A master class in geopolitics

I always found value in understanding a regions geographical layout before you could truly comprehend the history and development of their contemporary society. Mountain valleys, rivers, deltas, etc all have crucial roles in divisions and connections alike so it’s eye opening to understand these things. You do an excellent job in accentuating the role of geography in Chinese historical narratives.

This is so interesting!!! This the way history was taught when I was in school. I'm so glad to have this information in English. I've been studying Chinese history on my own for a while, off and on, this one video made everything fall into place. Also, thank you for pronouncing the Chinese names clearly and slowly. It gives me good chance at being able to learn them. I also like when you break down the names and explain the meaning of different parts like east and west. I like all the maps and how you highlight and add arrows and names when it complements the narration. Keep up the good work!!

When studying Chinese history in college, we never learned much about the geography and how it affected events. The best we would get was an outline of Asia with some lines drawn over it. This is so enlightening!

Legit one of the most interesting channels on yt, glad this got recommended

Recommending this channel to everyone I meet

Fascinating! I know the broad strokes of Chinese history. But you really get into the nitty-gritty battle tactics of certain states, here during the famed Three Kingdoms Period, 三國時代. Keep up the good work! I had vaguely heard about the Huai River, and I knew that Hefei was the capital of Anhui Province. But now I know why Hefei is so important. You filled in so many gaps to my historical knowledge. Thank you! (You should definitely do a video on the importance of the Hexi Corridor (河西走廊) to Chinese history. It's such an underrated part of China that influenced so much of its development, especially the importance of Chang'an as a capital city for almost 1,000 years.)

The Huai River was also the cultural and bio geographic division between N and S in prehistoric times) Palaeolithic and Neolithic). It would be great if you could do a video summarizing the geographical history of those formative times.

This channel is such a treasure to have found. Really gives you some insight into chinese geography and dynamics. Thank you so much for making these!

One of the best video to explain the history of a region with the effects of geograpgy on it.

Came across your channel! It’s very interesting and informative. Please continue with your regular uploads!!!!

These are really great, please continue making them.

You're the best underground history youtuber I've seen in a long time, keep it up!

Outstanding video! The way you blend geography and history to galvanize stories and lessons is terrific. In 15 minutes I went from having almost zero knowledge to feeling like I had a good handle on both the geography and the broad strokes of the area's history. Thanks!

Just stumbled upon this video today. Excellently presented a topic I never knew was this interesting. Going to check your other content.

Wonderfully informative channel, thank you for putting together such a well-organized presentation. Very glad that the algorithm led me to this, I can't wait to go through your back catalogue!

So cool, fantastic,great podcast, keep up the great work

Very good indeed. I stumbled in another video of the series and couldnt stop hearing it. This is of the same quality.

Absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much

I had some knowledge on the history of China. And this video gave me a new insight on the geographic background on the wars between Cao Cao and Sun family. So helpful!

Excellent presentation. The history is well scripted and compelling, the maps are very helpful, and the personalities vivid. I hope you get more subscribers and viewers. Truly one of the best historical channels on YT and especially for Chinese history. In 15 minutes you helped me connect numerous small isolated facts I'd known. BTW, I was in China in 1995 and 96, and sailed the 3 Gorges before the dam was started. Very fond of China!

thank you very much! i have been intereted in military geography of China for some time. seem to have learned something but not fully grasp the idea. but this video really give me a vivid understanding of the basic analysis.i finally understand the route of marching is heavily constrained by the logistics usually by river transport.

.. excellent engaging commentary..one of the most descriptive easy to understand stories of ancient china ever told..cheers..!!..

Many thanks for this clear informative lessons!!

Fantastic job!

This is my second time on your channel, and I enjoyed this one as well. Thank you. China is a big place, and I liked the brief look at some of its geographic diversity. God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

You deserve a lot more subscribers.

Would love a video dedicated to the Sichuan basin and what makes it unique. What are the mountain passes available to invading armies? How is navigation through the entrance gorges?

Great channel 👍

Two river cross Anhui province, my hometown is in Southern of yanze river, we eat rice. the people living between yangze and huai river eat wheat and rice , the people from north huai river eat wheat.

terrific explanation! please keep it up!

Fascinating stuff

Keep uploading man, you motivate me to make my own channel Thank you

Under rated channel

you remind me of the channel of prometeus about history, and I was interessed for chinese history, but didn't have an great start, this may help me understand more chinese history, thank you

Superb

very imformative

Very good.

This presentation of how China's geography affected a period of its ancient history is very interesting and very helpful. Considering the geographical exigencies alone, the resources and technical skills needed to contend in these continental struggles must have been vast. So much ongoing conflict! It reminds me of European history. Thank you.

Thanks

Nice

as a native hefeinese, great video, you explained extremely well.

Your new video on Xiangyang was the first of yours I had seen, and am now watching many of them. Now that you have gotten into a pretty deep history of Nanyang overall, I would love to see one over the Huai, for earlier history. It has been hard for me to really get a great geographical and REAL historical understanding of China long before it became China, because there is so much mythologized "history", and extreme bias towards one small part of China. I know there is a lot of Chinese scholarship done on the so-called "Yi", the people to the east who weren't Hua during the Shang and Zhou, but I've found almost none of it in English. Were they a different cultural group to the Longshan, or were the Huaiyi the Longshan's successors? How did the Huaiyi in particular become the kingdoms that Sinicized in the Spring and Autumn period? Like, historically, not just what the Chinese historians say, but what is backed up with archeology and numismatics and things of that sort. I know of the Xu and Xue and Wu kingdoms, how did they coalesce into kingdoms, and what happened to them after conquered by Qi and Wu, and then the Yue, and Chu? Were they just assimilated, and became outright Hua? Or did they retain a lot of cultural distinction, like the Greeks even during all the time of Roman control? I know that the region, and just across the Yangtze, became hugely important in the end of the Spring and Autumn period, and especially in to the Warring States, but I don't really know how. All I can really find is "trade, lots of bronze because they had trade networks south, where the tin comes from". The Three Kingdoms kingdom of Wu is obviously based, at least at first entirely and later economically, around the heart of the old Wu kingdom, and some of old Chu, it is apparent that is the entire reason there WERE three kingdoms (had Wei taken the southeast Shu would have been conquered easily) but there is a big gap in *how* that happens. It just seems to be "well Sun Tzu comes along and teaches the semi-barbarians how to war, and they win, but then other semi-barbarians (Yue) come and they take it, but then the Chu who are good, proper Chinese by this time take it". And that is obviously just...not true. At all. Anyway, a deep-dive into the lower Huai in its earlier history would be really appreciated. Maybe Shandong along with it. Basically everything the Shang thought of as "the eastern barbarians".

Can you do Vietnam next, Vietnam is very similar to China in North-South divide.

這視頻的製作很好,有否中文版？

How do you feel about the growing chinese american rivalry?

Hefei.. What is it good for?..🎵

Wow.

Are those people speak/spoke different dialects of Chinese, or different languages?

Existential threat hefei city for Sun Quan

The differences are existed because of the living environment and limited mobility in ancient times.

Can't properly teach conquest/conflict history without maps and explanation of the terrain.

North China (from Beijing to Manchuria) is Altaic land, not Han Chinese anymore. After 2000 years of nomadic invasions most of Han Chinese moved south to Southern China.. Southern Chinese are 100% Han Chinese..

I feel like the north always wins

I wish China was two different countries, north and south.

Big dump mountain

Ha ha! And here I am thinking that the GEOGRAPHY came first! lol The Geography came first; then societies are later created according to the geographical layout. This means that the geography DID NOT so-called "shape the north-south Chinese divide"! The PEOPLE did ... all by themselves ALONE! It is not like Chinese people were a monolith, occupying all of the land; and then up sprung the geography to so-call "divide" the people.

😢I heard Chinglish accent

North and South China and even autosomes are different. Southerners are merely mestizo, especially on both sides of the Huai River. The difference is very obvious. In the north, you can clearly see that they have many fat people and big bones. Few Westerners come to the north.especially southern shandong area,The so called pure Dawenkou culture zone,Fat people,large bones,drinking alcohol 24/7

"Varieties of Chinese", is this another kind of avoiding to say that these are different languages?

Mutually unintelligible?? dawg you’re racist to other Chinese people that’s fkn wild

It's BCE and CE, not BC and AD. Much more correct. Not everyone is Christian in our world.

Glory to the Chinese Racw

Can you do a video about Taiwan, specifically why China never conquered it until the early modern era, despite it being easily within their capabilities to do so. It seems so odd that present day China seems like they'd be prepared to risk WW3 for control of Taiwan, but for litterally thousands of years, ancient and medieval China just didn't care about it.