2,000 Years of Chinese History! The Mandate of Heaven and Confucius: World History #7 

Does anybody actually watch this for pleasure not for a test

99% of comments: studying for a quiz or test Me: has to answer crash course questions as an assignment almost every week

Lmao when he says " Is China still a thing people talk about in Newspapers?" Yeah we're in March 2020 and they are definitely still a thing.

AP world students where you at?

I just realized this is the dude who wrote The Fault in Our Stars.

to anyone taking the test tomorrow, good luck! the fact that you’re even here shows you’re dedicated, so don’t stress out too much. good luck from me, a poor student who is very, very afraid of getting a 1 tomorrow

me: here to study for a normal quiz tomorrow everyone else: Studying for the AP Test

Master Yoda makes an appearance at 7:11 on the right of the emperors.

John could explain this topic better in 12 minutes than my history teacher could in one period.

The "water" symbol “水” is not a character associated with Confucianism, but rather with Daoism. Daoists believed in dual properties in all living things. Water was associated more with "Yin" energy: mysterious, fluid, soft, everlasting. However, "Yin" forces are not inferior to "Yang." For example, rocks are hard and durable, but even the seas (made up of of water) can erode the roughest cliffs in time. Daoists particularly emphasized the qualities of Yin energy.

The Chinese concept of “heaven” is the same word as “sky”. It’s a reference to the idea of basic decency and self-evident morals. When the Chinese historian say “xxxx losing the Mandate of Heaven” it’s similar to “it is plainly to see that xxx is no longer fit to rule and be role models”. Oh course, people added the flairs of dragons and mysticism to the idea of Mandate of Heaven. But most people understood the emperor are simply people who had power to overthrow the previous emperor and made known their (very politicised and distorted) reasons. The heavens is also not necessarily religious or mystical. Chinese often have a saying that loosely translate to ‘under heaven’ which just basically means ‘in the world’. Ie ‘this blade is peerless for all under heaven’ is basically ‘this blade is unique in the world’.

I'm from Taiwan where students have to study Chinese history and ancient Chinese since elementary school, so I'm not here for preparing for a test. Just want to learn Chinese history from a western perspective. This video is awesome. I'm so impressed because China has got so many dynasty and this video is able to cover them all. They even get the concept of Mandate of Heaven explained. This concept has been mentioned in so many ancient historical text and literature that people wouldn't be able to fully understand Chinese history without knowing it.

I'm brazilian and i have a lot of respect about chinese history and its contribuition for the world. People forget that China's history is as old as the europe (or more). And its importance to Asia is way, way, way way, way, way before to USA.

I'm serious, Chinese history is so fucking interesting!

When John Green teaches better that your AP World teacher...and the exam is tomorrow :o Edit: I passed the exam thanks to John Green!!

Thanks for this video! Only two tiny quibbles: the first is the pronunciation of some Chinese words - Zhou (dynasty), Yuan (dynasty) and jun zi (gentleman) (and to a small extent, Tang and Song). The second is with regards to the Great Wall: its construction started prior to the Qin dynasty, with the Qin Emperor joining up the sections built by the ancient states. The Ming dynasty, however, was responsible for the sections that we most recognise today.

Man, if you teach history in school, who is gonna get bored?😉

Anyone else here to try and learn thousands of years of history before tomorrow morning?

Quarantine brings me to travel around RU-vid so much. I am lost here.

I love how informative these are, and the people hosting/narrating make it lively and humorous.

I am a Chinese and it literally takes me 1 second to realize of which Dynasty he is talking about. And it's just such a joy to listening to him trying so hard to pronounce Chinese words, I feel like he is trying to utilize all the strength he has in his body lol (I am an evil yes). Chines words are just extremely hard to pronounce, and I AM PROUD OF IT lol.

"China is whole again, then it broke again."

You have saved WHAP students everywhere hours of work by putting all the dynasties in 3 minutes... bless you you absolute bean

"Is China still a thing?" 2020: I'm boutta end this mans whole career...

Xia Shang Zhou Warring States Qin Han Three Kingoms Sui Tang Song Yuan Ming Qing

Technically, Xia Shang Zhou were royal dynasties, Qin was the first imperial one.

Everyone: who’s here for AP world history Me in 6th grade social studies: *ok*

Hey John how are you man? Does anyone ever ask you that? I know you're successful but are you good? Best wishes

I think that the better way of describing what has the Ming dynasty built is the Imperial Palace (Gugong) instead of saying "the Great Wall". Since the Great Wall was first built during the Qin dynasty and the Ming Dynasty was not the only dynasty that rebuilt the Great Wall.

As a Chinese IMHO the whole "mandate of heaven" thing is a, with due respect, very odd way of looking at Chinese history. It's like writing a whole book on the history of Christianity solely using quotes and arguments from Thomas Aquinas, leaving all other theists' opinion ignored and actual events like Crusades and Martin Luther only get a bare mention or no reference at all. Can you imagine reading a book like that? Well that's how I felt while watching this video. Yes the concept "mandate of heaven" is there, but it is for the most part merely an excuse for the next dynasty's rulers to justify their act of rebellion (as most dynasty's history records were compiled and written by the following dynasty). It's simply a form of, in modern terminology, propaganda. So what's all the fuss about? It's probably an interesting perspective of looking at history, but it's certainly not one from which most people in China would look. At least for me, "mandate of heaven" is merely a fancy phrase used to substitute the concept of fate/destiny, mostly used in everyday conversations instead of serious history discussions. The factors that contribute to every dynasty's downfall are numerous and complex like everywhere else in the world -- foreign invasions, bad economy, political struggle between ministries and royal families, etc, far from just incompetence to rule. Ancient Chinese historians were aware of these (as well as common sense, for that matter). Also not every emperor = a dictator, many have to share considerable power with his ministries. They can't rule and decide everything for the country and were helpless in some situations. The concept of "Heaven" in China equals to "God" in other cultures, period. In Chinese language we say "heaven help me" instead of "God help me" when we are desperate, "heaven punish me" instead of "God punish me" when we are hopeless; it's simple as that. When you find your life and career particularly smooth or frustrating, you begin to think of it as caused by a predetermined fate designed by some divine presence. You call that "will of the gods" in other cultures or "mandate from heaven" in Chinese and that's about it. Nothing so sophisticated here. When an emperor boast about his rule or make excuses he also happened to use this word and that's it. Ordinary Chinese people don't give a damn. They care about food prices and tax levels > some invisible mandate. At the very most, they would say a bad emperor is without Tao and a good emperor has Tao, but nothing mandate here. Consider this: if you had a bad boss who made your life miserable, is this about his fate or yours? Do you give a flying rat about your boss' destiny? And half of the video spent on Confucius....well I don't blame John. That was typical. I just want to say Confucianism is hardly the only school of philosophy ancient China has to offer and it definitely doesn't define or represent every aspect of Chinese society. And I'm not bringing up Taoism and Buddhism either. How about the argument on logic and paradoxes between school of Mozi and Gongsun Long's "school of names"? Now that's what I call Chinese philosophy. The "mandate of heaven" thing is one way to look at history -- and just ONE way. Don't over-glorify it.

Who else is here trying to study for the ap world history test 😭

Me: **clicks video** Me: Ugh I hate my history assignment. *"HI IT'S JOHN GREEN AND TODAY WE'RE GONNA BE TALKING ABOUT CHINA!"* Me: *pterodactyl noises*

This is the 7th video and I just realized that this isn't Hank Green

Dear Mr. Green, although I like the crash course series in general, unfortunately this video contains a number of factual mistakes. Here are some of the more serious ones, which I hope you can correct in the future: The obvious: Chinses history started more like 1500 BCE rather than 150 BCE. Teliable history record dates back to 841 BCE “shujing” is not a book of history, but a collection of government documents from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty, and BTW the original book was long lost in history. You are probably thinking about “Shiji”, which is indeed the most famous Chinese history book covering the period before Han. However it was not written by Confucius. All four pictures of empress dowagers are actually the same person: Ci Xi, the last empress dowager in Chinese history. The orgies of Xia's emperor didn’t happen in Ming Tiao (it happened everywhere apparently). The war between Shang hand Xia happened in Ming Tiao. The Qin was not ended by a bunch of murderous eunuchs, there were at most one murderous eunuchs, who many think was actually not a eunuchs after all. The Han dynasty actually ended in the hands of ten murderous eunuchs. More serious mistake: The Wen Emperor of Han never ruled according to Confusius principle. He rules according to the principles of Lao Tsi, which basically says that the ruler should do close to nothing, or rule the country like cooking a small dish. His son, the Wu Emperor, was the first Emperor to adopt solely the principles of Confusion. The Chinese character of water is displayed whenever Confusion is mentioned. The idea of water has nothing to do with any of Confusion’s ideas. In fact, the saying “good behavior is like water” also came from Lao Tsi. Confucius emphasized three major relationships: emperor and his officials, father and son, husband and wife. He also emphasized five virtues, two of which are ren and li. The “five relationship” is a much later, and somewhat unorthodox development Another big mistake: Ren is benevolence, or “love”, Li is both propriety and ritual. The ritual part of Li is a complete set of behavior regulation, and the veneration of ancestors is only a small part of it, definitely not a major part.

As a chinese not gonna lie his trying to pronounce chinese words with an american accent is quite funny Nice vid tho thanks for one of the most informational history series I can find out there, portrayed in a very humorous way :)

I'm in Pre-AP World History and John is the only history teacher I can trust with teaching me history :)

Great Wall was actually started to built in warring states. At that time, countries in China built their own walls for defense. When Shi Huang Ti conquered the China, he combined those walls together and that's the origin of Great Wall. Each following dynasty in China enhanced the structure of the Great Wall until the Qing dynasty.

For those interested in the Warrings States period, I'd like to recommend reading the Kingdom manga. The art and story are excellent, and they follow Ei Sei (the one who ends up unifying China).

i get such a nostalgic sense of joy when i watch these videos. Takes me back to middle and high school

I love it when he raises his voice everytime he mentions another dynasty

The Great Wall of China was started in the Qin Dynasty, not the MIng.

I believe who want to really understand the real chinese culture and their long history, must learn their chinese first and read their documents and history books by himself. I have read some and it's so amazing and different.

4:57 that's the character for "water"...

im a chinese. and im glad to see there are many kind friendly people here. for me, china is a great country, hope u guys will like my homeland not just for test)) love u, peace

When your ap world teacher teaches you nothing and the ap world test is tomorrow. Crash course taught me everything for ap world...

To get a 1 on the AP test, you need to get less than 35 multiple choice right and no points on ANY essays, it's harder to get a 1 than 5

7:13. Loving the Yoda in the background!

Him trying to pronounce chinese names is pretty entertaining 😂

Did the Mongols pay for the wall?

At the Open Letter, if you have captioning on, it says "[scoots to throne]." Cannot stop laughing.

Imagine going to the comments section only to see people who started studying with a couple days left as opposed to a couple of hours. Wild.

Binge watching literally the day before the exam when your teachers tells you not to cram :'))

A note: since this video was made ruins of a city built during the Xia period were discovered in modern day Henan province (I believe; I get my Chinese provinces mixed up sometimes), effectively proving the existence of the Xia dynasty. So yes, they did actually exist. Their power and size however are subjects of dispute.

Green makes it so much simpler. I love this channel. Literally the reason I'm passing my history class.

I must have watched this 20 times when I show it for class and I just noticed a Yoda-like figure among the Sage Emperors in the Thought Bubble.

Ah, I love these videos. Thank you for making them.

Only 10.5 hours left. And I'm only on China

I was born and raised in Shanghai, China with my mom a chinese literature professor. Yet I could not understand some of the terms he mentioned such as "chunzi" and "shujing". Could someone maybe show me how the characters are written? I have never heard such words in Chinese regardless of his pronunciation. FYI, the "yuan" dynasty is pronounced as "y(as in yellow)uan" instead of "juan" as in Spanish. I relied a ton upon Crash Course classes but seeing this video and some of the unheard-of references made me realize that one should be mindful of its U.S. centric perspective and not-so-scholarly sources. Also I guess science videos are more objective and hold universally true in that sense.

Great video! I've been living in Yunnan for the past 3 years and never really looked deep inside the history, cheers brother!

2:50 "Mongoltage" 😂 best name. Your videos made me really obsessed with the mongols.

No mention of Lao Tzu? (Loaozi) founder of Taoism. Which is arguably one of the most important things in Chinese history. Laozi lived from about 580 bce to about 450ish I think. And of course probably one of the history's most influential philosopher Sun Tzu ( true name I don't really know). But Sun literally ( textually, literature,) and metaphorical. Shaped every modern form for competition world wide is just 13 chapters. Of course all three men I mentioned are incredibly wise and important. All three actually shaped world society.

We Nepali even today pronouns 'china' as 'qin' .

i whatched this 20 times in 5 days. jhon green is so much fun to watch and is really good at teaching.

Yes thank u, Mr. Green! I love watching your videos for not failing my Social Studies tests and sometimes, just for fun.

Was that Yoda in the clouds lol

omg RU-vid actually suggested me a channel I want to subscribe. thanks :D

I was listening to this to study for my AP test, and my mom was nearby and she heard all this. 10:20 😱

I'd question the accuracy of the explanation of the meaning of 'ren' (仁) starting at 9:41. 'Ren' is more accurately translated as 'humanity' or 'human-heartedness', how two human beings should relate to each other. This can be seen in the Chinese character for 'ren', which consists of the glyphs 'man' and 'two' combined together. The -en in 'ren' should also be pronounced like the -an in 'woman', by the way. I'm also kind of unhappy with the (usual) account of Confucianism as a way of thought and life that lays stress on hierarchy and deference to one's superiors. Mencius, second only to Confucius himself in importance in the Confucian school of thought, asserted in no uncertain terms that the emperor is less important than the people (!!) and that the people are entitled to give a poorly performing emperor the boot. (I know this isn't entirely meant to be a serious video, but...)

There's six sages, counting Yoda. We just have to find Sheik and we're good to go

-The ancient artifacts of Xia was found not long ago, so they're not fictional anymore -You missed the 晉 dynasty -The great wall was built long before Ming

"I've never seen someone laugh so much while doing homework." My dad said. I thought, "it's the orgies"

My Chinese isn't good, but I hope it helps... (Please correct me if I'm wrong, thanks :P) The two main concepts of Confucianism plus JunZi part they mentioned: 1) Ren (仁): Should be translated to beneficence or compassion (Their translation of Ren as 'propiety' or 'understanding and praciting proper behavior' is not entirely wrong, just looking weird. This better be the meaning of the next concept, Li) Ren is a huge big concept that is also the crux of the confucianism. Translating it as beneficence, compassion, or altruism seems more accurate. (FYI, if you observe carefully, the word itself consists of two parts, 亻and 二。亻represents 'humans' and 二 means 'two'. So the word itself means two humans. You can imagine, the word roughly concerns how we treat others. Being kind/compassionate to others would be a big branch of it. 2) Li (禮): Here it should mean 'understanding and praciting proper behavior at every possible situation'. Rituals that they mentioned is only a branch of Li, because Li is a set of guidelines that concerns appropriate behaviors when we are interacting with different people and acting in different situations. By the way, Ren is the prerequisite of Li. Ren is an inward thing that concerns your mentality and values. Li is how you treat others. Also, Li is also an expression of Ren, because when a person has Ren, they will know how to behave with Li. 3) Jun Zi (君子): It does mean superior men (Superior, in terms of moral) or generally something like a role model. When you say someone is a Junzi, he must be having very nice morality. He should be benevolent to others (having Ren, see 1) and be a person of Li (having Li, see 2), and many other great qualities. Here I humbly did a simple translation on an extract from an ancient Chinese passage talking about confucianist virtuals. It was written by Confucian's student, MengZi, and I really loved the passage because it gave such a great and concise example of what specifically the words meant. 'All humans had Ren, or the heart of compassion. If now you see a child about to fall into the deep well, you will naturally feel scared and worried for the child. You save him not because you want the child’s parents to appreciate you, or be praised by your neighbors, or avoid be condemned by them if you do not do so. Thus, without compassion, you are not a human' [孟子論四端: 所以謂人皆有不忍人之心者，今人乍見孺子將人于打，皆有怵惕惻隱之心。非所以內交4于孺子之父母也，非所以要譽于鄉党朋友也，非惡其聲而然也。由是觀之，無惻隱之心，非人也]

Umm...The Great Wall was built in the Qin dynasty. The Ming dynasty, like the others, just expanded and fixed the Wall.

"My name is John Green" *spits out cereal* John Green!? *looks at screen* Oh…

7:47, The Father is supposed to earn this respect by caring for the Son and educating Him.

I’m not even taking history as a class but I just love watching his videos

Xia was real, it's just so old even for Chinese history that everyone gets to say they weren't real.

Did you guys see YODA @ 7:08 ??!!!!

3:37 That's a top tier song!! 👏👏

Oh thanks for explaining Confucius system though I didn’t really understand. It’s so complex.

Is it awesome that my 8th grade history teacher has been showing this in his classes?

Explain Chinese history in English is hard. It is two different systems. You got the skin, but not the bones.

This week's phrase of the week was "That's a long ass time"

I have a test tomorrow on this and this really helped! Thx!

Yodaaa! at 7:10 This is a great video, really a nice summary of stuff you'd learn in an AP World Hist. class on China. Great for those who are cramming for the tests out there. :D

Why is the Chinese character for Water 水 hanging above Confucious's head? 6:40

I took my AP exam for world history 4 years ago...but these videos are just so fun

Extra funny video!! I literally laughed out loud like 3 times. Great job!!!

Hi, I love your program & would like to thank you all for the amazing videos. Just want to mention a minor error though --- it was actually Han Wudi, the grandson of Han Wandi who enforces the practice of Confucius on his country. Han Wandi (Grandfather) & Han Jingdi (Son) & practically everyone before Han Wandi (Grandson) were practicing Taoism instead. Cheers

Great Empires come and go, China always stays.

mandate for heaven and Confucian 3:19-4:57 6:36-8:38 10:01-10:47

yo i love the puns here and there in crash course, keep it up team!

6:34 that frog is shooting his tongue out of his arse, really impressive

Great Wall was built in Qin Dynasty! Also it's 5000 years of Chinese history!

Everyone’s complaining about watching this for a test n stuff but I’m suffering because my dad made me watch this :(

I totally with you, this video is great

Could you guys do an entire series on Chinese history? Like, basically just elaborate on this one, and turn each Dynasty into its own episode?

OH MY GOD WE WATCHED THIS IN MY HISTORY CLASS

The only teacher who can buy something out well done Green, Well done.