National Geographic China Documentary (2015)

[zhaoyun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA4newa5T9w

[zhaoyun]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxyObhfCe1M

[Katariina]

Now I have something to watch tonight lol This looks interesting, Zhao.

[zhaoyun]

Now I have something to watch tonight lol This looks interesting, Zhao.

I'm going to China for a few weeks next month. Something people who have never been there never seem to understand is the huge vastness and size and scale of China, and China's projects. So this video, because it is shot from the air, gives a glimpse of that.

[Arcadefire]

I'm going to China for a few weeks next month. Something people who have never been there never seem to understand is the huge vastness and size and scale of China, and China's projects. So this video, because it is shot from the area, gives a glimpse of that.

Which part of China are you from? Also, do you plan on doing like a cross country tour when you go there?

[zhaoyun]

Which part of China are you from? Also, do you plan on doing like a cross country tour when you go there?

My family is from Fujian and Anhui mainly, but my dad's side has roots in Shaanxi as well.

I am going to several cities, for traveling and also for business. Mainly Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai. But I am going to try to see if I can get into Tibet, which I've always wanted to see.

[Infinite]

My family is from Fujian and Anhui mainly, but my dad's side has roots in Shaanxi as well.

I am going to several cities, for traveling and also for business. Mainly Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai. But I am going to try to see if I can get into Tibet, which I've always wanted to see.

Haha i live Fujian from Victoria 2. That damn lands are hard to invade. Massive population there xD

[zhaoyun]

Haha i live Fujian from Victoria 2. That damn lands are hard to invade. Massive population there xD

You visited Fujian? I don't quite get it. What's Victoria 2?

[Arcadefire]

Nice^ . I automatically associate Chinese Americans with Cantonese speakers. I take it you/your family speak Mandarin based on those places you mention eh?

Btw, I have been to Tibet. Although the border is not technically open, its fairly easy for Nepalese people to cross the border and visit. You and I may have our differences on our stance on Tibet but I will admit that the Chinese Gov has really modernize the place. My grandpa says that during his time, Tibet was like stuck in the stone age. You would legit find carcases on the streets and fields.

[zhaoyun]

Nice^ . I automatically associate Chinese Americans with Cantonese speakers. I take it you/your family speak Mandarin based on those places you mention eh?

Btw, I have been to Tibet. Although the border is not technically open, its fairly easy for Nepalese people to cross the border and visit. You and I may have our differences on our stance on Tibet but I will admit that the Chinese Gov has really modernize the place. My grandpa says that during his time, Tibet was like stuck in the stone age. You would legit find carcases on the streets and fields.

Actually I am for Tibetans to have their own right to self determination. But the media depiction of Tibet in Western eyes is very biased though. China's claim to Tibet historically is from the 17th century and the CCP has modernized Tibet tremendously.

It's interesting that you did get to go there. Did you just go to Lhasa?

Yes, I speak standard Mandarin.

[Infinite]

You visited Fujian? I don't quite get it. What's Victoria 2?

Its game

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fbrbLeT7u1I/hqdefault.jpg

I actualy know a lot of Chinese places like Manchuria,Yunnan,Beijing,Fujian,Xunnan,Anhui,Chung su,Gansu,Xianhi,Henan,Guandong, and more i dont remember thanks to this game xD I heard Chungsu(i dont know if this is corretc) is great. And cheap for tourists. I heard lake is cool there.

[Arcadefire]

Actually I am for Tibetans to have their own right to self determination. But the media depiction of Tibet in Western eyes is very biased though. China's claim to Tibet historically is from the 17th century and the CCP has modernized Tibet tremendously.

It's interesting that you did get to go there. Did you just go to Lhasa?

Yes, I speak standard Mandarin.


Yea I was just in Lhasa. I didnt want to push my luck seeing as I was in there with a fake Nepalese passport lol.

[Carignan]

Thank you Zhaoyun for sharing this amazing documentary. I have watched the first episode and plan to watch the second tomorrow. It has given me
a new look on China and its beauties. China is definitely on my countries to visit list. It is a shame that the Western Media portray China as a polluted, communist
and hostile country with a poor population. Obviously, the documentary doesn't represent reality, it is romantic vision of China, but still, it doesn't seem that bad. Hopefully,
it will not lose its tradition and culture as the country become more developed and capitalistic.

Also, I was wondering if there movements for independence among the Kazaks of Western China. They have a very different culture from the Han Chinese, it would seem
natural to have their destiny into their own hands, if you see what I mean.

[zhaoyun]

Thank you Zhaoyun for sharing this amazing documentary. I have watched the first episode and plan to watch the second tomorrow. It has given me
a new look on China and its beauties. China is definitely on my countries to visit list. It is a shame that the Western Media portray China as a polluted, communist
and hostile country with a poor population. Obviously, the documentary doesn't represent reality, it is romantic vision of China, but still, it doesn't seem that bad. Hopefully,
it will not lose its tradition and culture as the country become more developed and capitalistic.

Also, I was wondering if there movements for independence among the Kazaks of Western China. They have a very different culture from the Han Chinese, it would seem
natural to have their destiny into their own hands, if you see what I mean.

No, the Kazakhs do not have an independence movement. 1. Because the province they live in is dominated by Uyghurs anyways. 2. They have plenty of autonomy in their own regions and are satisfied with that. 3. There is already a large nation called Kazakhstan just next door.

I've actually been to those Kazakh regions shown on the video. They are friendly people and actually, like much of rural China, are in between traditional and modern lives.

Also, I want to add that China is a REALLY HUGE country. That's the first thing people should know about it. It has MANY dimensions. So yes, it is polluted and there are human rights problems. But it is also growing and improving rapidly in many aspects. In short, this is unheralded in history for such a huge nation with 1.3 Billion people to be rushing so fast into industrialization and modernization, of course there will be growing pains.

[Goujian]

No, the Kazakhs do not have an independence movement. 1. Because the province they live in is dominated by Uyghurs anyways. 2. They have plenty of autonomy in their own regions and are satisfied with that. 3. There is already a large nation called Kazakhstan just next door.

I've actually been to those Kazakh regions shown on the video. They are friendly people and actually, like much of rural China, are in between traditional and modern lives.

Also, I want to add that China is a REALLY HUGE country. That's the first thing people should know about it. It has MANY dimensions. So yes, it is polluted and there are human rights problems. But it is also growing and improving rapidly in many aspects. In short, this is unheralded in history for such a huge nation with 1.3 Billion people to be rushing so fast into industrialization and modernization, of course there will be growing pains.

Many ethnic minorities in Xinjiang probably resent the Uyghurs' influence especially the Hui (along with many of the other Muslim ethnic minorities) who have fought wars against them.


Thank you Zhaoyun for sharing this amazing documentary. I have watched the first episode and plan to watch the second tomorrow. It has given me
a new look on China and its beauties. China is definitely on my countries to visit list. It is a shame that the Western Media portray China as a polluted, communist
and hostile country with a poor population. Obviously, the documentary doesn't represent reality, it is romantic vision of China, but still, it doesn't seem that bad. Hopefully,
it will not lose its tradition and culture as the country become more developed and capitalistic.

Also, I was wondering if there movements for independence among the Kazaks of Western China. They have a very different culture from the Han Chinese, it would seem
natural to have their destiny into their own hands, if you see what I mean.

They aren't the same as the Uyghurs.

Most ethnic Kazakhs if not nearly all of them are descendants of refugees who fled what is now modern day Kazakhstan to flee Russian conquest of their lands. They voluntarily settled in China just like ethnic Tatars who fled Russian rule to settle in China. If they want to live in an independent country, Kazakhstan is right next door. I believe many of them have moved out of China to live in Kazakhstan. There is not much difference between Kazakhs from Kazakhstan and Kazakhs from China.

[zhaoyun]

Many ethnic minorities in Xinjiang probably resent the Uyghurs' influence especially the Hui (along with many of the other Muslim ethnic minorities) who have fought wars against them.



They aren't the same as the Uyghurs.

Most ethnic Kazakhs if not nearly all of them are descendants of refugees who fled what is now modern day Kazakhstan to flee Russian conquest of their lands. They voluntarily settled in China just like ethnic Tatars who fled Russian rule to settle in China. If they want to live in an independent country, Kazakhstan is right next door. I believe many of them have moved out of China to live in Kazakhstan. There is not much difference between Kazakhs from Kazakhstan and Kazakhs from China.

This was only the case in the 50s and 60s when the CCP started solidifying their hold on Xinjiang and when tensions erupted with the USSR. In the last 30 plus years after Deng's reforms, the autonomous regions of the Kazakhs have been pretty stable. Their region is very peaceful and there are not much tensions between them and the Han, mainly because they pretty much live autonomously in their own communities.

Tensions with Uyghurs have risen significantly in the last 15 years, primarily because many Han Chinese have been moving into Northern Xinjiang. Also, due to the independence of many of the ex-Soviet Central Asian countries, this led to a rise in Uyghur nationalism and a desire amongst many of them to establish their own independent state. However, the reality is, that many Uyghurs are also deeply integrated into Chinese society now so the majority don't really actively entertain the idea of an independent nation even if they remain very proud of their heritage, as they should be. Also, Uyghurs are a very commercial minded people, they have a long tradition of doing business along the silk road, so like most of Chinese society, the majority are primarily committed to getting richer. In that way, they are actually more alike to the Han than to the Kazakh. When I was in Xinjiang, many Uyghurs had jokes about the Kazakhs likening them to country bumpkins, kinda like how Californians or New Yorkers may joke about people from Mississippi for example.

The irony is that despite all the hoorah about Tibet, it is the Uyghurs that actually have the most active independence movement, even though it's actually relatively small compared to their total population. The vast majority of the other minorities in China are either very integrated into modern Chinese society, or exist autonomously without any notions of separation. There are also a great deal of ethnic groups that are simply just unique to China itself including the Hui, the Manchus, the Zhuang, the Salars, Dongxiang, etc, there's too many to name.

Even amongst the Han themselves, there are significant and huge cultural differences, many Han are actually closer culturally and genetically with the minorities of their region than with the Han Chinese on the other side of the country. Han Chinese is just an umbrella term, it is not a homogenous entity.

[zhaoyun]

As new worlders we all do lol

I grew up as a minority within a minority (non-Cantonese amongst Chinese Americans who are primarily Cantos or Taiwanese).

[Goujian]

Even amongst the Han themselves, there are significant and huge cultural differences, many Han are actually closer culturally and genetically with the minorities of their region than with the Han Chinese on the other side of the country. Han Chinese is just an umbrella term, it is not a homogenous entity.

Han is just a cultural identity, my family members don't identify as 'Han Chinese', they identify as just simply 'Chinese' as in 中國人 or their regional group to a lesser extent. Han are genetically very diverse as you have mentioned. Northern/Central/Eastern Chinese are generally closer to each other with some overlaps with ethnic minorities, I think it would apply more to southern China than northern China. But at the same time, most ethnic Manchus and ethnic Mongols are culturally closer and almost phenotypically identical to northern Han Chinese. Not sure how they are genetically different.

A lot of the genetic studies state that in northern, central and eastern China it was almost similar to large-scale population replacement while in deep south, southwest and central-south, it was Sinicized relatively late. Mostly it's because of the geography it wasn't extensively settled as low-lying regions close to river valleys because as you may know Han Chinese culture is very much an irrigation agriculturalist culture. The Cantonese are almost genetically identical to Zhuang and Jiamao populations except they are shifted slightly up north due to Han admixture. People from south-central China like the Hunanese plot almost the same with Hmong/Miao people and people from Central China with the Tujia. I know an ethnic Zhuang foreign exchange student from Guangxi who told me that the Cantonese are sinicized Zhuang. Maybe that's going too far but he's not completely wrong. There are a handful of individuals from in and around the city of Jiangmen in western Guangdong and some of the people there look more like central-south Chinese.

On some genetic calculators, the ethnic minority closest to eastern Chinese are Tujia people even though they are quite distant in terms of geography and not really close either. Maybe because the Tujia have similar north-south autosomal DNA but eastern Chinese are pulled closer to the east/north. But even the Tujia have their more northern-shifted and more southern-shifted populations.

The Dongxiang, Bonan and Salars (maybe some other nearby Muslim ethnic groups) are pretty much identical to Hui people except for their language and some cultural customs. I consider the Hui to be ethnic Han who just happen to be Muslim. That may sound 'Han-centric' of me but it's the truth because I can't see the difference between Hui and Han except for religion and some Hui individuals identifying as 'cultural Muslims'.


I grew up as a minority within a minority (non-Cantonese amongst Chinese Americans who are primarily Cantos or Taiwanese).
I know that feel.


As new worlders we all do lol
I grew up as a minority within a minority. So when people do the north-south Chinese divide, they assume that all southern Chinese look like Cantonese or Taiwanese. They don't know that there are people who identify as southern Chinese around central and eastern China but their genetics and phenotype are much more closer to northern Chinese.

Cantonese people were the first Chinese to migrate to the new world in significant numbers so that's why 'Chinese-looking' is synonymous with 'Cantonese looking' in the new world. Cantonese think we look like 'northerners', Koreans or Japanese, they don't think we look Chinese to them. In their mind they think they are the only real Chinese and that every non-Cantonese East Asian is a 'northerner' or a 'foreigner'. If a Cantonese person goes to northern, central or eastern China, many of locals too would think they look like foreigners or at least not Chinese. And when it comes to intermarriage, there are a lot of Cantonese-Vietnamese marriages here in the western hemisphere from what I've noticed. But all in all, most Chinese prefer to stick to their own cultural-linguistic group although that is changing in recent years.

[Goujian]

Not here. As a matter of fact it's really hard to find a 100% pure chinese peruvian nowadays, unless it's a FOB.

Sorry I meant to say the US/Canada. Latin America is a lot different, there are very little Vietnamese there from what I've heard. I used to remember a Chinese Peruvian girl I met in college and her parents and grandparents are pure Chinese. Just that she and her parents spoke mostly Spanish and they speak Cantonese to their 1st generation relatives.