"浩浩乾坤" - Vast Heaven and Earth (Song about the Taiping Rebellion)

This is the intro song of the Chinese historical drama "太平天囯" or "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was founded by Hong Xiuquan, the self proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ. Originally started in Guangxi, the radical Christian sect moved out of Guangxi and conquered vast swathes of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui, and even the southern capital of Nanjing, the second largest city in China. They were also aided by the Red Turbans, Tiandihui, Small Swords Society, Miao rebels, Panthay Rebellion, Dungan Revolt, and the Black Flag Army. It was the single deadliest civil war in human history, with a grand total of 30 million dead.

A note about translation:
This song is rather unusual compared to my regular content. It is written in very traditional poetic Chinese, leading it to be incredibly hard to translate and leaving multiple english translations possible. This song in particular also has a very niche cultural reference which would fly over the head of your average foreigner, which I will explain here.

In the Chinese game Xiangqi, also known as Chinese Chess, the equivalent for the pawn is called a soldier (though I translated it as pawn here). In the center of the board is a gap, called the River. Once a soldier piece crosses the river, he cannot retreat back across the river. This is the meaning of the fourth line in the song.

I do not get many subscribers off my videos. All translations here and on the Kuai channel are self made, and I put a lot of effort into making sure they are accurate. So please, subscribe and share this video with a friend, a discord server, or a back-alley homeless man. Thanks!


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不能忘太平天国！