It's a boring topic, but I still decide to post it out.

We know in pre-Qin era, xing 姓 and shi 氏 were different. The former is the ancestral clan name, while the latter is branch name or family name. For Qin-shi-huang himself, his xing is Ying 嬴 while his shi is Zhao 赵. Zheng 政, on the other hand, is his ming 名, aka, personal name. What's more important, xing could not be put aside with ming, so the use of Ying-Zheng is actually wrong.

There was similar naming terminology in Roman history, where one's name had three parts: Praenomen, Nomen, and Cogomen, corresponding to personal name, clan name and branch name (also as nickname), respectively. As a famous example:

Gaius (Praenomen) Julius (Nomen) Caesar (Cogomen)

So if we follow their naming system, Qin-shi-huang's full name is:

Zheng (ming) Ying (xing) Zhao (shi)

PS: it's indeed not a very good analogy, because Cogomen is not always heritable, and in this case it is only nickname rather than branch name.

I am reading the Complete Annals of Đại Việt [大越史記全書], the court history of pre-modern Vietnam written in Classical Chinese, and I came across an obscure reference which I have not been able to trace, with the reference bolded and in quotes.

The text: 自古殺諫臣，未有不亡者。陳殺洩治，"齊殺孤喧"，陳齊事可鑒也

For context, the reference is in an aside discussing Shì Huī's [士徽] execution of Huán Lín [桓鄰] and how the killing of a vassal for interceding inevitably leads to the death of the ruler.

I tracked down "Chén's execution of Xiè Yě", but I have no idea who 孤喧 is or what the story is behind "Qí's execution of Gū Xuān". Presumably 孤喧 is a minister who was executed for remonstrating with the king of Qí. However, Google returns nothing in English/Chinese/Vietnamese, and I did not get any results from searching the name 孤喧 through the Zuǒ Zhuàn and the Shǐjì, but my Chinese is rather poor so its likely I missed something.

Any help would be great appreciated!

The Ming annuals recorded the Mongols only kept the Yuan Dynasty name to 1388 or so but the common info on the Internet seems to treat the Northern yuan as something all the way to 1636, when the Manchus conquered the state of the Mongol "Great Khan" (the unbroken remnant of the Yuan Dynasty). Was the Northern Yuan name really a thing for three centuries?

Title.

Assuming the Three Sovereigns and Three Augusts period was real, was this period of tribal China considered a confederation? Where they elected the most capable leaders to lead everyone? Or is there another term for this government system?

Sino-Xenic vocabularies refer to the historical large-scale, systematic adoption of Chinese words into Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese—languages that are not genetically related to Chinese. These borrowings, known respectively as Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese, now constitute a significant portion of each language's vocabulary. Check out how similar some of the pronunciations are!

I take issue with the way this article seems to say that war leads to a more equal empire but whatever, as if the profits of war were distributed fairly.

I wanted this subreddits opinions on the following books, which to start first, what to avoid, what are the pros and cons of the books in these images. These were the ones that were able to catch my eye via their table of contents. All opinions are wanted and appreciates as I want to be reading the good stuff!

I know that "Nei" in Guannei is different from "Zhong" in Guanzhong. Just wondering about any potential difference in locations.

Hello, I am looking for answers in Chinese culture related to Pangu the creator in Chinese mythology, the answers I am finding lead me to Buddhism. Most religions have a god, in all cultures you hear that they have something to do with it. The question is I'm looking for people who have the same objective, to search for the truth, at least to know where we come from. Thank you so much

Hello, I'm looking for answers about Pangu in Chinese mythology, the creator and I don't know where to start.

Today mainland China and Taiwan depend heavily on export (60% in Taiwan's case) as part of their economies. Historically, how much had export account as part of the Chinese economy? We knew of the Silk Road which a lot of the intermediaries in Asia depended on (from the central Asian khanates to Persia to the East Roman Empire along the trade route), but for China itself, had it always largely had little dependence on external trade as part of the overall Chinese economy, making the late 20th Century/early 21st Century an anomaly in Chinese history?

I am both recommending and looking for recommendations of youtube channels or media on Chinese History. I can read traditional Chinese but only graduated from primary school in Hong Kong.

English

https://www.youtube.com/@Theliteratus168

less than 1k subscribers but he sounds very knowledgeable

Chinese

https://www.youtube.com/@Anzhoumu

This may be the best Chinese History channel I have watched. The storytelling is very compelling. The time period he covers 南北朝 - 唐朝.

https://www.youtube.com/@ylh

He covers the often overlooked period of 中晚唐 in extreme detail. His main series run for over 100 episodes.

There are many other good channels but these two are hidden gems imho looking at their subscribers numbers.

Can anyone recommend any books about the history of China’s southern frontier? I’m interested in Han migrations to Yunnan, Guizhou, etc. and their interactions with other groups, assimilation, etc. I’ve read a bit about the Tusi system but looking for more accounts of these regions.

See also: The findings, located in Longtan site, as published in PNAS.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, warfare was basically a gentleman's game. Nobles riding fancy chariots into battle like it was some high-stakes sports tournament with actual rules. They'd have these formal exchanges before fighting and followed this unwritten code - like, you wouldn't ambush someone who wasn't ready for battle or use tactics considered "cheap" or dishonorable.

But then the Warring States Period rolled around and everything changed. Suddenly the philosophy became "win at all costs" - honor and tradition got tossed aside for whatever strategy actually worked. Sun Tzu dropped his famous line "all warfare is based on deception". Victory became the only thing that mattered, and if you had to fight dirty to win? So be it.

I'm curious about what are some of the historical factors causing the change.

Comparing the two figures who attempted to found/re-establish the Han Dynasty, it appears that Gaozu had a far weaker hand to play in the game of thrones than Liu Bei, who had a entire kingdom, powerful generals, Zhuge Liang, etc. So why did one succeed and one did not? What were the historical/military/social reasons behind it, in your opinions?