The Story of China
A sweeping series where Michael Wood travels across China to explore its landscapes, people, and stories, tracing over 4,000 years of history that shaped the nation’s identity.
Watch The Story of China and more acclaimed documentaries on BBC Select today. Restrictions apply*.
The Story of China on BBC Select
Episode 1: Ancestors
Michael Wood traces the roots of Chinese culture, joining a vast Qin family reunion, visiting the Yellow River’s Nuwa shrine, and exploring early Chinese civilisation at Erlitou and the Shang tombs, studying oracle bones and ancient origins.
Episode 2: Silk Roads and China Ships
Michael Wood explores China’s first international age under the Tang Dynasty, travelling from Luoyang along the Silk Road to India, tracing the monk who brought Buddhism to China, a story still retold through storytellers, films and shadow puppetry.
Episode 3: The Golden Age
Michael Wood heads to Kaifeng to explore the Song Dynasty’s creative brilliance, uncovering legends of child emperors and the innovations captured in the famous Kaifeng scroll, revealing one of history’s most culturally vibrant eras.
Episode 4: The Ming
Michael Wood recounts the tale of one of China’s most famous dynasties beginning with the amazing story of Hongwu, a peasant rebel who founded one of greatest eras in Chinese history.
Episode 5: The Last Empire
Michael Wood explores the rise of China’s last empire, the Qing, from its violent Manchu origins to its vast expansion under emperors like Kangxi, who shaped China’s modern borders by uniting regions from Xinjiang to Mongolia and Tibet.
Episode 6: The Age of Revolution
Michael Wood details a century of upheaval in China, from the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions to the world wars, showing how these shocks shaped modern China, ending with Mao’s death and the nation’s rapid rise in recent decades.
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