Upon reflection, there are some emperors I think I was too harsh on and some I was too lenient to (changing because every new person is commenting this, but I would definitely have ranked Wu Zetian, for example, as an A-tier if I did it today). But overall, I'm happy with the end product.
The excitement really starts a few min in he says "lets begin..number 131", not when I woke up wondering what the rankings of Chinese emperors are then stumbled on this greatness
Sui Yangdi actually did have some accomplishments that werent mentioned in the video, such as ordering the construction of the great canal (extremely resource/life consuming) which probably wasnt a good idea to build at the time but definitely benefitted future generations He was also the first one to set up keju（科举）which was basically a way for ordinary citizens to be able to take an exam to join the government, helping in reducing the influence of powerful families in the government and giving everyone else a way to become a government official (which was very sought after) Still a very controversial emperor but I just thought that only mentioning his failures and ignoring all of his accomplishments was kind of unfair
Just as a rule of thumb, any ruler in history that gets a lower ranking than a baby that ruled for a short time before kicking the bucket is one that has messed up in more ways than one.
To be fair, Sui Yangdi was very different from Qin Ershi, in a sense that the latter is completely fucked up, bur the former is an example of great ambitions backfiring. Sui Yangdi started the civil examination system, built the grand canal and started highly effective military campains againest China's greatest threats from both east and west. But in the process he doomed his dynasty.
Also I think you confuesd Jin Xiaowudi with Jin Wudi, the former is the one with the battle of Fei river, drinking and murder by his concubine, while the latter is the one with retard son and had his dynasty collapse in 24 years.
Honestly I think of Sui Yangdi as Han Wudi but placed in the wrong generation. Part of the reason why Han Wudi could pull such a feat was due to the 80 years of built up and prosperity under Han Wendi mostly. If the Sui continued under Wendi's policies for another 50 years then Yangdi's ambition could've been achieved.
This is probably the best we're going to get. If this guy also ranked the Emperors of the Three Kingdoms, Northern and Southern Dynasties, Western Xia, Great Liao, Jurchen Jin, Southern Ming, Northern Yuan, the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms and the Kingdoms that existed before the Qin unified China, this video would be three hours long.
BTW, if interested, I recommand everyone to see what a Qing emperor's daily schedule look like. Compare to modern people's workload, it is easy to see why those good emperor being tired later in their life. Ruling China is really a hard hard hard job.
Song Shenzong (C tier) is probably my favourite emperor in my favourite dynasty. The dude really tried hard to be a good and active emperor in an era when China was beset by enemies.
This is a list I mostly agree with. I'd put Wu Zetian in A tier. You were a bit too harsh with her rise to power, given that the number 1 emperor Tang Taizong murdered his brothers and his brothers' sons for power. I'd put Emperor Gaozu in B tier. He was a good administrator but I'd say the Court Intrigue between his sons and being overthrown by one due to his bad handling of it should demote him to B tier.
Fair enough. I think if I made the video later, I would have been harsher on some emperors (the Yuan emperors) and more lenient on others (Wu Zetian). It actually occurred to me that some of these placements are outdated, but by that point I had spent 3 months on this and decided that it wasn’t worth it.
I really love this video, he did a great work and showed great dedication to his work in researching for his video.😍 My only complaint is that he didn't give us a date of when each one ruled.There are just so many I just can't keep up and can only retain a few names.🤣
I'm Chinese, here's my top 10 list: 1. Qin Shi Huang (嬴政 Ying Zheng) 2. Emperor Wu of Han (刘彻 Liu Che) 3. Emperor Taizong of Tang (李世民 Li Shimin) 4. Emperor Gaozu of Han (刘邦 Liu Bang) 5. Emperor Wen of Sui (杨坚 Yang Jian) 6. Emperor Taizu of Ming (朱元璋 Zhu Yuanzhang) 7. Emperor Guangwu of Han (刘秀 Liu Xiu) 8. Emperor Xuan of Han (刘询 Liu Xun) 9. Emperor Gaozong of Tang (李治 Li Zhi) 10. Emperor Wen of Han (刘恒 Liu Heng) I've tried to give my reasons, but I couldn't do it in a succinct way.
"None of the fighting men I have sent against you now are of my own nation(guoren aka xianbei). To the northeast of the wall dingling(turks) and Hu(xiongnu); to the south of the walls are Di and Qiang(tibetans)" - Emperor Taiwu of Wei man I love him so much its unreal
1:42 he could have been a great emperor, if he focused on either invading Korea, or building the grand canal, or anything But he did it all at once, and yeah
The Korean invasion was so horribly managed logistics-wise that it was doomed to fail from the start. His army was literally too big to feed, even when he tried to change things up by having a smaller detachment march on the Goguryeo capital (Pyeongyang) while the main army tried (and failed) to take the major defensive fortifications. Turns out that even the detachment was too big to feed (and not helped by constant harassment from enemy cavalry units and scorched-earth tactics), and bad coordination with naval forces meant the naval forces that landed near Pyongyang with supplies landed too early and were beaten before the detachment got to Pyeongyang.
Since Roman Emperors were blessed with these words "May he be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan", the Chinese Emperors should've had this blessing "May he be more fortunate than Han Gaozu and better than Han Wudi".
50:30 the books that he burned are mainly about witchcraft. Actually, a lot of historical documents and medical documents was carefully kept, leading to the publish of Shiji (which means history, literally) and Huangdi Neijing (the book that established the system of Chinese medicine)
@@EdenBright-h4dalso Liu bang was basically a misogynistic guy that lived off of charisma. Look at what he did to his son while he was fleeing during his battle with 西楚霸王. He pushed him under the carriage! He was just a baby! And his supposed heir! Everyone that helped him was way smarter than him and he just let them do things for him. And then he killed them.
To be fair, 121 wasn't supposed to be an emperor, so he never received the proper training an Emperor would. His passion for carpentry is adorable though. He'd sit and make furniture while the officials were talking
I made a separate ranking for emperors of the Northern and Southern dynasties (I didn't put in puppet emperors, also no Gao Huan or Yuwen Tai, if I included them, Gao Huan would be A Tier and Yuwen Tai A+ Tier): A+ Tier (none of them deserve S Tier): 1. Tuoba Tao (Taiwu of N. Wei), 2. Liu Yu (Wu of Liu Song) A Tier: 3. Tuoba Gui (Daowu of N. Wei) 4. Yuan Hong (Xiaowen of N. Wei) 5. Yuwen Yong (Wu of N. Zhou) A- Tier: 6. Tuoba Si (Mingyuan of N. Wei) 7. Chen Qian (Wen of Chen) 8. Tuoba Hong (Xianwen of N. Wei), 9. Liu Yilong (Wen of Liu Song) B+ Tier: 10. Xiao Ze (Wu of S. Qi) 11. Tuoba Jun (Wencheng of N. Wei) 12. Chen Xu (Xuan of Chen) B Tier: 13. Gao Yang (Wenxuan of N. Qi) 14. Xiao Daocheng (Gao of S. Qi) 15. Chen Baxian (Wu of Chen) 16. Liu Jun (Xiaowu of Liu Song) 17. Gao Yan (Xiaozhao of N. Qi) C Tier: 18. Xiao Yan (Wu of Liang) 19. Yuwen Yu (Ming of N. Zhou) 20. Yuan Ke (Xuanwu of N. Wei) D Tier: 21. Liu Yu (Ming of Liu Song) 22. Xiao Luan (Ming of S. Qi) 23. Xiao Yi (Yuan of Liang) E Tier: 24. Xiao Zhaoye (S. Qi) 25. Liu Yifu (Shao of Liu Song) 26. Gao Zhan (Wucheng of N. Qi) 27. Yuwen Yun (Xuan of N. Zhou) F Tier: 28. Liu Ziye (Qianfei of Liu Song) 29. Xiao Baojuan (S. Qi) 30. Liu Yu (Houfei of Liu Song) 31. Gao Wei (Houzhu of N. Qi)
@@redtaiga6576 That Liu Ziye manages not to be the number 1 worst emperor is quite impressive. I put the other three below him only because the Liu Song dynasty didn't collapse the second that he died. And the Northern Wei emperors need to stop ingesting mercury.
@@redtaiga6576 From what I've seen Xiao Yan is a bit like Li Longji (started out great, turned corrupt, huge rebellion did massive damage at the end of the reign), and Tuoba Si is a bit like Yongzheng (competent administrator, overshadowed by more military-minded father and son).
Yongle Emperor has an English name ---- Judy. His actual name is Zhudi which is very similar to the pronunciation of Judy. So let's call him Judy next time. lol
1. Qin shihuang - he killed a lot of people yes, but without him China wouldn’t be China but just another medieval Europe. 2. Tang Taizong. 3. Kangxi. 4. Yongzheng. For me Han Wudi wouldn’t even make the top 10. Bro outspent all the riches and powers that his predecessors had accumulated up until that point. Most important of all, a lot of horses died during his reign. After him, the Hans started to decline. The same goes for with Qianlong.
@@DT-im1dp Honestly, all of those are understandable. However, one could argue that people like Han Wudi and the Qianlong Emperor tanked China in the short term, but grew it in the long term. In particular, Han Wudi’s conquest of Southern China incorporated what is today an integral part of China proper.
Wu zetian was a bad parent and her rise to power was ruthless, but the same can be said about many of the rulers u placed in A and S tier. Tang taizong literally murdered his brothers and usurped his father to become emperor, so it seems unfair that these standards are only enforced on Wuzetian, but not the male rulers on the list.
He’s just an ordinary guy, but he push his son off his carriage while running for his life, he punished a lot of high ranking officials as soon as he got into power, he ended up in paranoia, he was a misogynist who got lucky.
A lot of that was on Han Xin for being politically idiotic and even trying to screw over his boss at times (including while Xiang Yu was still alive!).
@@redtaiga6576 Ah yes, I looked him up and he did expand his kingdom much like Wu of Han did, but he did get murdered at the end by a eunuch. Since you have kings in honourable mentions I thought that Cao Cao would be a good choice since he did hold the title of king in his final years.
@@massoluk I already said this in other comments, but I think I was too harsh on her and, if I made this video now, I would have easily put her in A-tier.
Definitely F, if in normal dynasties she could be in C or B. But the era of 3,000 years came to an end, and for this exam, she got an F? NO, she got ....ZZZZZZZZZZZ
I think you rate Qianlong a bit too highly. His Ten Great Campaigns, half of which were just putting down rebellions, massively drained the Qing treasury. One of these was a disasterous war against Burma, and another ended with his ordering the genocide of the Dzungars. Also he persecuted Christians so there's also that.
Great tier list! I would personally disagree with Han Wudi’s placement as he is at most B tier for me. While his military conquests were impressive, they basically drained the full treasury he had inherited from his father. Also, making Confucianism the state idealogy wasn’t a great thing because he destroyed the intellectual diversity of the Early Han. His apology for his mistakes is good but it doesn’t change the fact that he killed many innocent people, like Sima Qian and even the crown prince. The Han state had suffered a lot from his reign. Still a great tier list though!
I can definitely see where you’re coming from. I know that he drained the finances to fund his projects and I agree that his apology doesn’t really excuse his despotic actions. Despite this, I placed him high because of his influence and because I think the positives outweigh the negatives, and while China was definitely unstable in the short term, I think they benefitted in the long term.
I don't agree that Emperor Wu is the second best and Emperor Yang is the second worst just because Wu didn't directly destroy the country although Emperor Yang and Emperor Wu did essentially the same thing.
I see where you’re coming from, but I ranked Han Wudi as high as I did because, while China experienced some short term pain after his death, his policies were good for the long term influence. His conquest of Southern China, and the securing of the Silk Road had a great effect on the influence that China would wield throughout the centuries. Sui Yangdi, on the other hand, fucked up everything that he tried to do and ran his dynasty into the ground, especially impressive because he was only the second emperor of the dynasty and his predecessor was one of the best emperors China ever had.
you can't really compare Han Wudi and Sui Yangdi. One stabalized China against the Xiognu and had good policies and one just drove his dynasty into the ground.
I think Han Mingdi should be A tier and make into the top 12. Along with Yongzheng, he was also one of the most underrated. Besides successfully defeating the Xiongnu and reconnecting the Silk Road, he was the first emperor to patronize the introduction of Buddhism, and also very succesful at building the flood control system (which lasted for centuries). He also effectively controlled the maternal clans and solidified the rule of emperor. For Han Wudi, I must say he is also A tier but should not be in the top 4. His decision to make Confucianism the only accepted ideology was a huge mistake and he really had terrible records at overtaxing people and creating famines. Maybe he should be in top 10, a bit higher than Hongwu of Ming. And Song Huizong must be at E or even F tier. Although he was very good at arts, all of the decisions during his reigns were disastrous. He actively supported Taoism by overtaxing people to build temples and created lots of riots. Not only that, he was the major reason for the Jingkang incident that arguably led to the permanent decline of Song, despite their revival in the South.
as a chingus chongus, i had a fucking seizure within the first minute. also, WTF THIS MAN MADE AN HOUR LONG VID RANKING EVERY CHINESE EMPEROR THATS MILLENIUMS WORTH OF HISTORY WTF
Tianqi emperor (Zhu Youxiao) wasn't that bad he give power to his most trusted eunuch Wei Zhongxian, which crushed the most corrupted official group. Even though the eunuch group is also corrupted, they are responsible to the emperor directly. at least he made it possible for future emperors to actually have power rather than Overhead by other officials
Wu Zetian should be A-tier. She was ruthless like any other Chinese emperor were but was undoubtedly a brilliant stateswoman. It is shameful you treated her unfairly because she is woman when men did the same thing.
@@hlin3 She is underestimated. She was literally the richest woman who ever lived. 15 times richer than the other 10 richest women taken together. A testament to the fact that her empire was incredibly wealthy and prosperous.
What does the F, E, and D terms mean in the context of this video? Also, do you think that you can do a ranking of the Japanese emperors or the Korean kings?
F would be 3/10, E would be 4/10, and D would be 5/10. I am interested in ranking Korean kings. Japanese Emperors would be harder to do as I don’t know how I would go about ranking constitutional monarchs, but I might get around to that one day.
@redtaiga6576 Here’s how I would’ve named the different tiers if I made my own version of this list: Dìyù tier (F tier): These emperors are so bad, that 1912 (the year that the Republic of China was established) couldn't have come quick enough for China. Hungry Ghost tier (E tier): Pretty bad emperors, some of them plunged China into a freefall, others were initially good, but worsened over the course of their reigns. Animal tier (D tier): This is where we see the child/puppet emperors. Either tried to be good rulers, but failed badly, or they were disposed not long after they were enthroned. Demigod tier (C tier): These emperors have mixed to okay reigns. Human tier (B tier): These emperors were good, but had one or two big flaws that keep them out of the A tier. God tier (A tier): These emperors had great reigns and left a largely positive impact on China Moksha/Tang Taizong tier (S tier): Tang Taizong's tier. When you think of China's golden age, you would think of Tang Taizong.
I noticed that your opinion towards minority or non-Han ethic group is more empathatic, that is an interesting division. Most people in China won't blame the Emperor for excecuting "foreign" group of people, because in most case they are the order disrupter and pose threat to Han chinese who are mostly farmers and living in agriculture society. As my understanding, those people being excecuted for certain reason because they pose threat to the stability to the society. That's just my own take.
51:35 which one?! Tuoba Tao or Cao Cao?! also Sui Yang emperor is actually pretty decent.....well, he is tyrannical as shit but he did build a canal and created some pretty good infrastructure
It's Tuoba Tao. Cao Cao is Wu of Wei, Tuoba Tao is Taiwu of Wei. Tuoba Tao reunified the north after the chaotic 16 Kingdoms period. He could be cruel, but it was the Northern and Southern dynasties. Everyone had serious flaws in that era.
bro以为自己是吃了长生不老药的秦国人，活了两千多年而且每朝每代都辅佐当时的王侯将相，拥有各色历史事件真实可靠的一手资料。如果你说不是，你只是看某本正史野史、或者有什么所谓考古证据证明了某些文字记载啥的，觉得 Wikipedia 上的历史是“错的”，那你可以去修改，看看能不能辩论过其他编辑者。让他们觉得你改的对。在这里拉了坨名叫“我只能说xxxx”的屎，闭口不提哪里错了，对讨论没有任何帮助。但、如果你真的自命不凡到、觉得一个洋人做的娱乐排名视频、威胁到了你作为这个话题的权威，我建议你把代理关了，能退款就退款，然后去医院挂个号。
This is the worst take possible if you've ever studied Chinese history. Mao Zedong is much alike Qin Shi Huang and established a new state instead of bringing one down to its knees. Often people critique the Great Leap Forward for the famine associated with it but let me ask you, How was a mostly naturally caused famine his fault and howany famines have happened in Chinese history? Also consider, what was the last famine in Chinese history and who ended in the cycle of famine in China (Mao increased caloric intake two times and the population skyrocketed under him). Another critique is the Cultural revolution, which although had many excesses isn't any different from the large scale massacres and destruction associated with the formation of a new Chinese dynasty.
No, Mao would be placed in B Tier most likely due to his military conquests. We just know more about him bad point but changing dynasties often resulted in stuff like Mao's purges.
Every single feudal period of China is horrible and hideous with indescribable cruelty. I would rather name Puyi the best emperor. Yes, he is a puppet, a traitor and got no credit whatsoever for ending the dynasty. He ended it nonetheless and that’s enough.
The toddler emperor couldn't be everything at once in every moment he was emperor of all China. And children are literally nothing compared to bloodthirsty ambitious warlords turned civilizational hegemons
Upon reflection, there are some emperors I think I was too harsh on and some I was too lenient to (changing because every new person is commenting this, but I would definitely have ranked Wu Zetian, for example, as an A-tier if I did it today). But overall, I'm happy with the end product.
Imagine doing a tier-list of every Chinese monarch from the historic Shang dynasty down to the Emperor of Manchukuo
I'm guessing this video was inspired by Spectrum's roman emperor tier list. So many parallels and the exact same humour 🤣
@@jackchuah_502 Definitely, I really liked his Roman Emperor video.
What are the music used here
The excitement really starts a few min in he says "lets begin..number 131", not when I woke up wondering what the rankings of Chinese emperors are then stumbled on this greatness
Sui Yangdi actually did have some accomplishments that werent mentioned in the video, such as ordering the construction of the great canal (extremely resource/life consuming) which probably wasnt a good idea to build at the time but definitely benefitted future generations
He was also the first one to set up keju（科举）which was basically a way for ordinary citizens to be able to take an exam to join the government, helping in reducing the influence of powerful families in the government and giving everyone else a way to become a government official (which was very sought after)
Still a very controversial emperor but I just thought that only mentioning his failures and ignoring all of his accomplishments was kind of unfair
Just as a rule of thumb, any ruler in history that gets a lower ranking than a baby that ruled for a short time before kicking the bucket is one that has messed up in more ways than one.
Damn, you actually did it. Very few RUclipsrs have the patience to go through every chinese emperor.
As someone who speaks Mandarin, I had a stroke within the first minute. Good job
As a Chinese, it's hard to imagine your effort put into this video as a foreigner. Overall objective and fair. Wonderful!
To be fair, Sui Yangdi was very different from Qin Ershi, in a sense that the latter is completely fucked up, bur the former is an example of great ambitions backfiring. Sui Yangdi started the civil examination system, built the grand canal and started highly effective military campains againest China's greatest threats from both east and west. But in the process he doomed his dynasty.
Also I think you confuesd Jin Xiaowudi with Jin Wudi, the former is the one with the battle of Fei river, drinking and murder by his concubine, while the latter is the one with retard son and had his dynasty collapse in 24 years.
Honestly I think of Sui Yangdi as Han Wudi but placed in the wrong generation. Part of the reason why Han Wudi could pull such a feat was due to the 80 years of built up and prosperity under Han Wendi mostly. If the Sui continued under Wendi's policies for another 50 years then Yangdi's ambition could've been achieved.
His Korean campaigns were a massive logistical disaster that ended up repeatedly starving his armies to death (too many men to feed). Yeah…
This is probably the best we're going to get. If this guy also ranked the Emperors of the Three Kingdoms, Northern and Southern Dynasties, Western Xia, Great Liao, Jurchen Jin, Southern Ming, Northern Yuan, the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms and the Kingdoms that existed before the Qin unified China, this video would be three hours long.
I would watch 3hrs.
Should have made the list 1000 people looking including every little kingdom and tribe.
BTW, if interested, I recommand everyone to see what a Qing emperor's daily schedule look like. Compare to modern people's workload, it is easy to see why those good emperor being tired later in their life. Ruling China is really a hard hard hard job.
Song Shenzong (C tier) is probably my favourite emperor in my favourite dynasty. The dude really tried hard to be a good and active emperor in an era when China was beset by enemies.
This is a list I mostly agree with.
I'd put Wu Zetian in A tier. You were a bit too harsh with her rise to power, given that the number 1 emperor Tang Taizong murdered his brothers and his brothers' sons for power.
I'd put Emperor Gaozu in B tier. He was a good administrator but I'd say the Court Intrigue between his sons and being overthrown by one due to his bad handling of it should demote him to B tier.
Fair enough. I think if I made the video later, I would have been harsher on some emperors (the Yuan emperors) and more lenient on others (Wu Zetian). It actually occurred to me that some of these placements are outdated, but by that point I had spent 3 months on this and decided that it wasn’t worth it.
This is a masterpiece
Very informative and well edited, hoping more people can see it 👍
Thank you!!! One of my favorite videos of the year! :)
Bruh I dont understand how this video get this amount of views this is literally good
Im shocked by the low views ,i thought this video must have like 200k views . Maybe people on a Western app dont like anything Chinese
This is completely deranged. Thank you for creating this so I don't have to. I still might.
I really love this video, he did a great work and showed great dedication to his work in researching for his video.😍
My only complaint is that he didn't give us a date of when each one ruled.There are just so many I just can't keep up and can only retain a few names.🤣
You put a lot into this! Way to go!
In am a chinese, here learning about chinese emperors on a english channel, youtube is a crazy place
I am from Hong Kong, and the ratings are pretty fair tbh lmao, pronunciations are quite spot on actually
I'm Chinese, here's my top 10 list:
1. Qin Shi Huang (嬴政 Ying Zheng)
2. Emperor Wu of Han (刘彻 Liu Che)
3. Emperor Taizong of Tang (李世民 Li Shimin)
4. Emperor Gaozu of Han (刘邦 Liu Bang)
5. Emperor Wen of Sui (杨坚 Yang Jian)
6. Emperor Taizu of Ming (朱元璋 Zhu Yuanzhang)
7. Emperor Guangwu of Han (刘秀 Liu Xiu)
8. Emperor Xuan of Han (刘询 Liu Xun)
9. Emperor Gaozong of Tang (李治 Li Zhi)
10. Emperor Wen of Han (刘恒 Liu Heng)
I've tried to give my reasons, but I couldn't do it in a succinct way.
Everyone is going to have their own list based off of their own opinions. I can 100% understand where you are coming from in this list.
Qin Shi Huang is overrated.
"None of the fighting men I have sent against you now are of my own nation(guoren aka xianbei). To the northeast of the wall dingling(turks) and Hu(xiongnu); to the south of the walls are Di and Qiang(tibetans)" - Emperor Taiwu of Wei
man I love him so much its unreal
Northern Wei stans unite!
1:42 he could have been a great emperor, if he focused on either invading Korea, or building the grand canal, or anything
But he did it all at once, and yeah
The Korean invasion was so horribly managed logistics-wise that it was doomed to fail from the start. His army was literally too big to feed, even when he tried to change things up by having a smaller detachment march on the Goguryeo capital (Pyeongyang) while the main army tried (and failed) to take the major defensive fortifications. Turns out that even the detachment was too big to feed (and not helped by constant harassment from enemy cavalry units and scorched-earth tactics), and bad coordination with naval forces meant the naval forces that landed near Pyongyang with supplies landed too early and were beaten before the detachment got to Pyeongyang.
Since Roman Emperors were blessed with these words "May he be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan", the Chinese Emperors should've had this blessing "May he be more fortunate than Han Gaozu and better than Han Wudi".
50:30 the books that he burned are mainly about witchcraft. Actually, a lot of historical documents and medical documents was carefully kept, leading to the publish of Shiji (which means history, literally) and Huangdi Neijing (the book that established the system of Chinese medicine)
Also me personally won’t put Liu Bang at such a high place due to the way he treated Hanxin and Zhangliang
@@EdenBright-h4d Fair.
@@EdenBright-h4dalso Liu bang was basically a misogynistic guy that lived off of charisma. Look at what he did to his son while he was fleeing during his battle with 西楚霸王. He pushed him under the carriage! He was just a baby! And his supposed heir! Everyone that helped him was way smarter than him and he just let them do things for him. And then he killed them.
@@VWYL900802 yeah, also he once almost became a tyrant after take over the capital city of Qin, only was brought back to the right track by Zhangliang
To be fair, 121 wasn't supposed to be an emperor, so he never received the proper training an Emperor would. His passion for carpentry is adorable though. He'd sit and make furniture while the officials were talking
When you pronounce chinese names it sounds like pots and pans falling on the ground.
lmao
I made a separate ranking for emperors of the Northern and Southern dynasties (I didn't put in puppet emperors, also no Gao Huan or Yuwen Tai, if I included them, Gao Huan would be A Tier and Yuwen Tai A+ Tier):
A+ Tier (none of them deserve S Tier): 1. Tuoba Tao (Taiwu of N. Wei), 2. Liu Yu (Wu of Liu Song)
A Tier: 3. Tuoba Gui (Daowu of N. Wei) 4. Yuan Hong (Xiaowen of N. Wei) 5. Yuwen Yong (Wu of N. Zhou)
A- Tier: 6. Tuoba Si (Mingyuan of N. Wei) 7. Chen Qian (Wen of Chen) 8. Tuoba Hong (Xianwen of N. Wei), 9. Liu Yilong (Wen of Liu Song)
B+ Tier: 10. Xiao Ze (Wu of S. Qi) 11. Tuoba Jun (Wencheng of N. Wei) 12. Chen Xu (Xuan of Chen)
B Tier: 13. Gao Yang (Wenxuan of N. Qi) 14. Xiao Daocheng (Gao of S. Qi) 15. Chen Baxian (Wu of Chen) 16. Liu Jun (Xiaowu of Liu Song) 17. Gao Yan (Xiaozhao of N. Qi)
C Tier: 18. Xiao Yan (Wu of Liang) 19. Yuwen Yu (Ming of N. Zhou) 20. Yuan Ke (Xuanwu of N. Wei)
D Tier: 21. Liu Yu (Ming of Liu Song) 22. Xiao Luan (Ming of S. Qi) 23. Xiao Yi (Yuan of Liang)
E Tier: 24. Xiao Zhaoye (S. Qi) 25. Liu Yifu (Shao of Liu Song) 26. Gao Zhan (Wucheng of N. Qi) 27. Yuwen Yun (Xuan of N. Zhou)
F Tier: 28. Liu Ziye (Qianfei of Liu Song) 29. Xiao Baojuan (S. Qi) 30. Liu Yu (Houfei of Liu Song) 31. Gao Wei (Houzhu of N. Qi)
Nice. I admittedly don’t know too much about the Northern and Southern dynasties but I will be sure to look into them.
@@redtaiga6576 That Liu Ziye manages not to be the number 1 worst emperor is quite impressive. I put the other three below him only because the Liu Song dynasty didn't collapse the second that he died.
And the Northern Wei emperors need to stop ingesting mercury.
@@redtaiga6576 From what I've seen Xiao Yan is a bit like Li Longji (started out great, turned corrupt, huge rebellion did massive damage at the end of the reign), and Tuoba Si is a bit like Yongzheng (competent administrator, overshadowed by more military-minded father and son).
Really agree with you that Emperor Tang Taizong of Tang dynasty was the greatest emperor of all time among others
99% accuracy, You are amazing.
Yongle Emperor has an English name ---- Judy.
His actual name is Zhudi which is very similar to the pronunciation of Judy. So let's call him Judy next time. lol
1. Qin shihuang - he killed a lot of people yes, but without him China wouldn’t be China but just another medieval Europe. 2. Tang Taizong. 3. Kangxi. 4. Yongzheng. For me Han Wudi wouldn’t even make the top 10. Bro outspent all the riches and powers that his predecessors had accumulated up until that point. Most important of all, a lot of horses died during his reign. After him, the Hans started to decline. The same goes for with Qianlong.
@@DT-im1dp Honestly, all of those are understandable. However, one could argue that people like Han Wudi and the Qianlong Emperor tanked China in the short term, but grew it in the long term. In particular, Han Wudi’s conquest of Southern China incorporated what is today an integral part of China proper.
Wu zetian was a bad parent and her rise to power was ruthless, but the same can be said about many of the rulers u placed in A and S tier. Tang taizong literally murdered his brothers and usurped his father to become emperor, so it seems unfair that these standards are only enforced on Wuzetian, but not the male rulers on the list.
I actually think I was too harsh on her. It was just that I was several months along on editing and I didn’t want to go restart again.
@@redtaiga6576 This video probably took ages to make, so I totally understand! Glad u see my point of view ☺️
Gaozu of Han also killed many of his generals who helped to put him in the throne like Han Xin ,or another guy he turned him into sauce
I think Han Xin was actually killed by Gaozu's Wife while he was gone. Han Xin asked for too many Lordship titles.
@@CryptoNews2 yes ,Emperess Lu is a monster ,but Gaozu already had intention to kill Han Xin anyways
@@CuoiCUOI-rg9pc To be fair Han Xin did force Gaozu to make him acting King of Qi during the Han-Chu contention, effectively usurping his boss.
He’s just an ordinary guy, but he push his son off his carriage while running for his life, he punished a lot of high ranking officials as soon as he got into power, he ended up in paranoia, he was a misogynist who got lucky.
A lot of that was on Han Xin for being politically idiotic and even trying to screw over his boss at times (including while Xiang Yu was still alive!).
W ranking 🔥
Is Cao Cao the "Wei Taiwudi" you added in honourable mentions?
No. The Wei Taiwudi I added was an emperor of the Northern Wei dynasty in the Northern and Southern period.
@@redtaiga6576 Ah yes, I looked him up and he did expand his kingdom much like Wu of Han did, but he did get murdered at the end by a eunuch.
Since you have kings in honourable mentions I thought that Cao Cao would be a good choice since he did hold the title of king in his final years.
Cao Cao never went so far as to proclaim himself Emperor. That dishonor falls on Cao Pi.
Hmm. I woulda put Wu Zetian at A tier. It's not like the S-tier and A-tier guys were such great parents or without secret police.
@@massoluk I already said this in other comments, but I think I was too harsh on her and, if I made this video now, I would have easily put her in A-tier.
Do you have links for the music used?
If you could put empress dowager Cixi on this list, what tier would you put her in?
I’m kind of lenient towards her, so I put her in C or B tier
Admittedly, I don’t know too much about her, but I would place her much lower than you would’ve.
@@redtaiga6576 她应该是F
Definitely F, if in normal dynasties she could be in C or B. But the era of 3,000 years came to an end, and for this exam, she got an F? NO, she got ....ZZZZZZZZZZZ
I think you rate Qianlong a bit too highly. His Ten Great Campaigns, half of which were just putting down rebellions, massively drained the Qing treasury. One of these was a disasterous war against Burma, and another ended with his ordering the genocide of the Dzungars. Also he persecuted Christians so there's also that.
Great tier list! I would personally disagree with Han Wudi’s placement as he is at most B tier for me. While his military conquests were impressive, they basically drained the full treasury he had inherited from his father. Also, making Confucianism the state idealogy wasn’t a great thing because he destroyed the intellectual diversity of the Early Han. His apology for his mistakes is good but it doesn’t change the fact that he killed many innocent people, like Sima Qian and even the crown prince. The Han state had suffered a lot from his reign.
Still a great tier list though!
I can definitely see where you’re coming from. I know that he drained the finances to fund his projects and I agree that his apology doesn’t really excuse his despotic actions. Despite this, I placed him high because of his influence and because I think the positives outweigh the negatives, and while China was definitely unstable in the short term, I think they benefitted in the long term.
All I remember from this video: 司机司机帶帶我
Man that was so good
I don't agree that Emperor Wu is the second best and Emperor Yang is the second worst just because Wu didn't directly destroy the country although Emperor Yang and Emperor Wu did essentially the same thing.
I see where you’re coming from, but I ranked Han Wudi as high as I did because, while China experienced some short term pain after his death, his policies were good for the long term influence. His conquest of Southern China, and the securing of the Silk Road had a great effect on the influence that China would wield throughout the centuries. Sui Yangdi, on the other hand, fucked up everything that he tried to do and ran his dynasty into the ground, especially impressive because he was only the second emperor of the dynasty and his predecessor was one of the best emperors China ever had.
you can't really compare Han Wudi and Sui Yangdi. One stabalized China against the Xiognu and had good policies and one just drove his dynasty into the ground.
Sorry for mispronouncing the names, I'm American lol
Being a Chinese to see this is so funny LMAO especially when you mention the standard being an innocent baby
Underrated af
As a Vietnamese ,i actually can remember and know like 90% of these lol
I think Han Mingdi should be A tier and make into the top 12. Along with Yongzheng, he was also one of the most underrated. Besides successfully defeating the Xiongnu and reconnecting the Silk Road, he was the first emperor to patronize the introduction of Buddhism, and also very succesful at building the flood control system (which lasted for centuries). He also effectively controlled the maternal clans and solidified the rule of emperor.
For Han Wudi, I must say he is also A tier but should not be in the top 4. His decision to make Confucianism the only accepted ideology was a huge mistake and he really had terrible records at overtaxing people and creating famines. Maybe he should be in top 10, a bit higher than Hongwu of Ming.
And Song Huizong must be at E or even F tier. Although he was very good at arts, all of the decisions during his reigns were disastrous. He actively supported Taoism by overtaxing people to build temples and created lots of riots. Not only that, he was the major reason for the Jingkang incident that arguably led to the permanent decline of Song, despite their revival in the South.
Where’s Tang Dezong?
He's at 15:14.
@@redtaiga6576 thank you very much
Why does this have low views?
as a chingus chongus, i had a fucking seizure within the first minute. also, WTF THIS MAN MADE AN HOUR LONG VID RANKING EVERY CHINESE EMPEROR THATS MILLENIUMS WORTH OF HISTORY WTF
@@BobtheFixer-tb9jj my power level is off the charts
christiano ronaldo is my favorite emperor of the suiii dynasty
Tianqi emperor (Zhu Youxiao) wasn't that bad
he give power to his most trusted eunuch Wei Zhongxian, which crushed the most corrupted official group. Even though the eunuch group is also corrupted, they are responsible to the emperor directly. at least he made it possible for future emperors to actually have power rather than Overhead by other officials
The Ming got overthrown just a bit later…
Wu Zetian should be A-tier. She was ruthless like any other Chinese emperor were but was undoubtedly a brilliant stateswoman. It is shameful you treated her unfairly because she is woman when men did the same thing.
@@aliciazhang1ty I’ve literally said in multiple other comments that if I made this video today, I would have ranked her higher.
No, in modern days she is overestimated just because she is a woman.
@@hlin3 She is underestimated. She was literally the richest woman who ever lived. 15 times richer than the other 10 richest women taken together. A testament to the fact that her empire was incredibly wealthy and prosperous.
on tier F did it mean anything with poorly writing the chinese characters
@@Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmc I don’t think poorly writing them was the intention, but I’m happy to take criticism if you point it out to me.
Good video, although I suggest going chronologically is probably better.
So… where the hell is Kublai Khan?
@@CommonSwindler Somehow, he got into A tier.
Common Swindler from PDB???
how easy did it take to pronounce "khutughtu khan" not to make fun of it
I wouldn't have counted the child Emperors.
What does the F, E, and D terms mean in the context of this video? Also, do you think that you can do a ranking of the Japanese emperors or the Korean kings?
F would be 3/10, E would be 4/10, and D would be 5/10.
I am interested in ranking Korean kings. Japanese Emperors would be harder to do as I don’t know how I would go about ranking constitutional monarchs, but I might get around to that one day.
@@redtaiga6576 For the ranking of Japanese Emperors, I think that you would have to rank both the Emperors and Shoguns together.
@redtaiga6576 Here’s how I would’ve named the different tiers if I made my own version of this list:
Dìyù tier (F tier): These emperors are so bad, that 1912 (the year that the Republic of China was established) couldn't have come quick enough for China.
Hungry Ghost tier (E tier): Pretty bad emperors, some of them plunged China into a freefall, others were initially good, but worsened over the course of their reigns.
Animal tier (D tier): This is where we see the child/puppet emperors. Either tried to be good rulers, but failed badly, or they were disposed not long after they were enthroned.
Demigod tier (C tier): These emperors have mixed to okay reigns.
Human tier (B tier): These emperors were good, but had one or two big flaws that keep them out of the A tier.
God tier (A tier): These emperors had great reigns and left a largely positive impact on China
Moksha/Tang Taizong tier (S tier): Tang Taizong's tier. When you think of China's golden age, you would think of Tang Taizong.
I noticed that your opinion towards minority or non-Han ethic group is more empathatic, that is an interesting division. Most people in China won't blame the Emperor for excecuting "foreign" group of people, because in most case they are the order disrupter and pose threat to Han chinese who are mostly farmers and living in agriculture society. As my understanding, those people being excecuted for certain reason because they pose threat to the stability to the society. That's just my own take.
@@celine_2084 That is pretty interesting now that you mention it.
51:35 which one?! Tuoba Tao or Cao Cao?! also Sui Yang emperor is actually pretty decent.....well, he is tyrannical as shit but he did build a canal and created some pretty good infrastructure
It's Tuoba Tao. Cao Cao is Wu of Wei, Tuoba Tao is Taiwu of Wei. Tuoba Tao reunified the north after the chaotic 16 Kingdoms period. He could be cruel, but it was the Northern and Southern dynasties. Everyone had serious flaws in that era.
great
@@KangxiEmperor-o5b no way is that the kangxi emperor
Jin Dyanasty, shitty indeed lol
Those guys were basically speedrunning how fast they could ruin a country.
@@redtaiga6576
The first thing they did after getting rid of Wei, Shu and Wu was to resume the civil war they just ended, only now among themselves!
@@bkjeong4302 Jia Chong military evasion moment
非常不合理的事，晋惠帝竟然比宋仁宗还高。
要知道，宋仁宗开创了四十余年的平静盛世，死后被民众深深地悼念。而晋惠帝搞砸了一切
Bro the music in the background makes the video so annoying to watch
Ming Taizu below Qing Gaozong? No way….hard disagree
E tier zhou dysty
Yu bo sun
Love the language
Cool
Pu Yi, C-Tier? *Really???*
First off, he’s actually in D tier. Secondly, the only reason he’s not lower is that I didn’t take Emperors of Manchukuo into account for my list.
based
我只能说维基百科上的中国历史错误太多了，这排名有点扯
bro以为自己是吃了长生不老药的秦国人，活了两千多年而且每朝每代都辅佐当时的王侯将相，拥有各色历史事件真实可靠的一手资料。如果你说不是，你只是看某本正史野史、或者有什么所谓考古证据证明了某些文字记载啥的，觉得 Wikipedia 上的历史是“错的”，那你可以去修改，看看能不能辩论过其他编辑者。让他们觉得你改的对。在这里拉了坨名叫“我只能说xxxx”的屎，闭口不提哪里错了，对讨论没有任何帮助。但、如果你真的自命不凡到、觉得一个洋人做的娱乐排名视频、威胁到了你作为这个话题的权威，我建议你把代理关了，能退款就退款，然后去医院挂个号。
F tier map zedong
Even the very worst of these Emperors doesn't hold a candle to how bad Mao was.
true
Oh things were way worse under the Qin dynasty than under Mao
This is the worst take possible if you've ever studied Chinese history. Mao Zedong is much alike Qin Shi Huang and established a new state instead of bringing one down to its knees. Often people critique the Great Leap Forward for the famine associated with it but let me ask you, How was a mostly naturally caused famine his fault and howany famines have happened in Chinese history? Also consider, what was the last famine in Chinese history and who ended in the cycle of famine in China (Mao increased caloric intake two times and the population skyrocketed under him). Another critique is the Cultural revolution, which although had many excesses isn't any different from the large scale massacres and destruction associated with the formation of a new Chinese dynasty.
No, Mao would be placed in B Tier most likely due to his military conquests. We just know more about him bad point but changing dynasties often resulted in stuff like Mao's purges.
No lol, wtf , how?
Every single feudal period of China is horrible and hideous with indescribable cruelty. I would rather name Puyi the best emperor. Yes, he is a puppet, a traitor and got no credit whatsoever for ending the dynasty. He ended it nonetheless and that’s enough.
that is by modern standard.
in the old standard is quite good.
The toddler emperor couldn't be everything at once in every moment he was emperor of all China.
And children are literally nothing compared to bloodthirsty ambitious warlords turned civilizational hegemons
first in my heart HONGZHI 。hhh It's hard to create such a video 😍😍😍