The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler

Volume 3 the Classical World

Episode 69

The Battle of Red Cliffs. So, Right now during this podcast series we are in the thick of ancient Chinese history telling the stories of the earliest dynasties

which grew up from populations who settled in the arable lands surrounding both the Yellow and Yanksi rivers.

Today's story centers on a battle which took place on the Yanksi River,

the more stable of the two rivers. The Yellow River the was more reliable. Certainly some of the first recognizable Neolithic cultures

emerged in close proximity to the Yancey River

and many of its tributaries.

Even previous to the Neolithic that

Sienren culture could have been developing the first ceramic pots ever

created in world history that may have predated and even influenced the more well known

Jomon ceramics of Japan. We talked about this way back in episode 1 during

episode 14 when we were summarising the Paleolithic world.

The nearest major modern city to the site of this week's battle is the city of Wu Han, which is inland from the mouth of the river which empties into the East China Sea.

Neolithic cultures typical to this region between 5,000 and 2,000 B.C.

would have been the Dashi culture, the Chugjarlin culture and the Shijahoe culture.

We haven't really spoken much about these particular and the Shijajahoe culture.

We haven't really spoken much about these particular cultures

due to the fact that the Yellow River cultures

were much more notable in terms of their artifacts

and demonstration of the Chinese progress.

...