Intro to Historical Chinese Geography

An overview of the major rivers, mountains, and ancient cities that have shaped Chinese history for over thousands of years.

This is a remake of my first ever video on this channel, which was uploaded in February 2022, although I have added so much new material that it is essentially a completely new video. The original video has very poor sound quality since I did not know how to use a microphone properly back then. It is currently unlisted, although you can find it here:

Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons

#chinesehistory #china #geography #yangtzeriver #yellowriver #yangtze #beijing #luoyang #中国历史 #中国地理 #历史 #地理

[kevinelruler]

It's so hard to find quality geography content that's not western oriented. Thank you so much for this.

[LaggingGames]

This is an invaluable resource to understand historical Chinese geopolitics, great work man

[TheWhiskyDelta]

Fun notes on the yellow river.

It's course originally was mostly more northerly before the more recent millenia (This is why Anyang was the Shang captial for example).

It's changing course and intense flooding means that the central plains, despite it's immense farming wealth, has historically lacked major cities actually located within the plains. Instead all the major cities are found around the edge of the plains along mountainsides; Anyang, Luoyang, Kaifend, Xuchang etc. Even Xuzhou of Cao Cao, is located in a small hill region.

Indeed if you go through the big cities today in the plains a great many have no significant history marked from before the modern era. And even those that do were usually just regional hubs. Compare that to the Yangtze where most cities have existed as major cities for thousands of years.


The second fun thing of note is that the Bay of Bohai used to be far larger. The land Tianjin sits on didn't even exist 1000 years ago. When it was first founded Beijing may have been nearly coastal

[lexsongtw]

As a Taiwanese, I really wish our teacher had taught us this geography overview before diving into Chinese history. Even for me, this video helps clarify why many events unfolded the way they did. I learned a lot from it.

[gutyhuy]

I really like this, just wish it had even more in it, such as the Hetao plain, Min River, Pearl River, Liao River ans Liao Dong peninsula. Also some more mentions of Chengdu and Chongqing and historical Ba-Shu. Or how the Guangzhou and the pearl river delta connected China to the Maritime Silk Road. Still really good though.

[laturnich]

A marked improvement on the original video. Always happy to see the progression of your channel. Keep at it!

[sevrent]

wow this was good. I've been looking for some more detailed explanations of Chinese history. Especially ones that consider Chinese culture/conciousness around it.

[nzfnnxn]

Incredible video. Loved you mixing of American slang and Chinese enunciation/pronunciation. So many Chinese history videos I've watched now make much more sense. Shay a shay.

[tieck]

Informative, pleasant, well-paced. Thank you!

[Michael-el]

This is fabulous. I've always struggled to fully understand Chinese geography from a historical perspective, but you've presented this with great clarity. Many thanks!

[Tinil]

Oh man, thank you so much for this. As you know, a geographic understanding of an area is like...50% of the entire understanding of the history of the area, it influences EVERYTHING to the point where you think it's almost destiny how history played out because of the geography involved. I've always really lacked that with China and wanted to know more, so this is great. Understanding the core divides in Chinese history is so very important to understanding how and why stuff happened the way it did.

[kyudanpi]

As a Chinese born in China, I was surprised how well-made this video is. I have no complaints except that maybe you can mention why and how the deforestation took place (like due to climate change and population overgrowth, etc.). You are on the way to explain how the geography, economy, and social structures made China what it was in the past and what it is today. Keep up the great work!

[Ufthak]

Fantastic introductory video. Subscribed immediately.

Would love to see more videos on how millennia of intensive agriculture and river flow manipulation made it progressively more difficult to manage the rivers in North China Plain and Yangtze.

[HandsomeBoh]

I studied history at one of the best universities in the world, listened to lectures by 易中天 and other famous professors, read most of the historical texts you refer to in your videos, even read countless academic papers, and I can decisively say that your videos are better than literally anything else out there! It’s a truly valuable resource for getting people up to speed rapidly.

Chinese academics are often extremely biased towards established narratives; and Western academics are usually either super niche or somewhat clueless. Yours is the only resource I’ve seen which is concise, impartial, and accurate.

What’s the best way to support you and help you continue to make new / better content?

[yurigagarin]

Instant subscribe, what a little jewel of a channel

[Bronze_Age_Sea_Person]

Immediately subscribed. This video format with the physical map of the region giving the geographical context to the history of the land is really great, it makes it easier to comprehend why would a certain city or a certain river be so important. This is like when you study early Roman history, having a map of the Italian Peninsula helps a lot so you can comprehend why Rome fought certain wars like the Samnite Wars.

[Oustein]

Really interesting. The overview i didnt knew i wanted.

[cocoacrispy]

This is a very welcome introduction; it makes China's history more comprehensible. I like that you employ native Chinese pronunciations. One tiny point: the word 'loess' (the fine, wind-deposited soil) is from the German and pronounced in one syllable: /löss/, very close to the English 'less.' There are extensive areas of 'loess' in Eastern Washington State and in Iowa, where they form soils renowned for their fertility.

[Markus]

Wow, YT normally suggests awful videos but this was an incredibly interesting video and really changed my perspective about what china really looks like.

[dutrareis]

One of the best videos I've ever seen on this platform. Not only on history and geography, but overall. This was a masterclass.