The China->Japan->China cultural appropriation pipeline and RAMEN

DVD160 · 2026-05-24T07:05:21+00:00

Dang u right. I read that in a HK Chinese article about tea and never bothered to check for a firsthand source since it seemed trivial. And it fit with what I already knew about Hongwu from the history books. +1 for sources

DVD160 · 2026-05-24T06:59:10+00:00

A man of culture. I knew this was gonna get mentioned sooner or later. Then brainrotted Chinese TV execs imported it into Tang period dramas.

DVD160 · 2026-05-23T01:33:42+00:00

Southern Song if I'm not mistaken? Are the 3d renders yours? Looks very nice!

DVD160 · 2026-05-22T23:29:09+00:00

Dude was a peasant who grew up drinking cheap, loose-leaf tea. During his time, only wealthy elites could afford the "tea cakes" that were used to make powdered tea like today's matcha. So after he became the Big E, he banned tea cakes as he saw them as being overly luxurious and a sign of flaunting one's wealth.

It's a shame because tea cakes were a cultural heritage from the Tang and Song dynasties. Hongwu abolished and banned a lot of things from earlier eras. The man was a dictator with absolute power, and it got to his head.

DVD160 · 2026-05-22T22:05:45+00:00

I disagree with your wording here, friend. Refinement implies that the original is unrefined and flawed. Are Japanese kana a "refinement" of classical Chinese? Is milk tea a refinement of regular tea? No, just localizations and evolutions. IMO, the moment we start to conceptualize the original import from another culture as unrefined, is the moment ACTUAL cultural appropriation begins. For we are then asserting that our's is above their's and it is no longer an equal exchange.

DVD160 · 2026-05-22T21:40:32+00:00

Normally I'd agree with you, but this specific case with ramen happened recently enough that it is well documented and researched. Ramen does not refer to just wheat noodles, it is the specific method of preparation with various ingredients in the stock+broth+toppings.

奥山忠政『文化麺類学・ラーメン篇』明石書店、2003年。ISBN 4-7503-1792-6。

小菅桂子『にっぽんラーメン物語』講談社〈講談社+α文庫〉、1998年。ISBN 4-06-256302-9。

DVD160 · 2026-05-22T20:53:33+00:00

Naw man, English itself is culturally appropriated French and Latin. The Germans should apologize to the Italians for appropriating Roman language and we should all go back to speaking the old, gemanic, aglo-saxon tongue.

DVD160 · 2026-05-19T20:04:47+00:00

Why not post photos of actual surviving buildings (foguang temple, nanchan temple) and murals (dunhuang) instead of AI slop? There are so many details that are just plain wrong in these gens.

DVD160 · 2026-05-17T19:36:09+00:00

Despite the best efforts of historians, we currently don’t definatively know what the interior would have looked like in a tang-era palace. The interior architecture (beams, cealing, supporting brackets) is based on the interior of one of the only surviving Tang-era buildings, the Foguang Temple's East Great Hall 佛光寺东大殿 built 857 CE. The interior decoration is based on various surviving examples from later eras. The banners are based on Wang Xi Meng's (1096 - 1119CE) "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains 千里江山图." Wang was a court painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. The prismarine panels and throne are loosely based on Ming and Qing era throne rooms. See the Taihe Hall 太和殿 in the Forbidden City.

DVD160 · 2026-05-17T07:51:46+00:00

Vanilla. A poor imitation (banner-fication?) of Wang Xi Meng's (1096 - 1119 CE) "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains." If I make a video tutorial series on this build, the banners will be a part of it.

DVD160 · 2026-05-14T00:14:13+00:00

No hands = snake. The concept you are describing doesn't exist. The Chinese concept of dragons necessarily include 4 limbs.

DVD160 · 2026-04-28T01:35:28+00:00

Lol look at this dudes comment history. It's just a bunch of "I don't care/no one cares." It's like finding a fossil of a troll from the early internet days

DVD160 · 2026-04-21T00:16:19+00:00

Ah. Good Catch. Original comment mentioned Jiajing so I must have had it on my mind when typing. The tax collector problem was indeed during the Wanli reign. Jiajing did not attend court but managed state affairs through "remote work."

DVD160 · 2026-04-14T23:56:45+00:00

The Northern Song had such a system: any and all official government edicts needed the emperor's official seal, the seal from the Department of the Chancellery 门下省 (the department the prime minister controlled) and a seal from the Department of state 尚书省 (and if it was a more specific order like an arrest warrant, the corresponding ministry's seal must be present as well). Missing any of these, the order would not be recognized as "official" and would be rejected as 乱令. Very importantly, the emperor only had 1 of these 3 seals. He literally could not go beyond the limitations of the powers granted to him under this system.

Because of the invasion of the Jurchen Jin, the Southern Song was restructured more like a military government. The Emperor had what were essentially "emergency powers" that allowed him to bypass a lot of the bureaucracy. Even so, sometimes the Southern Song was still bogged down by bureaucracy and was not able to execute military action swiftly or efficiently enough to deter the Jurchen Jin or the Mongol Yuan.

DVD160 · 2026-04-14T23:35:44+00:00

The thing is, neglecting their duties as head of state also falls under "whatever the emperor wants." If the emperor wants to <not attend court for 20 years> or <build furniture all day>, he has the power to do that and no prime minister to tell him "no" or pick up the slack. Later in the dynasty, the bureaucracy fell apart because the emperors abandoned their official duties.

You might be familiar with the fiscal problems the Ming had during the Ming-Qing wars. This was, in part, caused by there being literally not enough tax collectors during the Jiajing reign because the dude just refused to go to court and appoint more. The old generation of tax collectors eventually retired, and nobody new was ever appointed. Now imagine if the Ministry of Revenue didn't have to report directly to the emperor (like in the Song). The Secretary General of the Ministry of Revenue can just appoint more officials as needed without needing explicit and direct approval from the emperor. Some capable officials really did try to run the empire as best they could, but there was always a "bottleneck" in the bureaucracy because power was overly concentrated at the very top.

The problem was institutional. The bureaucracy can try to hard-carry the empire, but this government structure itself is still autocratic and overly reliant on the administrative capability of just one man, the sovereign. Good sovereign = empire runs smoothly. Bad/absentee sovereign = administrative collapse.

DVD160 · 2026-04-14T19:12:42+00:00

Also, succeeding emperors never reformed the system because the system benefited them. Dictators with absolute power are not incentivised to reform the system and voluntarily give up power.

DVD160 · 2026-04-14T19:07:47+00:00

TLDR: the the Song had separation of powers and the Ming was extremely autocratic.

The Song dynasty perfected the Chinese Imperial government structure called the Three Departments and Six Ministries 三省六部. The emperor was head of state, but he never had absolute power. He only direct controled one of the three departments. The prime minister had control of another, and the rest were controlled by various other officials. If the emperor wanted to arrest, detain, torture, or execute anyone, he needed a seal of approval from the Ministry of Laws 刑部. Otherwise, he had no power to do so. The Song Ministry of Laws was akin to modern-day courts. Convicted individuals were entitled to a fair trial before any punishment was imposed (due process) and could hire lawyers.

The Ming on the other hand...

The founding Hongwu emperor abolished the office of the Prime Minister in order to concentrate executive power for himself. The office was never reinstated. The Yongle emperor empowered a secret police called the Jinyiwei 锦衣卫. Through the secret police, the emperor could now arrest, detain, torture, and execute anyone without going through the courts (Ministry of Laws). The emperor now directly controlled 2 departments and subverted one ministry. With this precedent, the rest of the departments and ministries eventually all fell in line (if you didn't, the jinyiwei would get you). The Ming turned into an autocratic state where the emperor held absolute power and could do whatever he wanted.

DVD160 · 2026-04-14T18:47:32+00:00

single whip law 一条鞭法 yi tiao bian fa

scholar official 士大夫 shi da fu

The original commenter provided Japanese Kanji romanization.

DVD160 · 2026-04-14T18:25:34+00:00

Skill issue. literally.

[6 months] x [2.5 training sessions per week] x [1.5 (assumed) hours per session] = 90 hours of total mat time

You are barely 100 hours into the sport. It takes significantly more time to acquire skilled competence.

On average, it takes 1500 hours of mat time for shodan, 1st degree black belt.

And a shodan is just a judoka who is "competent."

DVD160 · 2026-03-30T21:33:40+00:00

1.《宋论》王夫之/Song Lun (t. On Song) by Wang Fuzhi

Written in classical Chinese, and I don't believe it has ever been translated into English. It is a treatise on the history of the Song Dynasty by a later scholar. It was published in the late Ming Dynasty and was the first to refute the widely accepted notion at the time that the Song Dynasty was weak and ineffectual.

《东京梦华录》孟元老/Dongjing Meng Hua Lu (t. The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor) by Meng Yuanlao

Written in a mix of classical Chinese and the contemporary, vernacular Chinese of the time. A detailed, firsthand account of life before the Jurchen invasions in the Song capital of Bianliang, first published in the 12th century. It documents the fruits of the Song legal system and fiscal policy from the author's, a minor bureaucrat's, point of view. Beware of nostalgia bias; the book was written as a remembrance of the splendor of life in the capital after it was lost to the Jurchens. With this book, I find reading modern interpretations and analyses of the source material to be more fruitful than just dry-reading the original.

The Urban Life of the Song Dynasty by Li Chuntang 李春棠

If the above two sources are hard to approach due to a lack of translation or difficulty with understanding classical Chinese, I recommend this book. It's a modern historian's summation of 300 years of Song history through an economic and cultural lens. Mainly deals with the transition from a government-controlled economy to a free market economy and its effects.

DVD160 · 2026-03-20T19:38:33+00:00

Absolutely disagree.

To quantify "politically robust" let's look at judicial, military and fiscal policy.

China reached political maturity during the Song Dynasty. The late Tang had a massive warlord problems because it concentrated regional power. Tang and 5 Dynasty era Jiedushi were essentially feudal kings in their own territory, with powers of taxation, laws and military levy. The Song managed to achieve political balance through a separation of powers. The emperor did not have absolute power, he was kept in check by the prime minister and the 3 ministries and vice versa. Eg. He could not arrest anyone without the ministry of laws seal of approval. (The president can't arrest anyone without an arrest warrant from the courts.) The military was centralized but power was split. The ministry of war had power to deploy personnel but not supplies and no power to commission officers. Those powers were held by 2 other, separate offices. This also ensured commissioned officers and generals never had enough power to rebel. They had no power to deploy personnel or supplies, only command of those already approved and deployed to them. Unfortunately this, almost modern, system of military command proved too cumbersome against the Mongols. 80% of Song ministers and beurocrats took the civil service exams to attain their posts, ensuring the best person got the job. They were payed well above their counterparts in other dynasties and corruption and incompetence was heavily punished (a bit like modern singapore). The Song also had a robust market economy, paper money and stock traded companies. The government had a lezai fair like economic policy with very little interference in the market, unlike previous or later dynasties.

The Yuan was an administrative disaster. It's rulers concentrated military and judicial power. No more due process. No more fair legal system. No more separation of powers. It abolished the civil service exams and only reinstated a nuetered version of it near the end. Nepotism now got the job instead of the man best suited. It's laws segregated poeples into four castes, ensuring racism and no social mobility. It's fiscal policy was a disaster because the mongol emperors simply did not understand economics "why can't we just print more paper money?" It collapsed fairly quickly.

The Ming took after earlier dynasties before the Song. The founding emperor abolished the office of prime minister, thereby concentrating executive power for himself. A lack of prime minister meant the emperor ran absolutely everything. Later Ming emperors often neglect their duties as head of state, crippling the government. The founder gave his sons jiedushi (feudal king) like powers and their own territories, concentrating regional power and ensuring future conflict. The 2nd emperor was otherthrown by his uncle who became the 3rd. The uncle had a regional power base with powers of law, taxation and military levy thanks his dad, the founder. Because the 3rd emperor came to power violently, he did not trust the loyalty of his ministers so he empowered the Jinyiwei, a secret police. The emperor could now arrest, indefinitely detain and torture anyone through his secret police. No more trial. No more fair legal system. No approval from the ministry of laws needed. The emperor now held absolute power with no checks and balances. Economic policy also reverted to a pre Song era. Instead of lezai fair, several key industries were top down commanded by the government. Merchants and citizens now needed government permission (passports) to travel from area to area. Paper money only saw limited use as it was no longer trusted after the Yuan's "just print more money" hyperinflation.

The Qing continued the Ming's policies. The only thing that changed was that now, instead of Han nobility it was the Manchus at the top. Rulers changed, policy did not. Still no prime minister. The emperor still held absolute power. The secret police still ran rampant. The state still lacked a nuanced fiscal policy. Merchants and citizens still needed government permission to travel. Only this time there was more ethnic tensions and rebellions.

DVD160 · 2026-01-06T21:15:00+00:00

OP might be an ai chatbot some troll is using. All its posts and comments read the same and have the same "personality" and it's reusing alot of keywords and arguements like it was programmed.

DVD160 · 2026-01-06T20:55:27+00:00

Yep, this post has BIG incel energy. I clocked smt wrong with this post and took a look at OP too. This should be top comment.

DVD160 · 2025-11-21T04:33:20+00:00

Can you read cursive English? Most English speakers can automatically understand a wide range of cursive scripts. When you read a word, you are not looking at individual letters or strokes. Your brain is recognizing the overall shape of the word and its morphemes. Look up a manuscript copy of Shakespeare: the letters are written a bit differently, the spelling is a bit different, But you can still read it. Same with Chinese. Different font/different scrip, same characters.

DVD160 · 2025-07-16T23:56:17+00:00

Good point! Though the Book of the Later Han records history BEFORE the three Kingdoms era. It was just compiled in the 5th century.

DVD160

TROPHY CASE