0:00:04 > 0:00:10China, a global superpower, eyes set on the future,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13its arrival on the world stage greeted like the appearance
0:00:13 > 0:00:14of a new planet.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18But it is not the first time.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22In the seventh century, when Europe was in its Dark Age,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Tang Dynasty China became the greatest
0:00:25 > 0:00:27power on earth and would be for
0:00:27 > 0:00:291,000 years until the rise of the West.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33What's happening now has happened before.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39I'm in Xi'an, the capital of the Tang, which 1,300 years ago was
0:00:39 > 0:00:42the greatest and most cosmopolitan city on earth.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49And what made it great was not only its economic and cultural power,
0:00:49 > 0:00:54its sense of its own identity, but its openness to other cultures.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Standing over the square, the statue of one of the heroes
0:00:59 > 0:01:01of that time, one of the great figures in the history
0:01:01 > 0:01:05of civilisation, the Buddhist monk Xuanzang,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09who brought the wisdom of India back here to China.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12This is the tale of a time which even now the Chinese
0:01:12 > 0:01:14see as a golden age.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17In the story of China we have reached the Tang Dynasty.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57It's often said that in history
0:01:57 > 0:02:00China has been a closed civilisation,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03introverted, cutting itself off from the world.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11And there have been times when it has looked that way,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14but since prehistory China has never been isolated
0:02:14 > 0:02:16and has thrived on contact.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23And the Tang Dynasty was a great age of international connection.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28That time, vast numbers of foreign peoples poured into China with
0:02:28 > 0:02:34exotic goods, foods and ideas, and even new religions.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38And the great pathway of exchange was the Silk Road.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46We call it the Silk Road today, but it wasn't really one road
0:02:46 > 0:02:49but a series of land routes connecting China with
0:02:49 > 0:02:51the Mediterranean and India.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55And the Silk Road turned China,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58for the first time, into a global civilisation.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Along it, just as today, were many cultures and peoples,
0:03:04 > 0:03:06different religions,
0:03:06 > 0:03:08different ways of seeing the world.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Thank you, thank you so much.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14The magic of the Silk Road.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18The magic of Central Asia.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21There is Han Chinese, there's Uyghurs everywhere,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24there's a guy from Kyrgyzstan - you can tell by his hat.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Just like it would have been in ancient times, you would've
0:03:26 > 0:03:30seen Arabs and Persians, probably Indians along with
0:03:30 > 0:03:36the Han Chinese on this very edge of Tang Dynasty China.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Greek historian Polybius has a very interesting remark about this.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43He is writing in the 100s BC.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47He says that in ancient times the histories of Europe
0:03:47 > 0:03:49and Asia were completely separate,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53they ran their own way, but from our age onwards
0:03:53 > 0:03:57the history of Europe began to interact and engage with
0:03:57 > 0:04:02the history of Asia and the history of Asia with that of Europe.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05You could say it is the beginning of universal history
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and it is happening in the Tang Dynasty.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16But in history, when two civilisations first
0:04:16 > 0:04:20come into contact, it's not always peaceful and not always enriching.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29To really open up to another culture needs patience and humility,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31to be willing to shed your own preconceptions.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37And in the seventh century the Chinese were confident enough
0:04:37 > 0:04:42to do that, to be changed by the experience of the other.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51The story begins at the Chinese end of
0:04:51 > 0:04:54the Silk Road in the old city of Luoyang.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Luoyang was the ancient capital of the Zhou Dynasty of 500 years
0:05:01 > 0:05:03and for those centuries its poets
0:05:03 > 0:05:07and scholars had praised it as a place of great culture.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09"It was the real heart of China,"
0:05:09 > 0:05:14they said, "in the middle of the middle plain of the Middle Kingdom."
0:05:16 > 0:05:20And this is not just a story about empires and economies
0:05:20 > 0:05:22but about what it is to be civilised.
0:05:22 > 0:05:23Ni hao. Hello.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26'It is about a new spirit in Chinese culture...'
0:05:27 > 0:05:32Look at this. Magic world, Aladdin's cave.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34'..a spirit that will give birth to the greatest age
0:05:34 > 0:05:36'of Chinese poetry...'
0:05:36 > 0:05:37Ni hao. Ni hao.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40'..a time when poetry came out of the court into the streets,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43'a witness to the times,
0:05:43 > 0:05:47'expressing the human condition as never before...'
0:05:48 > 0:05:51HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Famous poem of the Tang Dynasty.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57'..knowing the insecurity of human life as the Chinese always have.'
0:05:57 > 0:06:04This floating life is just like the water under the ice,
0:06:04 > 0:06:09flowing eastwards day and night and no-one notices.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11Isn't that great?
0:06:13 > 0:06:18So it is a place rich in culture, rich in trade and merchants
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and interested in foreigners.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27And if you want to see just how interested, go a few miles
0:06:27 > 0:06:30outside Luoyang where the most
0:06:30 > 0:06:33famous Indian of all time is commemorated.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36The Buddha.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39The foreigner who most fascinated the Chinese through
0:06:39 > 0:06:41the whole of their history.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45The adoption of this Indian religion would
0:06:45 > 0:06:50leave its mark on the very DNA of Chinese civilisation.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54What better symbol is there of the impact of Buddhism
0:06:54 > 0:06:58on Tang Dynasty China, indeed a symbol of the impact
0:06:58 > 0:07:03of the exchange of ideas and civilisations, than this great cliff
0:07:03 > 0:07:07pockmarked with devotion, and in the middle, that huge
0:07:07 > 0:07:10image of the Buddha himself whose message had been carried
0:07:10 > 0:07:16along what the Chinese called the Road Carrying the Jewel of Truth?
0:07:24 > 0:07:25How that happened,
0:07:25 > 0:07:30how China embraced Buddhism, is one of the great stories in history.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35An adventure that generations of storytellers
0:07:35 > 0:07:38have turned into China's favourite fairytale.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:07:45 > 0:07:48The Emperor had a dream
0:07:48 > 0:07:55and in the dream a strange man appeared to him with his skin
0:07:55 > 0:07:59the colour of gold, framed by the sun and moon and stars.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08And the court astrologers and diviners interpreted the dream.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15But this man had come from the West
0:08:15 > 0:08:17and it must be the Buddha himself.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22The Emperor was fascinated and organised an expedition.
0:08:22 > 0:08:2618 courtiers and scholars with all their attendants journeyed
0:08:26 > 0:08:28out to the West to find out more.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34They got as far as Afghanistan and there in a Buddhist monastery
0:08:34 > 0:08:39they met two Indian monks who agreed to come back with them to China.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46They came back here and were established in this monastery,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50the White Horse Pagoda after the white horses that they rode,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53and they translated the first Buddhist scriptures ever to be
0:08:53 > 0:08:58rendered into Chinese. And they died here and were buried here.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02This is the tomb of one of them, Kasyapa Matanga.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08It's not the first exchange between India and China but from that
0:09:08 > 0:09:13moment onwards the dialogue of civilisations will be continuous.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Now the story moves on in time to the year 600.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25In the wider world the Roman Empire has fallen,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29Byzantium is flowering and in China the Mandate of Heaven has
0:09:29 > 0:09:32passed to a new dynasty, the Tang.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42In a village outside Luoyang, a boy was born who would become
0:09:42 > 0:09:45one of the most famous people in Chinese history
0:09:45 > 0:09:48and his name was Xuanzang.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Xuanzang must have known this place very well
0:09:57 > 0:10:00from childhood and known all the stories,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03especially about the two strangers who had come from India.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07"I was inflamed by a passionate curiosity,"
0:10:07 > 0:10:10he says, "about the Buddha and about the origins of the faith
0:10:10 > 0:10:16"and I applied for a foreign travel permit several times to no avail.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18"Perhaps because I was a nobody.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21"And in the end I took matters into my own hands
0:10:21 > 0:10:24"and I left in secret for India."
0:10:31 > 0:10:33He was 26 years old
0:10:33 > 0:10:37and his journey would change the course of Chinese civilisation.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42It is a story that has fascinated me over the years, travelling in his
0:10:42 > 0:10:45footsteps between China and Central Asia,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47across Afghanistan into India.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53At that time Xuanzang said, "The Tang were new on the throne,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55"China's frontiers didn't extend far.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58"There was a ban on foreign travel.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01"At first I had to move by night to dodge the border guards."
0:11:04 > 0:11:08The real-life adventures of Xuanzang gave birth to some of China's
0:11:08 > 0:11:10best-loved legends and characters.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14EXPLOSION
0:11:14 > 0:11:16The Tang monk and his crazy companions...
0:11:20 > 0:11:24..the lustful Piggy, the dim-witted Sandy
0:11:24 > 0:11:28and above all the faithful Monkey.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35All of them changed by their magical encounters along the Silk Road.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:11:44 > 0:11:47In later novels and films it turned into the kind of fantasy
0:11:47 > 0:11:50the Chinese have always loved -
0:11:50 > 0:11:53both comic adventure and spiritual allegory.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03On the real journey, Xuanzang tells of oceans of sand
0:12:03 > 0:12:06and the exotic peoples whose lands he passed through.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10"My fellow Buddhists tried to persuade me
0:12:10 > 0:12:13"not to risk my life further," he said,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15"but I must reach the West.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18"If I don't there's no point in coming back."
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Through time the story just grew and grew.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36The travelling shadow puppet players still play it out in the villages.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44And the city's storytellers say that to tell the tale in full
0:12:44 > 0:12:46would take 110 days.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26So today it's one of the great myths of Chinese culture.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32A strange and wonderful afterlife for a real Tang monk.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Xuanzang is one of those rare people who turn up in history.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Visionary, great scholar...
0:13:48 > 0:13:52..and yet possessed of incredible physical toughness
0:13:52 > 0:13:54and bravery and stamina.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02After three years and nearly 5,000 miles, he says,
0:14:02 > 0:14:07"We crossed the great snowy mountains and came down into India."
0:14:12 > 0:14:16He crossed the River Indus and entered the plains of India
0:14:16 > 0:14:18with their teaming kingdoms and cities.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30He travelled with Buddhist pilgrims down
0:14:30 > 0:14:33the Grand Trunk Road to the River Ganges.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51And finally he reached Bodh Gaya and the sacred Bodhi Tree
0:14:51 > 0:14:55where 1,000 years before the Buddha had sat in meditation
0:14:55 > 0:14:56and gained enlightenment.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05"And when I saw it," Xuanzang says, "I lay on the ground
0:15:05 > 0:15:07"and shed many tears."
0:15:09 > 0:15:11THEY CHANT
0:15:11 > 0:15:14He stayed in India for ten years studying the Buddhist teachings,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17his noble truths about the human condition.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24Then he set off home to take them back to the Chinese people,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28to fire their imaginations as his story has ever since.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Four-year-old Xiao Yunhao is hoping to be one of the next
0:15:38 > 0:15:41generation of Monkey storytellers.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27The China he came back to in 643 was the largest
0:16:27 > 0:16:29and strongest country on earth.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34Its capital Chang'an, today's Xi'an, was one of the world's great
0:16:34 > 0:16:36centres of civilisation.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43And as for the Emperor himself, Taizong was at
0:16:43 > 0:16:48the height of his powers and a stickler for protocol.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53The emperor's first words to Xuanzang were, "Welcome back...
0:16:55 > 0:16:58"..but you never asked permission to go."
0:16:58 > 0:17:00"Well," said Xuanzang,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04"I applied for a permit for foreign travel on several occasions
0:17:04 > 0:17:06"but it never worked.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08"Perhaps because I was a nobody."
0:17:11 > 0:17:15He wasn't a nobody now. Crowds came just to look at him.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23He was supposed to be very good looking which stood him
0:17:23 > 0:17:24in good stead.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26He was a very good-looking man.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32I think it is difficult to underestimate how much
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Xuanzang really aroused people's interest in him.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37So many people came to welcome him,
0:17:37 > 0:17:39so many people came to have a squint at him.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43In fact he had to shut his doors and say, "No more visitors, please,"
0:17:43 > 0:17:45so that he could get on with some work.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56"It was my life's task," Xuanzang said,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58"to bring the Buddha's teachings
0:17:58 > 0:18:02"to the people of China for the benefit of generations to come."
0:18:06 > 0:18:10The Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an was built to house the manuscripts
0:18:10 > 0:18:12he brought back.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Most were lost long ago in wars and revolutions
0:18:15 > 0:18:18but for a few precious fragments.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21- So these are in Pali.- Yeah. - This is the language of South India
0:18:21 > 0:18:23and Sri Lanka.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40657 books
0:18:40 > 0:18:43in 520 packages
0:18:43 > 0:18:45on 20 pack horses.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54It must make you feel very proud to be monks here.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:19:04 > 0:19:07The Emperor now commissioned Xuanzang
0:19:07 > 0:19:10to translate the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17In the history of civilisation it's a project comparable to
0:19:17 > 0:19:19the Arabic translations out of Greek...
0:19:19 > 0:19:22THEY CHANT
0:19:22 > 0:19:25..or the Bible from Greek into Latin.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33With the permission of the Emperor he got quite a team together.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37He had 12 people in his team of Buddhists
0:19:37 > 0:19:40who knew about the literature
0:19:40 > 0:19:43and he had eight people also in the team
0:19:43 > 0:19:47who were phrase connectors, is what they're called.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50People who tried to put things into Chinese of the time.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57It was all part of Taizong's insatiable appetite for learning.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00He was one of China's great rulers,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03a model of the Confucian virtuous man.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08He was a philosopher prince, poet and rationalist,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and he thought that ruling was inseparable
0:20:11 > 0:20:13from the patronage of culture.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16And now Taizong wouldn't leave Xuanzang alone.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Xuanzang was supposed to be doing all this translation work
0:20:21 > 0:20:23but he didn't have time.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26He had to spend all his time at court trying to fulfil
0:20:26 > 0:20:29the emperor's need for conversation.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31He was a man who was consumed by curiosity.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38The Emperor himself said the scriptures of Buddhism,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41"are as unfathomable as the depths of the sea
0:20:41 > 0:20:44"or the height of the sky.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47"In comparison, the teachings of Confucius and Laozi
0:20:47 > 0:20:52"and The Nine Schools are just a single island in a great ocean".
0:20:56 > 0:20:59The Emperor was so impressed by his bearing
0:20:59 > 0:21:03and intelligence that he asked him to hang up his Buddhist robe
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and to become his prime minister.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08"Help me run the country."
0:21:08 > 0:21:10And Xuanzang refused him.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15He said, "It would be like taking a boat out of the water.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18"Not only would it cease to be useful
0:21:18 > 0:21:20"but in time it would rot away."
0:21:39 > 0:21:41Xuanzang Died in 664.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46His ashes are buried in the little monastery of Xingjiao Si
0:21:46 > 0:21:47near Xi'an.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Spared in the cultural revolution of the 1960s at the command
0:21:52 > 0:21:55of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai himself,
0:21:55 > 0:22:00too precious to the collective memory of the Chinese people.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07Over the centuries Buddhism would profoundly touch the Chinese soul,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10as it still does.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14And back then, perhaps this Indian religion brought something
0:22:14 > 0:22:15they felt their culture lacked.
0:22:17 > 0:22:18A spiritual path based on
0:22:18 > 0:22:21personal conscience and compassion.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26For me it is almost a homage to a fellow traveller.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29I travelled most of his route through Xinjiang
0:22:29 > 0:22:31and the northwest frontier of Pakistan
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and all the way across India to Patna.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36And to think, he did most of that on foot.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Here is Xuanzang, the great traveller.
0:22:49 > 0:22:55I can't believe that he had sandals on the Hindu Kush!
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Huge framed backpack here made out of bamboo.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Can you see the bamboo strips?
0:23:02 > 0:23:05With all the scrolls of the manuscripts stored there.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Of course, actually,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09he had all that stuff in cases.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11It is a symbolic picture.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15And finally the lovely touch here of a lantern to
0:23:15 > 0:23:18illuminate his journey at night.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31After he had returned from China, Xuanzang kept in touch with his old
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Indian friends by letter.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37And those letters, though unknown in the West,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41are among the most moving documents in the history of civilisation.
0:23:41 > 0:23:47In fact, in my opinion, they tell you what civilisation really is,
0:23:47 > 0:23:52written by a member of one culture who had lovingly and totally
0:23:52 > 0:23:54immersed himself in another.
0:23:56 > 0:23:57He writes the news.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02"The great Emperor of the Tang," he says, "is joyfully supporting
0:24:02 > 0:24:07"Buddhism and ruling with justice and mercy like a compassionate
0:24:07 > 0:24:12"Chakravartin," the old Sanskrit Indian word for a great ruler.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15But it is his letter to the abbot of Bodh Gaya which is
0:24:15 > 0:24:17the most touching.
0:24:17 > 0:24:18Indeed all the more so
0:24:18 > 0:24:22because they belonged to opposed schools of Buddhism.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29MAN READS LETTER
0:24:31 > 0:24:35"A great while has elapsed since we were parted,"
0:24:35 > 0:24:40he writes, "which has only increased my admiration for you.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48"I am sending you my very best wishes.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53"Of the works that we brought back from India I have already
0:24:53 > 0:24:57"translated 30 and two more will be finished by the end of the year.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06"And there's one more thing.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10"On my way back from India I lost a horse-load of manuscripts
0:25:10 > 0:25:12"fording the River Indus.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16"I am sending you a list of the books in the hope that
0:25:16 > 0:25:20"perhaps you can get them translated and sent to me.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24"This is all for now.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29"Best wishes, the monk Xuanzang."
0:25:35 > 0:25:37YELLING
0:25:44 > 0:25:47In the seventh century Xi'an was the greatest city in the world...
0:25:49 > 0:25:52..half a million people, where the biggest European city
0:25:52 > 0:25:54had only a few thousand.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02It was a dynamic place of new styles, new fashions and new music.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05PEOPLE SING
0:26:14 > 0:26:18The city, it was said, was laid out like a vast chessboard.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32About five miles square and we are just here at this corner.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Tang Xi'an was strictly regulated.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38That was the way Chinese cities had always been,
0:26:38 > 0:26:42vast gated royal enclosures where public access was controlled.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Xi'an had 108 wards,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47all of them under curfew.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51So this was Anxi Ward in
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Tang Dynasty times, in between a palace area
0:26:55 > 0:26:58and the great government area over there.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02So it was quite posh, quite well-to-do.
0:27:02 > 0:27:03There was...
0:27:04 > 0:27:10..mansions of court musicians, a princess lived down the road.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Looks like you can still buy some of their garden ornaments, doesn't it?
0:27:17 > 0:27:21The city was low-rise. Palaces, residential quarters,
0:27:21 > 0:27:25gardens, almost every ward had Buddhist and Taoist temples.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Ni hao. Ni hao.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31You see all the things for temples here.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36Incense, that's because right back to the Tang Dynasty there was
0:27:36 > 0:27:38a huge temple in this area.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42And it is still a Taoist temple today,
0:27:42 > 0:27:44the Temple of the Eight Immortals.
0:27:49 > 0:27:50There you go.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53The Temple of the Eight Immortals.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59The theatre quarter and red light districts were here,
0:27:59 > 0:28:03the hostels for candidates for the civil service exams,
0:28:03 > 0:28:05and all tastes were catered for.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Fortune-tellers, ancient Chinese craft.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Later, later!
0:28:19 > 0:28:21There were special funeral streets.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25One of them features in a famous Tang novel.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27I love all these pilgrimage knick-knacks.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29My family are really fed up with me bringing them back to London.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34It may seem hard to square all this control with an outward-looking age
0:28:34 > 0:28:36but the Tang was a centralized state
0:28:36 > 0:28:39where everyone was registered in the censuses.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43Social harmony came from knowing and keeping your place.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Here is the Drum Tower.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Much later, of course, Ming Dynasty, but there was a drum tower
0:28:50 > 0:28:54in the middle of Tang Dynasty Xi'an, beating the drum for the curfew.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57A very strictly-regulated city.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01You couldn't be found outside your own ward at night, for example.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04So the 600 beats of the drum, you had to be back home.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07DRUMBEATS
0:29:16 > 0:29:19In the seventh century the West Market
0:29:19 > 0:29:20was the Central Asian quarter.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24Here were the Silk Road merchants, Uyghurs and Persians,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28and they brought all their exotic foods with them.
0:29:29 > 0:29:35Cherries, barbaries, apricots, peaches from Afghanistan.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Xie xie.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46Oh, my God!
0:29:48 > 0:29:51I'm coming back there. Beautiful! Xie xie.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Fizzing with energy, the capital city matched
0:29:59 > 0:30:01the ambitions of the Emperor Taizong on himself.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06In this period China changes from a feudal order
0:30:06 > 0:30:10to a bureaucratic state with civil service exams.
0:30:10 > 0:30:16And the state becomes synonymous with Han Chinese civilisation.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22Which is why people today look on Taizong's reign as a golden age.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27I'm a great admirer of Li Shimin, Tang Taizong.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30He was like a lot of founding emperors -
0:30:30 > 0:30:34he was very ambitious, very ruthless, excellent administrator
0:30:34 > 0:30:37and probably a bit of a control freak.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41He did a lot to establish the rule of China.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48It was Taizong who decided that the Silk Road should be
0:30:48 > 0:30:51brought under the umbrella of Chinese civilisation.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Only a few years after Xuanzang made his journey west,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Chinese armies marched in his footsteps.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06The Tang emperors sent their armies up the Silk Route
0:31:06 > 0:31:10here into Central Asia and they captured the great city of
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Gaochang here in 642.
0:31:13 > 0:31:19And you could say that the modern idea of a greater China, including
0:31:19 > 0:31:25all these territories, can be traced back to that time and this place.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34The goal was to protect China's luxury trade with the West
0:31:34 > 0:31:36but it was also political -
0:31:36 > 0:31:39to make China the great power of Asia.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46China was now at its biggest extent before the 18th century.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48It had become a continental civilisation
0:31:48 > 0:31:53and will see itself that way from then until now.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04Driven by a thriving economy and a rising population,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06this is the time of the colonization
0:32:06 > 0:32:08and development of the south
0:32:08 > 0:32:11as China's centre of wealth and trade.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18The big story of the Tang Dynasty between the 600s
0:32:18 > 0:32:21and the 900s is the shift to the south.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27At that time, a Chinese official writes,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29"Every stream in the Empire was full of ships.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34"Thousands, tens of thousands of great ships moving constantly
0:32:34 > 0:32:39"back and forth, always circulating, and if they stop for a single
0:32:39 > 0:32:44"moment 10,000 merchants would be bankrupted."
0:32:44 > 0:32:48It's the beginning of China as a commercial society
0:32:48 > 0:32:52and the beginning of great trading cities, and none of them
0:32:52 > 0:32:56was more important than the one that grew up at the junction
0:32:56 > 0:33:00of the Grand Canal going north-south and the Yangtze River going from
0:33:00 > 0:33:05the west to the east, the number one city of the Tang Dynasty in trade,
0:33:05 > 0:33:06Yangzhou.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27If Xi'an was the centre of the imperial administration,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Yangzhou was China's commercial heart.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35It is the beginning of the industrial south.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43You can still get a feel of the Tang in the core of old Yangzhou.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48And the key to the success of the city and to the rise of the south
0:33:48 > 0:33:52was one of China's great practical achievements, the Grand Canal.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Built at the start of the 600s the canal connected the north
0:34:05 > 0:34:08and the south with the river routes east and west.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13And it is still crucial to today's economy.
0:34:14 > 0:34:19Originally built 1,500 years ago, Shaobo Lock today
0:34:19 > 0:34:23handles over 70 million tonnes a year.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25It's an amazing scene.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27It goes on all through the day, does it?
0:34:27 > 0:34:29Yes, 24 hours a day.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31- 24 hours a day!- Yeah.- Wow!
0:34:34 > 0:34:39It took five million men to build the first section in 605,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42eventually running north to a small place called Beijing.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49And it was built 1,000 years before the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
0:34:51 > 0:34:57On the up is number three and in the middle is number two
0:34:57 > 0:35:00and behind is number one.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Mainly carrying heavy materials.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05Erm...
0:35:05 > 0:35:07- Coal.- Coal.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10- And building materials. - Building materials.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13China is building everywhere!
0:35:13 > 0:35:14Fantastic!
0:35:21 > 0:35:25Just as today, such projects were only possible with
0:35:25 > 0:35:26a command economy.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31And with it, the Tang transformed China.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36In the seventh century the economy boomed.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44The canal shipped 165,000 tonnes of grain each year just to feed
0:35:44 > 0:35:47the new garrisons in the south.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55And standing at the intersection of China's waterways,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57Yangzhou became a new kind of city.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03It's the first sign of the beginning of the modern.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10The city never slept.
0:36:13 > 0:36:18It is probably the first large city in history to employ
0:36:18 > 0:36:21artificial lighting on a grand scale.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Even the barge traffic on the Grand Canal was able to keep moving
0:36:25 > 0:36:27through the city until well after midnight.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33So Tang Dynasty Yangzhou was always open for business.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39And so too, of course, was the entertainment industry,
0:36:39 > 0:36:41the taverns and music bars
0:36:41 > 0:36:46and the brothels described with delicate euphemisms
0:36:46 > 0:36:52in Tang Dynasty poetry as Yangzhou's "ten miles of summer breeze."
0:36:54 > 0:36:58In the 830s it was all immortalized by the poet Du Mu
0:36:58 > 0:37:01in a tag which has hung around the city,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05for all its ups and downs, from that day to this -
0:37:05 > 0:37:06"the Yangzhou dream."
0:37:21 > 0:37:24And as the south grew rich they looked for new
0:37:24 > 0:37:27outlets for international trade,
0:37:27 > 0:37:31not only by land but by sea, all the way to the Persian Gulf.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36So here in the south in the Tang Dynasty we've got
0:37:36 > 0:37:42the beginnings of what I suppose we could call the maritime Silk Road.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49Long-distance international trade organized by merchants
0:37:49 > 0:37:52here in cities like Yangzhou.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55And they're selling very top-end stuff -
0:37:55 > 0:37:59silks and fine cloths and exotic tableware.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03They are selling mass-produced ceramics designed with
0:38:03 > 0:38:06the Western consumer in mind and they are also selling
0:38:06 > 0:38:10what will become the most popular drink in the world -
0:38:10 > 0:38:12tea.
0:38:16 > 0:38:21Tea had begun in the south on the subtropical hillsides of Yunnan.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24Originally drunk for health, by the Tang
0:38:24 > 0:38:28its use spread everywhere and the first books had been
0:38:28 > 0:38:30published on its beneficial effects.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32It has never looked back.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39They exported silk, too,
0:38:39 > 0:38:42coveted since Roman times by Westerners
0:38:42 > 0:38:46who were prepared to pay jaw-dropping prices
0:38:46 > 0:38:48for garments fit for an emperor.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54Here is a dragon, it's a dragon.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00So you might think China's role today as a global mass producer
0:39:00 > 0:39:04is a new phenomenon in world history but it's not.
0:39:04 > 0:39:10It has been estimated that Tang China had 55% of the world's GDP
0:39:10 > 0:39:15with its vast internal market, from local village craftsmen
0:39:15 > 0:39:18and women to the Imperial factories,
0:39:18 > 0:39:23and from everyday ceramics to gorgeous works of art.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Tang China was a giant engine of growth.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38So let's view the early medieval world in a different way.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Tang China was the superpower.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45They exported Confucian ideas, Buddhist religion,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48their written script and their language,
0:39:48 > 0:39:51adopted across East Asia and Japan.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57The Japanese even imitated Tang Xi'an in the architecture of
0:39:57 > 0:39:59their capital, Nara.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02China's influence on the East
0:40:02 > 0:40:06was as profound as Rome in the Latin West.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09In the East, in the seventh century,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12all roads led to Xi'an.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15And if you want a symbol of the age,
0:40:15 > 0:40:19just outside Xi'an stand the statues of 108 ambassadors
0:40:19 > 0:40:23from Central Asia to Japan,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25and Vietnam to Persia.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29The diplomatic pecking order of the Tang foreign office.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36This was the time when China went out to the world
0:40:36 > 0:40:38and the world came here to China.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50HE CHANTS
0:41:01 > 0:41:05And Islam also came to China in the Tang.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09Peacefully, which was not always the case in history.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14We believe during the Prophet Muhammad's time,
0:41:14 > 0:41:16peace be upon him,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20encouraged our ancestors to find technology developed in China.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22Seek knowledge as far as China.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25It had been the year Xuanzang arrived in India
0:41:25 > 0:41:28that the Prophet had died in Arabia,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31telling his followers to seek knowledge as far as China.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35HE CHANTS
0:41:35 > 0:41:40Today we speak Chinese Mandarin and the local dialect
0:41:40 > 0:41:42but in history we used to speak Chinese,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Arabic, Farsi and Mongolian.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51Four languages, some time.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58And this time, Tang Dynasty China was the centre of the world.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00Xi'an was the centre of the world, I suppose.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02- Superpower.- The superpower.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12To welcome an alien religion
0:42:12 > 0:42:16would hardly have been possible in the West or the Islamic world
0:42:16 > 0:42:17before modern times.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23It shows that while the Chinese believed in the superiority
0:42:23 > 0:42:25of their civilisation,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30they also knew there were many paths to enlightenment...
0:42:32 > 0:42:36..that all knowledge was useful in understanding the cosmos...
0:42:38 > 0:42:40..and the position of humanity in it.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47And that idea is expressed in one of the most astonishing monuments
0:42:47 > 0:42:49in the whole of Chinese history.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56It's a stone inscription recording the coming of Christianity to China
0:42:56 > 0:42:59as far back as the 630s.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03This is one of China's great national treasures,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07one of the select list of the A-list monuments
0:43:07 > 0:43:09that can never leave the country,
0:43:09 > 0:43:12and as an account of the interaction of civilisations
0:43:12 > 0:43:15it's really hard to beat. Let's start at the top.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17Those nine characters say
0:43:17 > 0:43:20"a monument commemorating
0:43:20 > 0:43:23"the propagation of the luminous religion of the West."
0:43:23 > 0:43:25That is Christianity.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33In 635, it says, a wise man from the West,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37perhaps from Persia, called Raban,
0:43:37 > 0:43:40decided to bring the Christian scriptures to China.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42Observing the path of the winds,
0:43:42 > 0:43:46through great perils he made his way all the way to China,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48presumably on the Silk Route,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51and arrived here in Chang'an. The Emperor, it says,
0:43:51 > 0:43:55received him here in Chang'an and the Christian scriptures
0:43:55 > 0:43:57were translated in the Imperial Library.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00And then the Emperor considered them in his private apartments
0:44:00 > 0:44:04and was deeply convinced by their truthfulness
0:44:04 > 0:44:09and issued this proclamation in 638.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16"The way for humanity, at different times, different places,
0:44:16 > 0:44:19"did not have the same name.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23"And the great Sage, at different times and different places,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26"was not in the same human body.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30"Over history, heaven ordained
0:44:30 > 0:44:33"that true religion would be established in different countries
0:44:33 > 0:44:38"and different climates so that all of humanity could be saved.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42"And we've considered the Christian scriptures and have decided that,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45"in all their essentials,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48"they are about the core values of humanity
0:44:48 > 0:44:52"and we have decreed that they be propagated throughout the Empire."
0:44:55 > 0:45:01But the story of China is one of cycles of creation and destruction.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08And in the next century the Empire faced a perfect storm of crises.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16It began out in the West.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20Battles against the expanding Muslim caliphate,
0:45:20 > 0:45:22savage internal rebellions
0:45:22 > 0:45:27reported by one of the great Tang poets, Li Bai.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31"Last year," says Li Bai,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34"we were fighting out to the north beyond the Great Wall
0:45:34 > 0:45:38"and this year we're fighting far out in the west
0:45:38 > 0:45:40"on the Kashgar River.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44"We've washed our blades in the streams of Parthia
0:45:44 > 0:45:49"and grazed our horses amid the snows of Tian Shan."
0:45:49 > 0:45:51There it is. There's Tian Shan.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55What a place to imagine it, here in Jiaohe,
0:45:55 > 0:46:00Tang Dynasty-garrisoned town with its watch tower and beacon platform.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05"But," says Li Bai, "the beacon fires are always burning.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09"The marching and the fighting never stops and nor does the dying.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13"You should know that the sword is a cursed thing
0:46:13 > 0:46:16"that the wise man uses only if he must."
0:46:26 > 0:46:31Out in these vast expanses the Tang Empire was overstretched.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38And in the end they abandoned the west.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46China would only regain it in the 18th century.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51The crisis came under the Emperor Xuanzong,
0:46:51 > 0:46:57the apocalyptic eight-year rebellion of General An Lushan
0:46:57 > 0:47:01which saw the end of the Tang dream of a greater China.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32The oasis of Turfan was one of the Tang garrison towns
0:47:32 > 0:47:34out in the western deserts.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39So when Li Bai writes his poem about fighting in the west,
0:47:39 > 0:47:43- it's this area he's talking about. - Mm, yes, I think so, yes.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47In about 755, because of the rebellion
0:47:47 > 0:47:50of An Lushan and Shi Siming,
0:47:50 > 0:47:54the central government became much weaker so the stationed troops
0:47:54 > 0:47:58were returned to inland China to fight against
0:47:58 > 0:48:00the army of An Lushan and Shi Siming.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05- An Lushan. So this was a very big shock.- Yeah, a big war lord.- Yeah.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11An Lushan, a bogeyman who chilled hearts back in Xi'an.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Far to the northeast he gathered armies to take revenge
0:48:16 > 0:48:19after the Emperor had killed his son.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25At home, the Dynasty had lost touch with the people.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29The tombs of the eighth-century royals near Xi'an
0:48:29 > 0:48:33show their pastimes and pleasures, polo and hunting
0:48:33 > 0:48:37and courtly parties, oblivious to the gathering storm.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44These are wonderful images outside the tomb chamber.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48They're courtly ladies, just attendants.
0:48:49 > 0:48:55In their stylish fashions they could be fin de siecle, Paris,
0:48:55 > 0:48:57couldn't they? Central Asian fashions.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02These are the vogue in the early 700s.
0:49:04 > 0:49:09The faces are so animated, you can almost imagine their conversations.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11The gossip, the rumours.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16Courts that were seething with anxiety.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22I'm afraid we Chinese never manage to live more than 50 years
0:49:22 > 0:49:25without some terrible cataclysmic event.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27- The cycles of Chinese history. - That's right.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32And it had been a particularly good period up until the Emperor -
0:49:32 > 0:49:34the brilliant Emperor -
0:49:34 > 0:49:39began, allegedly, to love his concubine, Yang Guifei,
0:49:39 > 0:49:41the precious concubine, too much.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46And he left quite a lot of the work of governing the country
0:49:46 > 0:49:51to various people, especially to this concubine's family and so on,
0:49:51 > 0:49:53which was absolutely disastrous.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58The story goes that the Emperor sent his men over the land to find
0:49:58 > 0:50:01the most beautiful woman in China.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05They failed, of course, but then,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08when he was bathing here in the hot springs,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11he saw the 18-year-old daughter of a high official...
0:50:14 > 0:50:19..the warm water running down her glistening, jade-like body,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22as the poet Bai Juyi tells the story.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28The Emperor had dreamed of a beauty who could topple an empire.
0:50:30 > 0:50:35Meanwhile, a girl in the Yang family came of age.
0:50:36 > 0:50:42And when she smiled she could melt the heart with a single glance.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47And from that day the Emperor missed every morning court.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55But then one day the ground was shaken by the war drums of a revolt.
0:50:57 > 0:51:02An Lushan came in with his Tibetans, went straight to Chang'an.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06Soldiers carried the Emperor and his favourites
0:51:06 > 0:51:09out of the capital overnight,
0:51:09 > 0:51:12it was so desperate an emergency.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15But when they got into the hills - because he was making for Sichuan,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18which was hilly, where he thought he would be safe -
0:51:18 > 0:51:22his bodyguards, a small group of people,
0:51:22 > 0:51:25rebelled and said they were not going any further
0:51:25 > 0:51:29as long as the Emperor had this favourite, and favourites with him.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31And the favourites had to be slaughtered.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41Among them was the Lady Yang,
0:51:41 > 0:51:44strung up on a tree on a silk cord.
0:51:49 > 0:51:55The great rebellion of the An Lushan period was extremely hard on China.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00An enormous number of people were killed or displaced.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07And we know from the census that were taken before that happened
0:52:07 > 0:52:11and after it, 35 million people were missing.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17As government broke down, eight years of horror unfolded.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22It was a national catastrophe, described by China's greatest poet,
0:52:22 > 0:52:26Du Fu, in lines remembered ever since by the Chinese people
0:52:26 > 0:52:29in times of trouble.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32WOMAN READS POEM
0:52:39 > 0:52:43"Guo po." Just two words. It means the state has been demolished
0:52:43 > 0:52:46and it doesn't exist any more. There's no state left.
0:52:46 > 0:52:47But "shan he zai" -
0:52:47 > 0:52:49the mountains and the river still remain.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57In all the 3,000 years of Chinese poetry,
0:52:57 > 0:53:01the world's oldest living poetic tradition, it's Du Fu,
0:53:01 > 0:53:03the poet of this terrible time,
0:53:03 > 0:53:08who is their most loved because he spoke in the people's voice.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14He's still part of the school syllabus today
0:53:14 > 0:53:18so every Chinese child knows how the Tang fell...
0:53:18 > 0:53:19Hi, hello.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23'..not from their history class but from poetry.'
0:53:23 > 0:53:25- Nice to meet you.- Ah, very good, you speak English. Wonderful!
0:53:25 > 0:53:29'And here at the secondary school in Yanshi outside Luoyang,
0:53:29 > 0:53:32'they've an extra reason to know all about it.'
0:53:32 > 0:53:35- This is the tomb here? - Yes.- Ah!
0:53:35 > 0:53:39'Because Du Fu's grave is in the school grounds.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43'He wasn't famous when he died. The inscription says...'
0:53:43 > 0:53:46GIRL READS INSCRIPTION
0:53:46 > 0:53:50"The tomb of Mr Du, government deputy irrigation inspector."
0:53:52 > 0:53:55Terrific, xie xie. Wonderful, wonderful.
0:53:58 > 0:53:59LAUGHTER
0:53:59 > 0:54:01Fantastic! Fantastic.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05As the Tang world collapsed,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09one last brief poem by Du Fu tells how he met again,
0:54:09 > 0:54:11south of the river,
0:54:11 > 0:54:15a famous musician once high in the king's favour.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04MICHAEL READS POEM
0:55:04 > 0:55:08Who is the prince of the Qi, Qiwang? Does anybody know?
0:55:08 > 0:55:10Is he a big, important person?
0:55:10 > 0:55:15I know Qiwang is the brother of the Emperor Tang Xuanzong.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18- He's the brother of the Emperor Xuanzong.- Yes.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Great. So a very important man, then.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Du Fu is recalling...
0:55:24 > 0:55:26the palace of Qiwang's.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Now, this phrase here...
0:55:29 > 0:55:32HE READS THE POEM
0:55:35 > 0:55:40Which you read beautifully, if I may say so, it was very, very good.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44And then this line here is so fantastic - don't laugh at me.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47HE READS THE POEM
0:55:49 > 0:55:53"The falling flowers time, season, is here again
0:55:53 > 0:55:56"and in this time I meet you again."
0:55:56 > 0:55:59The falling flowers in Chinese poetry,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02can you explain to me what this means?
0:56:02 > 0:56:04Anybody?
0:56:04 > 0:56:08I think it means, you know, flowers are falling down
0:56:08 > 0:56:10and the period of the season is gone.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14And it also means that Tang Dynasty is gone.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18And at the same time he meets his old friend
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and the old memories - the beautiful memories -
0:56:21 > 0:56:24come back and he feels very sad.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26So falling flowers is not just blossom falling,
0:56:26 > 0:56:29it's a feeling of melancholy in the heart.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32And the Tang Dynasty is falling,
0:56:32 > 0:56:36there is a mood of Autumn and sadness
0:56:36 > 0:56:39and he meets the man who was once this great figure.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Such a simple poem, isn't it?
0:56:41 > 0:56:46Just four lines and yet it's full of fantastic ideas.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Thank you for being patient!
0:56:48 > 0:56:50Xie xie...
0:56:51 > 0:56:52..to you!
0:57:07 > 0:57:09So the state was broken
0:57:09 > 0:57:11but the landscape survived
0:57:11 > 0:57:13and so did the people.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17It's a very high-class social media piece here.
0:57:18 > 0:57:24The ninth century was a time of famines and more rebellions.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28In the end, the Tang lose their nerve and start to look inwards.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34In the 840s they even launch a persecution of Buddhism,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37now a symbol of un-Chinese ideas.
0:57:38 > 0:57:44And so the Mandate of Heaven was lost but as the Buddha had said,
0:57:44 > 0:57:47and the Chinese have always known too well,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49all things must pass.
0:57:54 > 0:58:00On the 1st of June, 907, the last Tang Emperor abdicated,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04bringing to end an age of amazing creativity.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10An age by which the Chinese still define themselves today.
0:58:10 > 0:58:15A time in which Xi'an here rivalled and then surpassed Baghdad
0:58:15 > 0:58:19and Constantinople as a city of the world.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24For a time, China will plunge into anarchy,
0:58:24 > 0:58:28but a new age of greatness will soon arise,
0:58:28 > 0:58:31as in China it always has.