.
@@pepsino12000 So what's "Ancient Rome"?
My history professor, Fred Wakeman, said that he was sure that the Hsia/Xia dynasty was real and not mythical and that contemporaneous written materials would one day confirm this. After all, the Shang was already highly developed, from its bronze metalwork to its architecture to its systems of governance. And Shang never claimed it was the first dynasty, referencing others that came before it. While movies with their special effects and glamour have portrayed the Shang, Xia, Zhou and others in mythical ways, to historians, these periods - their art, culture, history, technology - were anything but mythical. In a sense, movies and videos do a disservice to our memory of these periods by making them seem fantastical, when in fact Chinese art and history is already amazing, beautiful, and marvelous.
I get the feeling Wakeman is right. Erlitou Culture is usually fingered as the Xia.
It is very annoying that Qin burned so many books. The Zhou, who had every motive to destroy the records of the Shang, showed mercy to their family (the Yin) and allowed them to keep their books in the Song duchy, and even their status as nobles (if demoted).
But Qin just destroyed everything. A nasty legacy to leave to the Chinese!
It's China's bronze age, sure the age is real with all the bronze artifacts left behind. But as for the Dynasty, it's like homer's iliac more myth than history.
The unsolved question is not "whether there was a dynasty before Shang", but "whether the civilization before Shang was a dynasty called Xia by themselves and Shang people, or something else".
@@zimrielQin didn't destroy much. Most of the records that were believed to have been destroyed were in fact preserved and rediscovered centries later. For example, this video mentioned Sun Bin's Art of War.
Many people really don't realise that the real problem is not whether Xia exists but rather that is it really called Xia or is it another name. Most professionals do acknowledge that there's something going on between ErLiTou and Shang, but yet there hasn't been any records of that dynasty being dug out yet. What's lacking is the confirmation of a name, which could very much differ because most records are gone. But then anti history guys will just continue to deny that because they just can't believe China's history last longer than theirs😂 @@deepseer
I really hope this channel blows up and gets the recognition it deserves. Been watching for well over a year or two. There are not enough places for people to learn of Chinese culture that's not imbued in politics. People seem to struggle to see the beauty of one of the longest-recorded histories ever, over the shadow of the government with in which they disagree with. I'm not questioning the validity of their opinions of the government, just wish we could see more of the stuff that makes Chinese history and culture so great more often than I feel like we do in the west.
Agreed very much so seriously the culture gets overshadowed nowadays with current politics so much
It's got half a million subscribers, I'd say it's hardly a niche channel
Ah yes, the classic "if you like pancakes it means you hate waffles" scenario. I can find Chinese history interesting without having to suck up to a one-party state. I think that's the problem with nationalists everywhere: their country/ideolgy is the ideal, so all negatives about it either aren't real, are someone else's fault, or being worked on by the moral men in power.
@@wheresmyeyebrow1608lol, do you even know anything about China that doesn't come from propaganda? There are 9 parties that hold seats in the senate. Their political system can be thought of as roughly analogous to the UK system, but with a "communist-led" senate instead of a House of Lords.
@@pannychanman Except that China doesn't have a senate, it only has one branch of Government because they don't have separation of powers. Also, the other parties have VERY LITTLE decision-making power, much less so than in other multi-party states, because the CCP is the ulimate arbitrator of what goes and doesn't go.
This isn't propoganda, it's a marxist-leninist system. Vietnam and North Korea are the same. How is this propoganda?
This is great. Westerners immediately know roughly what era a Western movie is in based on clothing and aesthetics. If you see someone in a toga, you know you're in Roman times.
Although western movies sometimes do silly things with eras. Frozen has everyone wearing Napoleonic clothing but using medieval weapons.
The Napoleonic clothes but using medieval weapons is the one that really irritates me the most. Like why not just use Napoleonic era warafare, or just use medieval clothing.
@@alyassuppaleridhil7892sadly many Isekai stories have similar problems either
I wouldn't really say that. People basically slap 3,000 years into 4 categories: Antiquity, Medieval, Renaissance, and Industrial
And even then you'll see them mix up medieval and post-renaissance stuff all the time. Hollywood doesn't really care for accuracy because they think "this is entertainment, not a documentary, so just use whatever looks cool!" Even when it comes at the cost of making a historical film completely inaccurate.
A lot of anime games also do this, if they don't want to put everyone in armor or brown tunic but don't like Napoleonic guns either
@@Palatine-Knight I think that's possibly a bit of an exaggeration. Even somebody who is relatively ignorant of British history can _probably_ tell the difference in aesthetics and themes between a film set in the Tudor period and a film set in the Georgian/Regency period (even if they aren't consciously aware of it)
Tudor = Women with neck-ruffs and structured corsets. Men with jaunty hats and ballon-y short-things, with generally quite a lot of volume 'up-top' and slim stocking-clad thighs below. Thematically, a big focus of Tudor/Stuart-period stories tends to be Christian religious schisms (e.g. Henry VIII breaking with Catholic Church, domestic and international catholic vs. protestant tensions). Into the Stuart period, this tend shifts to be a lot more dour and focused on religious extremism (e.g. Puritans banning dancing. witch-burning...etc).
Georgian = Women wear float-y white dresses which sinch in under the bust, and their hair in very tight curls. Men wear waistcoats and fitted trousers. Thematically, everything is a lot more chill, although there's a vague sense of colonialism in the background. And pirates. Within Britain, Less of a focus on royalty, more on the nobility. Pride and Prejudice vibes - lots of focus on social scandals and noble courtship shenanigans. Lots of big white buildings with columns.
3:28 "The movie also sucks as$ so let's move on" that casual deadpan throwaway delivery made me spit my water lmao
SAME LMAO
i mean that is one of the lowest scored movie rated by Chinese
Reminds me of Edward Said's discussion on how Orientalism ideologically frames the history of the East as being timeless, unchanging, and without any significant history. Maybe he was on to something. ;)
Said painted a caricature of Orientalism, worse than any Orientalist artist who ever painted a harem.
Said is an absolute champ.
Majority of Western Orientalists were egoistical idiots who helped colonialism persists
I don't know about "without significant history." For one of the oldest civilization, there are indeed significant history to be told.
@@MyLife-og2kr FYI the comment is referring to the scholar Edward Said and his book titled _Orientalism_ which deconstructs and critiques these ideas the West had/has about the “Orient”
Finally, an Chinese cinema video that's actually interested in the historical perception of China as seen in films. Cannot wait for part 2.
One important visual theme of pre-imperial China that is shown in the video but not mentioned verbally:
back then the Chinese wrote on bamboo strips strung together side-by-side to form "scrolls".
Later, paper got invented in the Han Dynasty (the one after the Qin) :)
Maybe they will mention it in the next video
Paper was invented before the Han Dynasty in China, Cai Lun improves on the process of manuacturing it and thus make it more available.
THIS tbh
Bamboo was still widely used until Song or Tang iirc.
Dude this is INCREDIBLE. So ambitious and I can't want to see it all.
I wanted to make a comparison to Islamic history
Some dates are not parallel especially at the start 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
Love the video idea! As someone who likes researching on Chinese fashion history, I can definitely recognize dynasties just by visuals alone, even easier if the fashion is historically accurate.
I plan on going into a bit of fashion history starting with the Han dynasty as well. The Hanfu revival movement has a huge continuing impact on how movies are made.
@@AccentedCinema Can you put a list of the movies shown in this video?
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the DELIGHTFULLY subtle, nuanced, and witty writing of this short video? Looking forward to the next one!
3 videos in 1 month? I'll take it.
Yes! Bring it!!!
Thank you for showing this. I remember a promotional commercial for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, which said it was set during the Tang Dynasty. With what little I recall from Chinese History, I knew that ain't the Tang Dynasty. The hairstyles were a dead give away.
Right. It's Qing dynasty. And Yu Jiao Long (the main heroine, the younger girl) is a high-born Manchurian noble.
the similarities between the way you described Xia dinasty and the current understanding of Mycenaean Greece is extremely uncanny, you had me thinking of the Iliad and Odyssey
I can see it coming: if you see one bearded guy slaying 1,000,000 foot soldiers, you're in the 3 kingdoms era.
Crazy how Warring State was portrayed as bloody and Three Kingdoms as heroic, like what?
either you are referencing one of Liu Bei's companions or Lu Bu
@@edryctan672 the influence of the arts
@@edryctan672battles in the warring state era can master a 100 thousand army vs another 100 thousand army and its just a normal battle😂
@@AgeraRS7that was another skirmish in Ancient China
5:19 King: “wHy yoU guyS taKe yoURselVes sO serioUsly? LoLz”
Narrator: “It did not end well.”
0:00 Man, imagine if someone did a comic that was supposedly set in the British Isles under Roman rule but everyone was wearing a 18th century style powdered wig. I can understand the "WTH" factor
I mean, just look at Braveheart. Medieval Scots wearing clothes from the time of the Celts.
One of the easy ways to tell is weapons and equipment, even when all kinds of anachronisms are present. If there are chariots, it is Zhou, unless the chariots are only used as mobile command platforms. Then it is either the Warring States rise of Qin, the Chu-Han Contention, or Three Kingdoms and it is one of the famous strategists on the mobile platform. Probably with a fan.
If you see ji, Warring States through Three Kingdoms.
If you start to see lots of cavalry, and it isn't about the heroes of the time on horseback, it is almost definitely Sui, Tang or Song, unless it is out in borderlands or a garrison duty, fighting the Steppe tribes, something like that.
If you see weird guns and rocket launchers, hand cannon looking things, it is Song, or Yuan.
If you see cannon, it is Ming or Qing.
你真的很厉害 大致情况确实如此
as a Chinese I feel that there is an additional side of the Zhou Dynasty not quite present in cinema, represented by the classic of its time, Shijing (or Classic of Poetry), which represents the free spirited and naturalistic daily lives of the people who inhabit that ancient era, their daily lives, romance, sorrows, which really humanized the era beyond the chaos of division and wars. I hope we get to see more of this on screen
Yep, and maybe also worth noting that regardless of dynasty, and unlike the West, Chinese 'culture' has always had a very different POV of the role of government, the 'collective' in society, and the Emperor, aka, 'the Mandate of Heaven'.
Which is also reflected in Chinese fiction and storytelling in general, where the characters are usually forced to adapt to their 'fate' and external circumstances... while the characters in Western movies and fiction are more 'independent' and 'self-directed'.
For many years i thought that the aesthetic of the qin dynasty wearing full black clothes from the hero movie is just a creative decision from the director. I never knew that black color is historically the official color of the qin dynasty
This is the best youtube channel I am subscribed to and it isn’t even close. Thank you for doing what you do.
You have no idea how much I appreciate this video as a history major who is particularly partial to intellectual history.
There are so many videos that can detail historical movies from start to finish and go “inaccurate armor, that’s inaccurate; nuh-uh” and be very literal with art which is supposed to represent history and narrative. it’s refreshing to see someone talk about what these films and cultural representations can mean through their use of historicity and symbols; it’s less so the films that matter, but what we put into them and what they in turn can mean to us culturally.
As an avid watcher of cdramas, I feel like there are more and more 架空剧 nowadays, that is films and dramas set in a fictional, vague era that mix styles and inspirations from different dynasties. I don't know if it's because of laziness or to avoid censorship connected to real historical events, but it's a pity
it's 100% due to censorship.
Because most of them are screen adaption of online fictions. Most of the online fictions set the story in fictional era so the author can have the creative freedom.
also practically it's probably cheaper to get costumes, sets and props not match up to the same dynasty and when the show isn't particularly invested in a specific dynasty, might as well go mix pot
I guess it’s also more “interesting”,exciting and grabs more viewers than actual history does. Like game of thrones compared to the medieval ages .
@@bunnicula3221 And my point (that you didn't get) was exactly that nowadays there are a lot more 架空剧 than 历史剧 and I think it's a pity? I'm not searching for accuracy in jiakongs. On the other hand, I love when productions take the time to set their fictional stories in actual history and recrate how that period looked like. No need to get so riled up over this tbh
i wish every history teacher put out-of-context historical movie clips in between sections
This is such a great idea! As an American with a Chinese partner, I watch a ton of Chinese TV shows but still can't easily identify the time period without my partner's help. So having a few things to focus on and look for will be super helpful. Thank you so much!
历史久远，朝代更迭，太复杂了，一般中国人也不是特别清楚。
Just got into Apothecary Diaries. It is a fictional setting but lets see if this video helps!
I would say it's set in Tang dynasty right?
@@levelupcastgaming or Early Ming. There are references to Western medicine although that could mean Middle East
@zainmudassir2964 I disagree. Based on how the ladies in the palace and officials dress, it seems very similar to Tang or Song, but I am not sure. I might be out of my depth here.
but in the end, the anime/manga/LN's Country of Li is a fictional country that heavily inspired by imperial China, so inspiration and influence can come from many dynasties, so it is not set in stone.
@@levelupcastgaming It's the Ming for sure, they are sitting on chairs which was only widely adopted during the Song dynasty, added with references to western medicine it must be the Ming
it is heartening to see a channel cover this topic.
i feel so seen by accented cinema, not only was i curious on how to differentiate between dynasties in chinese media, i also hate typing X into my web browser search bar. it's like this video was made specifically for me.
I am completely in awe of the amount of effort, thought, and research that was put into this 11-minute video. I am so looking forward to watching the rest of this series. You are an amazing RUclipsr whose example other RUclipsrs should aspire to.
The worst I think is probably Hong Kong TVB shows from the 80's and 90's where the time period is hard to tell due to military armors would be inaccurate, like in a Jin Yong live story that is set in Song would be wearing a mash of Tang and Ming dynasty armor... not to mention look like it was made of paper.
Also I think Three Kingdoms sadly has the most inaccurate portrayal of armors and weapons, since the setting is set in late Han Dynasty but use alot of weapons that was made 1000 years later like Song or Ming Dynasty, maybe due to the novel Romance of the Three Kingdom was written in Ming Dynasty.
In a later video, we'll talk about the "generic opera aesthetic" found in late dynastic period films!
@@AccentedCinemaI think the best accurate historical drama was in late 90's with Water Margin 1999 with Yuen Woo Ping fight choreography by CCTV 1.
That TV series basically was quite accurate to portray Song Dynasty time period with clothing, attitude, society and local government. (where some of the official end up as Outlaw due to circumstances).
Hope you cover that one, as that show really deserve to be know, Also the 2012 version was dogshit.
TVB is very famous for their all dynasties bowl with a rooster painting.😂 Everyone will eat from it regardless what dynasty it is.😊
By the way, the Song dynasty people like to wear flowers on their head, guys included. Imagine the whole gang of Water Margin with flowers in their head. Oh my...
@@kennywong4239Funny enough... due to the "Chicken bowl", I asked my mom to get one when I was a kid (I loved chicken as pet when I was a kid, even bought live chicken whenever I was in HK during the 80's).
Another funny thing with TVB set in Qing period is those footsoldiers would wear a pajama with a big circle letter that say "卒" on their belly. Even Stephen Chow early role as a stand in character in Deer and the Cauldron (or was it Book and the Sword"?) Stephen was a lowly soldier that appeared in a few minutes
yeah , you dont watch TVB dramas to learn about history, most of the time the plot would be so very different from actual history..
Thank you so much for this series! I've been looking for an explainer like this for so long. I'm really glad I found yours. I actually do watch a lot of C-dramas but still find myself lost a lot of the time when it comes to nuances of aesthetics and literary references...
*I know Qing dynasty when I see it* at least, thanks to Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace. And I can't recommend it highly enough! Its SO good!
The Qin 秦 Dynasty in this video is the first dynasty of China, but the drama Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace was set in the last dynasty of China 清 Qing Dynasty. That's why a lot of technologies shown in that drama were rather advanced. It's also why Ruyi was dreaming about a faithful marriage between one husband and one wife. China was beginning to transition into the modern time.
@@HanQ28 Yes, I know, thanks. I know a little about Chinese Dynasties already :)
I’m glad the series has many fans outside of China. It’s a rare gem in production quality and acting. ❤
mine would be: yume maboroshi no gotoku. also known as that time Oda Nobunaga conquer the world except america where he said " Don't conquer america, i live here now"
Hell yeah Ruyi!!!💜💜💜
Absolutely awesome presentation! You're a very adept and informative guide through Chinese cinema/history. I'm still learning loads of nuanced details about these movies, even after having seen them years ago. Thanks for explaining the black emperor aesthetic as well.
Can't wait for pt2
Totally agree.
夏商周秦漢，魏晉南北朝，隋唐，五代十國，宋元明清
Ha! I haven't forgotten things I learned from high school.
Is this a multi-part series? There were so many dynasties and so many things to talk about. I hope you can go more in-depth on this topic in future videos.
edit: I forgot 隋 existed
and 五代十國
It is more or less confirmed to be multi-part at the end. I think that as long as no great calamity befalls the author, there will be another part.
唐尧虞舜夏商周，春秋战国乱悠悠，秦汉三国晋统一，南朝北朝是对头，隋唐五代又十国，宋元明清帝王休。 我们背的是这个
你还忘了唐之后的五代十国
@@dragonborn3768 難怪覺得少了什麼
謝啦
Thank you so much for these videos. Every time I read about Chinese history I find it impossible to tell all the dynasties apart and have been wishing for something like this. This is absolutely perfect.
what a great video! i have lately gotten into fantasy/costume cdramas, and have always been curious as to what eras they were trying to portray. thanks bunches! can't wait to see the rest of this series.
FYI, Qin Shi Huang also started construction of the Great Wall by linking and repairing other smaller walls.
Thank you for this excellent timeline and overview! I‘ve worked out most of it, having discovered Chinese TV series (with subtitles) several years ago. But it‘s really nice to have a concise summary! ❤
7:25 you can read a japanese manga about this era called "kingdom" with almost 800 chapters, it also have an anime series with 5 seasons (season 5 is still airing) and a movie series with 4 movies with the 4th movie coming this year
Accented Cinema coming out swinging this year. I actually was surprised you hadn’t made this video yet.
Being a fan of King Hu meant that I have watched Imperial Chinese movies not set in the Qing Dynasty or Republican era. Most of King Hu’s works are set squarely in the Ming Dynasty with the noticeable exception of The Wrath of Lee Khan which takes place in the Yuan Dynasty. So glad we are getting so many video from you now!
Amazing video!!!! As a native Chinese, I hope to use this video in my undergraduate Chinese history class
When i saw a chinese movie i usually made a game for myself by guessing the era based on the male hairstyles.
Its roughly divided in three:
Long, uncut hair: pre-Qing movies
Bald with braids: Qing-era movies.
Short hair: post revolutionary era.
1:24 For any of those who haven't watched this series yet, I highly recommend you guys to check it out. One of the best series from Mainland China. It's a long one, but I can guarantee you it's worth it.
I always recognize the Zhou dynasty/Warring States Old Chinese characters. I think there might be something about their cloths, too.
I gotta start watching more movies about ancient China (I already watch cdramas) is what I have learned, watching this video.
One thing I don't understand is why three kingdoms period is soo hyped up in chinese dramas when there are equally if not more interesting periods like Spring-Autumn or 5 dynasties 10 kingdom period.
Probably firstly, three kingdoms was documented better than the other 2. Secondly, some guy in the Ming Dynasty cooked with it so much that it became one of the defining literatures of China, soooo it's not that Chinese dramas hyped it up, it was already hyped centuries ago
Three Kingdoms is overrated due to the romance. No story about the Warring States/Spring and Autumn or 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdoms ever became as popular.
Of all the classics, ROTK is the easiest to retell because you can just take a small part of it and make a good standalone story.
Same couldn't be said for other like water margin or red chamber. Which require complete retelling for it to make sense plot-wise.
The Qin Empire series (1-3 are on Netflix and the final one is on Prime) describes the rise of Qin during the Warring States period. Would highly recommend if you have a Warring States craving to scratch.
It’s only hyped up due to other pop culture products like video games and anime, so it’s more known to the western audience. Like AC alluded to in the intro, if you’re an avid watcher of C-dramas, they cover a variety of historical periods. Many of them focus on philosophies, political and military strategies, and even romance, which are harder to “sell” than RotTK.
Thank you for this. I know you said you were glossing over the historical aspect, I still found this informative, educational and entertaining. As a Chinese person, born afar, I found good material exploring my culture was lacking. I am grateful for your contribution!
This was fantastic, thank you!!
I've been looking for something like this for a long time, it's hard to get an accurate idea of what aesthetics go where without any prior knowledge on the dynasties. This is really interesting and informative, thank you!
Costuming accuracy has gotten better in the past years as the Hanfu movement grew. So excited to see this show up in my recommended!
What a cool idea. I look forward to part 2.
Thank you so much for making this video. It's crazy that I was stamping about for days annoyed I couldn't find anything about this specific topic anywhere, and here you have this & your whole channel. Amazing, lol.
As someone who studies some Chinese history (I am a Classical Military historian, so I focus on Rome, Greece etc, but China has always fascinated me as well), I can immediately tell, just as quickly as I can with a Roman or Holy Roman Empire or Norman setting that they...didn't bother to ask historians. In like 95% of cases. I've seen large, maple-stock Song era crossbows in movies set in the Warring States, just like I've seen plate armor in 13th century Europe settings. Most people don't care, so they just don't bother, at least until it gets to the Early Modern period. And while a lot of inaccuracy is bound to happen with equipment, when it is equipment that outright shaped warfare in a period, that is also a part of the culture. It is like giving everyone in your peasant army a full plate harness and a horse in a film about the Teutonic Knights.
Excellent summary of several dynamic dynasties! Excited for more information on the next ones!!
Great video as always! Question: with you commenting that League of Gods is "sucks ass", I wonder if you have any recommendations for great Chinese films that represents each perspective dynasty.
Thank you, it's full of cultural details that are unknown to me. This will undoubtedly allow me to better understand the symbolic meanings of Chinese films.
Looking forward to part 2.
the annoying thing about sun tze's art of war is that you will constantly hear westerners try and be edgy by lambasting its supposed simplicity. "this is the most basic, obvious stuff lmao." well, yeah, that's the entire point! art of war is how to military 101 because when it was written the failsons of nobility were given high-ranking positions like captains and generals. the book was meant to teach them the bare fundamentals so they weren't completely inept when war broke out.
I haven't ever heard a westerner badmouth Sun Tzu/Tze. Not even on 4ch*n. Everyone understands that it is a basic text.
Completely the opposite actually, Sun Tzu upon being discovered (by the west) was immediately translated and widely spread around European states, for the exact reason you are saying about its spread in the east: because the west was full of spoilt and inbred princelings who were doing war wrong and getting soldiers needlessly killed.
@@zimriel what are you talking about. I uses 4chan and you can always get hundreds of westoids sperging out just by praising anything remotely Chinese.
太棒了！我特别喜欢你的视频。我在中国过了童年就跟爸妈搬到美国，所以你这平台讲的补充了我所需要的：我一直跟我爸妈看中国的电视据/电影，不过没在中国受过太多教育，所以对这些背景知识我模模糊糊的！
I love Chinese history and cinema. New favorite channel.
Definitely would love a second video talking about the ret of China’s dynasties.
Kingdom (manga/anime) video essay eventually?
Yoo🔥
Fantastic. A short and clear video mixing historical elements with visual points that are immediately understandable. You've got my praise!
Sun Tzu approves this video
Love this video! Thanks for this, I have always been interested in Chinese historical dramas and dynasties
Huge moment 🔥✨👊
I had read a comic of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979) when I was a kid and had forgotten about it until I saw it in your video. Thank you very much for including it!!
Two of my favorite (still running) history podcasts are Chris Stewart's History of China and Benjamin Jacobs' Wittenberg to Westphalia. It's kind of wild to compare them. Stewart does a lot of what you talk about: he's focused on events, mostly. Even when he does get into culture, it can sometimes feel like it's at a bit of a remove - and it's often about populations in China's orbit, like the Mongols or the natives of Taiwan, rather than what it meant to be a random villager in, say, north-central China towards the tail end of the 5 dynasties / 10 kingdoms period, and he only occasionally goes into how different Chinese states structured themselves or what their various governmental components actually *did* - I can really only think of some stuff that came up during his coverage of the Ming dynasty, and that was hard to follow because it always felt like it was out of context. Jacobs, though, takes reams of episodes to work through the social and political dynamics of the periods he's covering (his podcast is nominally about the wars of the Reformation and the beginning of the Early Modern period in Europe, but he's closing in on 100 episodes and only just now finished off the Ottonian and Salian dynasties of the HRE), how all the different parts of "Europe" fit in and rubbed against each other and their nearest neighbors, and how we get from historical sources to his narrative interpretation. I'd be really happy if I had an equivalent to get a fully textured look at China and/or India, but I don't know of any.
I studied all this in school and I still can't get the difference, thanks for the video!
Thank you for these. They are really helpful for someone with a passing interest in history.
Unified measurement more than 2000 years ago!? lol US is still struggling with stupid imperial system nowadays
US is relatively young as a nation when compared to China.
Thank you so much for this! I'm not educated in Chinese history so don't know the aesthetic touchstones for each era, or what each era symbolises in the popular imagination. Until your video, the styling in Chinese media was, to me, fairly homogenous. I also commend how clearly you articulated some very complex concepts. Bravo!
This is very interesting; I would gladly watch a 90 min version of this with greater scope and detail!
I have dedicated the last 20 years of my life to history (mainly sinology), I love cinema, and your videos have been something that gives me great pleasure to see two things that I love so much being spoken so well, congratulations to you for the great work, I speak as a film fan and as a historian.
Love this video essay! As an overseas chinese, growing up, I didn't get much education into the history of China and the different dynasties. Later on, I read about them, but never quite put 2+2 together as in this video essay. Thank you!
I think when modern Chinese artists are imaging the Shang dynasty, they were heavily influenced by “lost imperium” and “Ancient Greek city” narrative in Western novels. Ancient Chinese history records often describe Shang dynasty as an era of brutal rule, slavery and barbaric sacrifices.
This video is by far the best explanation of Historical accuracy in Chinese movies. Thank you Accented Cinema
(I hope in the future episodes, others countries historical explanation would be great like Japan or Korea)
I was literally thinking about this topic yesterday. So happy to see a video!
I cannot put into words how much I appreciate this channel. Phenomenal content
Amazing video! Now everything makes more sense to me. Thanks a bunch.
Never really was that interested in Chinese history other than their most important inventions, but after playing Wo Long I watched so many documentaries. And boomers still say videogames are bad
Woow that was a great start! I really liked watching it. I was very confused while watching historical movies. Now i'm beginning to have some understanding. So thank you!
Love this! Looking forward to the next in the series!
Han: powerful
Tang: powerful and rich
Song: rich
Ming: not that powerful and rich
Qing: braid
In fact it is not that easy even for Chinese 🤣
Best squarespace sponsor slot ever, I watched the whole ad 👏👏👏
delightful new series
指出一个问题：并不能说“没有找到考古证据支持夏朝的存在”，目前考古学界可以肯定二里头遗址就是夏朝时期的，但二里头遗址面积广、发掘难度大（总面积约三百万平方米），经过几代考古人员六十年的努力才发掘了百分之一多一点，目前还没找到直接的文字证据证明这里的人自称为“夏”--就像当年考古学界证明商朝存在是因为发掘出了一件刻有铭文的青铜鼎一样。因此从学术层面的严谨角度出发，应该说“有关夏朝的考古发现尚不充足”
This
Thanks for pointing it out
Looking forward to the next part!
I learned that the Queue was a Qing imposition from Extra History's video on Sun Yat Sen. It's something I've noticed ever since.
in fact,as a Chinese,i recognize the dynasty by the celebrities or events at the time
I really appreciate your videos, and the time and effort you put in to sharing this culture with everyone.
Correction: There are dozens of archeological sites potentially to be the Xia dynasty, it's just never been linked to it due to lack of writing
From Longshan culture all the way to Erlitou, they are all potentially Xia's
There are human settlements before shang dynasty but it's yet to be proven Xia dynasty also existed
@@zainmudassir2964 A dynasty existed but... we don't know what they called themselves.
For centuries the dynasty before Zhou was called "Yin". We know that the state called itself "Shang" because their (last) capital was found at Anyang, and excavated. So now we all call it "Shang".
Likewise we only know the word "Xia" because that is what the Zhou historians called it.
Reminds me of some Irish/Celtic lore of its history being mixed with mythology.
greek history is also half myth half actual history.
Amazing video, i love the movie "hero" one of my favourites ever. Please make more videos one of each era or movies not to miss about them.
Can't wait for part 2!
Am loving this and I haven't even finished watching yet. I barely watch anything now but Chinese cinema and am so happy to be able to under some of its subtilities plus your voice is fairly hypnotic. ❤
0:01It's a bit like someone filming a play about King Arthur, but the characters are dressed in Victorian costumes. It's hard for local audiences to take it seriously.
This is awesome! Can't wait for the next part!!!