dinsdag 3 april 2018

History Channel: The Mongol Empire Kublai Khan

I "discovered" Kublai through the marco Polo Netflix series, and took a serious intrest in the "Wise Khan" excellently portrayed by Benedict Wong.

Yes, I`m forming an army for them as such... but while scrolling through YouTube I came across this old History Channel documentary.

The documentary starts from the days of young Kublai, who while unremarkable on a military level, took a totally new approach to the Mongol way of ruling.  He provided for his subjects, no matter what their decendance, as he also worked towards improving trade and communication.
On the other hand, he was still a Mongol warlord, and one of the most ruthless and skilled there have been, rivalling perhaps even his grandfather Genghis.  This resulted him in overthrowing the last chinese dynasty of southern China, and as such becoming the first foreign Emperor of China.
Founding the Yuan dynasty, he ruled China as the chinese did, but still staying true in a way to the Mongol ways of life, and he kept craving new conquests.
Aided by his trusted advisors and his favorite wife Chabi, Kublai, set his eye on Japan, and found his final challenge in this target...

The documentary is in the "good old" style.  No mostly reenacting movies, but the old style of a narrator with images and artwork on the screen, intercut by professors telling about their fields of expertise.

A good documentary, showing the similarities, and the fantasies, of the Marco Polo series, which was closer to the reality then I at first, with limited knowledge of the subject, thought.

Very learnfull!

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