Story of China

Tang Dynasty Xi'an was an incredible 25 square miles in size, roughly the size of Manhattan! Michael Wood sets off on foot, along the giant medieval walls to explore one of the old districts of the city with its fast food joints, fortune tellers and funeral parlors; ending

Michael takes a stroll through the fabulous markets of Kashgar in Chinese Central Asia, still today full of different people, religions, cultures and cuisines. More than 1300 years ago, during China’s brilliant Tang dynasty, this was a crossroads of the world: "East and West first start to get

We all know about Columbus, but what about the great Chinese ocean voyages that took place before his time? Michael Wood tells the story of the Chinese Admiral Zheng He and his voyages to the west. He asks too, why were they stopped? "Some say it would be like

Michael Wood talks to Prof. Zheng Yangwen about the crippling social effects on China of the opium trade run by the British. "Where is your conscience?" the emperor asked Queen Victoria. In the late 1830's, the Chinese decided to do something about it and ordered the

In the Great Mosque in Xi'an, Michael Wood shows us inscriptions in Chinese, Arabic and Farsi, which reveal the multi-cultural world of China 300 years ago under the Qing Dynasty. In Kaifeng, he is welcomed into a women-only mosque with a female imam – a Chinese tradition that originated

Michael Wood visits the room in Shanghai where the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party took place in 1921. Among the twelve delegates (from only fifty-seven members!) was the young Mao Zedong, the future Chairman Mao. Meanwhile, outside in Shanghai. the Jazz Age was in full swing. Michael takes

The rules of the "World's Game," modern soccer, were fixed in England in the 1860's; but 1000 years ago in Song dynasty China, there were soccer clubs, rules, fans and even music and fast food at half-time! In Beijing, Michael gets up close for

Think Chinese take out is a modern idea? A thousand years ago in Kaifeng, the world's biggest city, China produced the world's first great cuisine with fancy diners and fast food joints. In a restaurant in today’s Kaifeng, Michael orders lunch from a 1000 year

Harvard University's Dr. Lik Hang Tsui tells the tale of the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, the ruthless Yongle who kills his nephew to take power. In a purge of his enemies, a loyal minister speaks out and receives the cruelest punishment: Death by ten degrees.

Michael Wood arrives in the old Portuguese colony of Macao, the Europeans' first foothold in China. The Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci came here 1582, with the aim of converting the emperor and his people to Christianity. In today's cathedral in Beijing, Michael hears why Ricci is

At the town of Wuxi in the lower Yangtze valley, Michael Wood joins the Qin family as they celebrate the annual festival for the ancestors, a ritual that goes back thousands of years. Banned under the communists such rituals are coming back everywhere in today’s China, as once more

Michael Wood visits the tomb of Confucius in Qufu. There he meets a visiting group of Korean scholars who perform rituals at the grave and tell us why Confucius is still one of the most important figures in the history of civilization. Then a party of school children say goodbye

Michael Wood tells how China’s greatest archaeological discovery started with a packet of over the counter medicine in a traditional Chinese drug store! In 1899, a Chinese scholar called Wang fell ill with malaria but he got more than he bargained for with his prescription! On the ‘dragon bones’

A thousand years ago, China was a world leader in science and civilization. Michael Wood explores a 45 ft-high working replica of an astronomical clock made by China's Leonardo da Vinci -- Su Song. It's a water clock driven by an endless chain drive, with small

Michael Wood visits Suzhou, "the Venice of China." Five hundred years ago during the Ming dynasty Suzhou was the symbol of China’s "Embarrassment of Riches." Staying in the house of a Ming merchant family, Michael explores China's new world of private wealth and

Michael joins a traditional acting troupe on their bus to a tiny village near Yangzhou. They are going there to perform a traditional drama for a local woman's 90th birthday - in the icy outdoors! We watch the actors and musicians prepare the set, put on their makeup,

Michael Wood visits the monument to Qiu Jin in Shaoxing. This feminist poet and political activist founded a radical journal for women's voices and campaigned for the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the founding of a republic. She was executed in the middle of her home town.

The age of communism is over now in today's free market China, even though the Communist Party still runs the country as a one party state. Now there's just one place which is still communist in a sea of capitalism. Michael visits this strange throwback in

A group of enthusiastic high school kids give Michael a guided tour around their school grounds where incredibly they show him the grave of China's greatest poet, Du Fu. The Chinese have loved Du Fu since he died in 770 - they call him their Shakespeare. Then, in

Any filmmaker will tell you that crews run on coffee. Sometimes it’s hard to find, so ingenious methods have to be employed to maintain blood caffeine levels!

Our Chinese crew have been fantastic but manipulating a 20ft crane into this temple was a challenge. As we had come to expect, they managed it with skill and a smile.

Another sweltering hot day in filming in on the ancient city walls of Xi'an.

Michael Wood joins a million pilgrims at a temple festival in the Chinese countryside to celebrate the myth of the mother-goddess Nüwa and her brother Fuxi, which has been handed down from prehistory. The people tell how the ancestors of the Chinese people Nüwa and Fuxi created humanity- by mixing

Composer Howard Davidson and soprano Wu He record the music for The Story of China.

In a behind-the-scenes interview, historian and Story of China host Michael Wood describes what he would like the audience to take away from the series.