The Chronicler - Chinese History

18/12/2023

A photo statue of the trecherous court minister Qin Hui and his wife Lady Wang, it can still be found in Hangzhou to this day. The story goes that Qin Hui had interests which were against the campaign of the famous Yue Fei against the Jurchen in the North. Qin Hui managed to convince the emperor of the Song Dynasty that Yue Fei was going to use the army to overthrow the royal family and establish is own dynasty, resulting in the death of the general. The statues here, are there to remind people that corrupt officials can sometimes ruin the country. People who see these statues are encouraged to spit on them and all sorts! So next time you are in Hangzhou, be sure to look at the incredible achievements of the Song dynasty, and look at these statues which are supposed to be desecrated 🤣

12/12/2023

Yue Fei, arguably the most famous general from the Song Dynasty. He was a victim however, of his own success and as the story goes - he was stabbed in the back by a malicious court minister by the name of Qín Huī 秦桧. Qín Huī convinced the Song emperor that Yue Fei was wanting to sieze the throne for himself and had him brought back to the Song court when he was on the verge of a great victory. He was either ambushed on his way back to face charges, died in prison or was tried and executed.

Througout the years Yue Fei has had mixed reputation and has risen and fell in terms of popularity.

12/12/2023

Unfortunatlely I was trudging through the snow to work rather than being able to take these brilliant pictures of the Forbidden City in the snow

12/12/2023

08/12/2023

Here is a painting of the first Song emperor of China - Emperor Taizu (personal name: Zhao Kuangyin). Zhao Kuangyin started off as a general under the leader of the emperor for the later Zhou Dynasty. However, he and his trusted generals usurped the throne and he became known as Emperor Taizu in the year 960, ruling as emperor until 976. Upon taking the throne, his first goal was the reunification of China after half a century of political division. He was successful! He established a dynasty which made many social reforms and introduced the concept of paper money to the world, but more on that later!

06/12/2023

This here, is a map of the of the 5 kingdoms period (五代). This period was between 907 and the founding of the Song dynasty in 960, so a relatively short time of division by Chinese history standards. The fall of the Tang splintered into 5 kingdoms initially. The Later Liang Dynasty (后梁), Later Tang Dynasty (后唐), Later Jin Dynasty (后晋), Later Han Dynasty (后汉) and Later Zhou Dynasty (后周). The struggle would result in none of these ruling families taking over, but a new clan will, who subsequently named themselves the Song.

05/12/2023

Here was the Tang Dynasty's last emperor - Li Zuo, called Emperor Ai and sometimes called Emperor Zhaoxuan.

At this stage, the Tang emperors were mere puppets, controlled by local warlards. The strongest warlord at the time was Zhu Quanzhong who opted for Li Zuo to succeed his father upon the previous emperors' death.

The emperor did not last long however (897-907), and was quickly overthrown by Zhu and his follwers, who created the Liang Dynasty. The consequence of Zhu's actions was the 5 Kingdoms period, which would eventually allow the Song to gobble up the other states and create the next imperial dynasty in China which would last hundreds of years.

04/12/2023

3.300-year-old chariot bridge that is still in use today. The Arkadiko Bridge in Greece was built between 1300 and 1190 BCE, making it one of the oldest still-used arch bridges still in existence. Built on a road that linked Tiryns to Epidaurus, it was part of a larger military road system.

More details/photos: https://bit.ly/41mK7rX

04/12/2023

Here is a map of the Tang Dynasty at the height of its power. It's crazy to see that long arch going westward which simply highlights the importance of the Silk Road at the time. The Tang is always associated a Golden Age in Chinese history, however, like all dynasties, the Tang would fall after internal and external conflicts.

09/04/2023

Here is a painting of the 'Curse of the White Horse'

The second last emperor of the Tang dynasty gave a white horse to what he thought was one of his most trusted nobles, a man named Zhu Wen (朱温) . Zhu wen used his influence and the white horse to remove the Tang Emperor - then later made his son a puppet emperor, Emperor Ai - who was then later dethroned by Zhu Wen, making him the last emperor of the Tang dynasty. Afterwards, the 5 kingdom's period in China begun in the year 908.


#中国历史

16/10/2022

NEW EPISODE IS OUT!

In today's episode we discuss the causes of the An Lu Shan rebellion/

Hope you enjoy the show!

28/09/2022

Every late-dynasty Chinese emperor reading about all the other, previous emperors who tried to use mercury and lead to gain immortality:

18/09/2022

NEW EPISODE IS OUT NOW!

This weeks episode discusses the early reign of Tang Xuanzong.

Apologies for the delay but we should be running a bi-weekly release schedule up until around Febraury.

Thanks so much for the support everyone!

15/09/2022

The topic of this podcast will be the reign of the Tang Dynasty's 7th emperor Xuanzong.

He had an interesting career, responsible for the Tang dynasty's eclipse and certainly one of China's highest points.

However at the same time, he is responsible for it all falling apart to the point the dynasty would never really recover.

Tune in to find out the details!

11/09/2022

Happy Mid-Autumn festival everyone! 🌕

Be sure to eat your moon cakes and enjoy the festivities!

Also - announcement.

Next week I will have the podcast up and running again, and the topic of discussion will be where we left off on our narrative - the death of empress Wu Ze Tian and what happened after.

So be sure to tune in next Sunday!

25/07/2022

A little update here folks.

Apologies for not posting sooner, but for now I'll not be creating anything new.

I'll be back soon once the hectic way of life im living right now begins to calm😂

Thanks to all for the support and I'll be posting when I'm producing soon!

26/06/2022

I can relate too much to this😂😂😂

Too twoo...

05/06/2022

NEW EPISODE IS OUT！

This episode discusses the method Wu Zetian used to help maintain her hold on power through her life.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

04/06/2022

https://qr.ae/pvF4bX

Here is a Quora post - what was Empress Wu's biggest achievement as empress of China in your opinion?

Comment on the Quora link OR comment below!

1 person wants answers to this question. Be the first to answer.

03/06/2022

https://anchor.fm/the-chronicler/episodes/Episode-28---Dragon-Boat-Festival-SPECIAL-e13447i

Happy dragon boat festival everyone! If you haven't already, please be sure to listen to the episode I create about one of the stories related to this amazing holiday!

This week, we take a wee break from our narrative and chronological podcast, and dive into the legend behind one of China's most celebrated festivals - the Dragon Boat Festival! This episode will take a look into the extremely famous poet Qu Yuan, and his story during the Warring States period and h...

30/05/2022

A picture I found on Pinterest of China's only empress!

The artist is called Jingjue and you can visit her pin here:

https://pin.it/6SBEZP1

Awesome sketch!

🇨🇳

29/05/2022

A wee clip from my latest episode about how Wu Zetian got rid of her competition and the debate that surrounds it.

Be warned… it's not nice.

22/05/2022

Tonight's episode is going to be about how Wu Zetian claws her way to the top!

Be warned - it's brutal.

22/05/2022

I love seeing these old pictures being posted.

Here is a man selling tea at the forbidden City in 1917.

The photo was posted by Tong Bingxue 仝冰雪 on Twitter.

20/05/2022

It has been a very long time... The reason why will be explained on the episode! But still. Tomorrow the new episode will be released! Thank you everyone who has continued to listen to the show!

18/04/2022

A wee story from the Qun Qiu period -

A merchant by the name of Xian Gao was travelling to Luoyang (The Zhou capital) to sell cattle when he heard that his state (Zheng) was going to be attacked by the state of Qin from the West. Deciding to act quickly, he drove his cattle to the Qin army and pretended to be 'rewarding' the Qin general his cattle to show good relations between the states, whilst at the same time he sent a letter to the king of his state telling him of the advancing army. The state of Zheng managed to prepare themselves for the invasion and seeing through the ploy of the merchant, the Qin general seen the attack as useless and went on home

I may have misread the story but that's what it seems like

05/04/2022

A buddy of mine dug up this coin in Jiangxi province inside a river.

The coin dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This coin dates back to the Kang Xi period which was between (1661-1722) and had been in the river for some years. He dug this one up yesterday. The coin was minted in Jiangxi and we know this from the characters on the back of the coin. It’s a pretty uncommon coin to say the least!

🇨🇳

04/04/2022

03/04/2022

NEW EPISODE IS OUT!

Feel free to check out my latest podcast episode which is all about Tang Taizong's foreign policies.

🚨🚨🚨🚨

20/03/2022

Here is my latest episode uploaded onto YouTube for your listening pleasure, be sure to subscribe if you haven't already!!!

This episode is all about Tang Taizong's policies when he starts his career as emperor of China.We examine his policies which really shape the Tang dynasty u...