#348 - Arrow War 2: Ashes of Perfect Brightness
The History of China

#348 - Arrow War 2: Ashes of Perfect Brightness

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 25, 202643 min
  • Documentary
  • History

For two days in mid-October, ash fell like snow atop Beijing. All that remained of one of the greatest cultural storehouses in all of human history, put to the torch as an extremely personalized punishment... after everything not nailed down inside it had already been looted off, of course. But the man it was meant to punish... wasn't even there. He'd already slipped out the back door of the Forbidden City weeks before - leaving an opera troupe to play on and cover his escape, as he left his own capital behind to its conquerors for the...

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The Men of Qin had no leisure to mourn themselves, and so it was those who came after who mourned

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  • B24:26
  • B27:04
  • B213:12
  • C118:38
  • B225:47
  • C127:20
  • C132:17
  • B238:08

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 23%A2 37%B1 26%B2 13%C1 2%
  • 85% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 140 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 291 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:44

Hello and welcome to the history of China. The Men of Qin had no leisure to mourn themselves, and so it was those who came after who mourned them. But if those who come after mourn them without learning from them, they too will give those

1:14

who come after cause to mourn. Shuu Moo, Rap City on the Uppong Palace, 825 CE. Before history, one of the two bandits will be called France, the other will be called England.

1:29

Victor Hugo, Letter to Captain Butler, Hotville House, 25th November 1861. You see, I'm a guy of simple taste. I enjoy dynamite, gunpowder, and gasoline. And you know the thing they have in common?

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