0:00:07 > 0:00:10In all countries, the first duty of the state
0:00:10 > 0:00:12is to protect the people -
0:00:12 > 0:00:15from anarchy, invasion and insurrection.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21But sometimes in history, the rebels become the rulers.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29In the Story of China, we've reached the 14th century
0:00:29 > 0:00:32and the beginning of China's most dazzling age.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Here in Nanjing, is the tomb of the founder of that age -
0:00:38 > 0:00:41one of the greatest Chinese emperors.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45And yet the man who built this...
0:00:45 > 0:00:46was a rebel.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54The story of the man who rose to this splendour is...
0:00:54 > 0:00:56well, literally, incredible.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58He came from the poorest peasant family.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01His mother and father had given him away when he was a child.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04He'd spent years as a wandering beggar,
0:01:04 > 0:01:06as a penniless Buddhist monk.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10He'd risen through the ranks of the secret peasant societies
0:01:10 > 0:01:12fighting against the government
0:01:12 > 0:01:14and won a series of staggering victories,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17both against the government and against his peasant rivals.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23When he became emperor, he gave himself the title Hongwu -
0:01:23 > 0:01:28literally "above all mighty in war."
0:01:28 > 0:01:29The Terminator.
0:01:30 > 0:01:36He was suspicious, coarse, brutal, utterly ruthless,
0:01:37 > 0:01:39but a creative genius.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44And he founded one of the greatest eras of stability in government
0:01:44 > 0:01:46and in society and high civilisation
0:01:46 > 0:01:48in the history of the world.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55The new dynasty was to be called "the bringer of light..."
0:01:55 > 0:01:56Ming.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36China has been a great power for most of its history
0:02:36 > 0:02:41and yet repeatedly invaded and subjugated by foreigners.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45When the future emperor Hongwu was young,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47China was under the rule of the Mongols,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50whose empire stretched to the gates of Europe.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57But in the 1350s, the Mongol empire began to crumble.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01In China, resistance armies rose against them in different regions.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04SCREAMING
0:03:04 > 0:03:06But then the land was torn apart
0:03:06 > 0:03:08as warlords fought each other in civil war.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Chaos ruled,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16but opportunity beckoned for the peasant general Zhu Yuanzhang.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Here in Nanjing, Zhu made his stronghold.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31With his reputation for justice and good governance,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34vast numbers of refugees flowed into the city -
0:03:34 > 0:03:36a safe haven in time of war.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49And now the people called on Zhu to declare himself emperor.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54But he was a peasant and unwilling to take power.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56So, he asked for a sign -
0:03:56 > 0:03:59a tale told by the traditional storytellers.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17That same year - 1368 - now the Hongwu Emperor,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19he drove the Mongols out of North China
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and made Nanjing capital of his new dynasty.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31And now he sets out to rebuild the Chinese state,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34not with Confucian ideas of virtue
0:05:34 > 0:05:36which had inspired the Song Golden Age,
0:05:36 > 0:05:38but by force and fear.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44He surrounded his capital with giant walls
0:05:44 > 0:05:47to show the might and legitimacy of Ming rule.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51It's just epic, isn't it?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54This isn't a castle, it's a gate!
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Three great courtyards leading to the main gate.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00From the moat, you've got to cover about a kilometre
0:06:00 > 0:06:03to get through it into the city.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Believing himself to be guided by heaven,
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Hongwu reshaped the layout of Nanjing
0:06:10 > 0:06:15as a cosmic city based on ancient Daoist mystical beliefs.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19The capital that the emperor had created was
0:06:19 > 0:06:21the greatest city on Earth and it still has
0:06:21 > 0:06:25the greatest set of city walls on Earth, 33km of them.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32"Like a crouched tiger and a coiled dragon," it was said,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35"snaking over hills and round the rivers and lakes."
0:06:37 > 0:06:38It was thought to represent
0:06:38 > 0:06:41the constellation of Ursa Major,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43the Big Dipper along with Ursa Minor
0:06:43 > 0:06:46and the 13 city gates matched
0:06:46 > 0:06:48the 13 great stars.
0:06:48 > 0:06:55The centre of power would replicate the harmonious order of heaven
0:06:55 > 0:06:58whose mandate had now passed to the ruler of the Ming.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Hongwu now set out to put an all-powerful state
0:07:08 > 0:07:10at the centre of people's lives.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14His thirst for control is even stamped on the bricks
0:07:14 > 0:07:16in the city wall.
0:07:16 > 0:07:17Now, look at this.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22This is a wonderful insight into Ming power.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28Late 1300s, they got a census, they registered households,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31the country was thousands of what I suppose what we'd call
0:07:31 > 0:07:34tithings - groups of communities.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40And 152 of these areas contributed to making
0:07:40 > 0:07:43the bricks for this vast enterprise here.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45And all the bricks are stamped...
0:07:45 > 0:07:46Just look at that!
0:07:46 > 0:07:51..with who made it and where it was made.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53So, if you made a bad brick they knew who you were
0:07:53 > 0:07:55and where to find you.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17But for the real story of Hongwu's revolution,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21you have to leave the city and go out into the countryside,
0:08:21 > 0:08:26for here he thought was the true soul of China.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Born a peasant, Hongwu identified with the peasants.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40He registered all land to make taxes fairer,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42he had irrigation systems built
0:08:42 > 0:08:44and reduced the demands for forced labour.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50For him, the village was the basis of society.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Villages like this one - Tangyue in Anhui.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01Here, the Bao family were head of their tithing
0:09:01 > 0:09:04and they soon rose in the Ming state.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Let's just have a look at where we are.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11I've got you're your lovely map here.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15- Yes.- This location is the east side of this village
0:09:15 > 0:09:19and also a main entrance from the Shexian county.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24So, here is the main ritual centre in the Ming dynasty.
0:09:24 > 0:09:31So, we've got a street, we've got an academy for education and a temple.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34- Yeah.- So, the village is making... People are making money now.
0:09:34 > 0:09:35Yes.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43And the family used their money to build ancestral halls
0:09:43 > 0:09:46for their men and their women,
0:09:46 > 0:09:50who did their duty as loyal wives and mothers under the new order.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55'The Bao story is told in the old printed edition
0:09:55 > 0:09:58'of their family history,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00'first put together in the Ming.'
0:10:00 > 0:10:03So, how many copies of something like this would be produced?
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Hongwu had been an outlaw in these hills
0:10:48 > 0:10:52and his bitter experience of the time of anarchy drove him
0:10:52 > 0:10:56to compile an all-embracing set of laws and punishments -
0:10:56 > 0:10:58the Great Ming Code.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02It drew on a thousand years of Chinese law,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05but its severity has never been forgotten.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Here, one local story has been turned into a play
0:11:14 > 0:11:16showing Ming law at work.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20An innocent woman is condemned for the murder of her new husband.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Accused of infidelity, she's tortured and executed
0:11:24 > 0:11:25by a harsh magistrate.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:11:53 > 0:11:56But the body on the dam wasn't her husband.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58He turns up, but too late.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Hongwu's strict law had taken its course.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06But as the tale is remembered by the people of this town,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10the letter of Ming law was not always justice.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38So, like other autocrats in history,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Hongwu wanted to force people to be good.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52In a country so vast and so diverse,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56the state had to be seen to be strong.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59"If I'm lenient," he said, "how am I a good ruler?
0:12:59 > 0:13:02"How will the people live peaceful lives?"
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Hongwu's rule rested on the hard realities of power.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14But his grandfather had been a village diviner
0:13:14 > 0:13:18and the emperor also believed implicitly in divination.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22"I rest neither night nor day," he said,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24"to restore the ancient customs of the people."
0:13:26 > 0:13:28By returning to the roots of Chinese culture,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31he thought he could find the Dao -
0:13:31 > 0:13:32the true way...
0:13:33 > 0:13:35the right direction.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The Wu family firm have been making these divinations compasses
0:13:41 > 0:13:43since the Ming.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18The Ming dynasty itself would last for nearly 300 years.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21But Hongwu's reign would be a turning point in Chinese history.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25He concentrated power in the person of the emperor himself.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29It would prove a dangerous legacy.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34In 1398 he died
0:14:34 > 0:14:36and China was plunged into crisis.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45If a person of such authority,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48of such stature, dies...
0:14:48 > 0:14:49Who takes over?
0:14:51 > 0:14:56And is the next person in line as able with the same kind of vision?
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Could he do the job?
0:15:01 > 0:15:05As his successor, Hongwu had named his grandson.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07But the boy's uncle rose against him.
0:15:08 > 0:15:14He took the excuse of weeding out disloyal ministers,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17and staged an uprising.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21And then after three years of civil war
0:15:21 > 0:15:24he took the throne and became the Yongle Emperor.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Yongle - it means perpetual happiness.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32And when a tyrant calls himself that you have to watch out.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Having done away with his nephew, he ruthlessly purged his enemies.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Of course people knew he was a usurper, but there were rumours also
0:15:43 > 0:15:45that he was illegitimate -
0:15:45 > 0:15:48that he hadn't been the son of the first emperor, Hongwu.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52So he ordered all the ministers of the previous ruler
0:15:52 > 0:15:55to swear allegiance to him or die.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59And among them was the chief minister, Fang Xiaoru.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Loyal, severe, honest.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05He was ordered to write the edict
0:16:05 > 0:16:08proclaiming the legitimacy of the new emperor.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12He threw his brush down. "I would rather die," he said.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15"You are not the true emperor.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17"Where is your nephew?"
0:16:17 > 0:16:20The emperor ordered his death, but with the most cruel sentence
0:16:20 > 0:16:23that was possible under Chinese law -
0:16:23 > 0:16:25death by nine degrees.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28That meant that not only you died, but your parents and
0:16:28 > 0:16:30your grandparents and your children
0:16:30 > 0:16:32and your grandchildren and your brothers
0:16:32 > 0:16:34and your cousins and your nephews,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36to nine degrees of relationship.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39And the emperor paused and said,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41"But make it ten."
0:16:46 > 0:16:49And now Yongle took a momentous decision.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52In 1403 he ordered the building of a new capital
0:16:52 > 0:16:55at his own power base 700 miles to the north.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04There, on top of the old Mongol capital, he built a vast new city -
0:17:04 > 0:17:05Beijing.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10This is Tiananmen Square in the heart of today's Beijing,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14and it's a great place to get a sense of the majestic scale
0:17:14 > 0:17:16of the Ming Dynasty city.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Over there Tian'anmen Gate -
0:17:22 > 0:17:24the gate of heavenly peace.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27With the famous portrait of Chairman Mao above it.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31You go through the gate and you're into the imperial city
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and the forbidden city in its very heart.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43The construction of Beijing took a million men 20 years.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Like other autocrats in history, Yongle wanted to create
0:17:47 > 0:17:50an architecture of absolute power.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01But Ming Beijing was more than an imperial capital,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05it was also a vast ritual space
0:18:05 > 0:18:09where the emperor petitioned the powers of heaven
0:18:09 > 0:18:12to ensure that fertility of the Earth
0:18:12 > 0:18:14and the stability of the social order.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Well, this is the end point of that great way
0:18:23 > 0:18:26that we traced all the way from Tiananmen Square.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28It's the altar of heaven.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32This is the site of the most sacred rituals in the Ming Dynasty state.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37I find this an incredibly moving place,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41even when you're surrounded with all the business of tourism.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46This altar symbolizes that Chinese surge to find
0:18:46 > 0:18:51harmony between the three layers of the cosmos, symbolized in this -
0:18:51 > 0:18:55the Earth, humanity and the heavens.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Reaping the benefits of stability,
0:19:06 > 0:19:11in the early 1400s small market towns sprang up everywhere,
0:19:11 > 0:19:15and China's economy began to grow and diversify.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23In a gigantic engineering project, the Grand Canal
0:19:23 > 0:19:28was refurbished for 1,000 miles between Beijing and the south,
0:19:28 > 0:19:33ferrying raw materials, timber and rice up to the new capital.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37It's still a mainstay of the Chinese economy today.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43So this is a nice way of life Mr Hu. I like the calmness of it.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45WOMAN TRANSLATES
0:20:01 > 0:20:04How much of the year do you spend on the boat?
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Helped by the Grand Canal, in the 15th century China's economy
0:20:15 > 0:20:18became once more the largest in the world.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Although the renovation was an imperial project,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25there's thousands of small operators - individual boat owners,
0:20:25 > 0:20:30like Mr Hu here, who conduct their own business.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32A person wrote at the time, "Travel up and down the canal
0:20:32 > 0:20:35"and everybody is doing business."
0:20:40 > 0:20:44So the Ming saw the spread of a mercantile mentality across China -
0:20:44 > 0:20:47making money out of trade.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54The population rose to between 150 and 200 million.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58Incredibly, in the 15th century, when less that three million
0:20:58 > 0:21:00lived in Tudor England,
0:21:00 > 0:21:05a third of the people of the world lived under Ming rule.
0:21:09 > 0:21:15So after the shock of the Mongol occupation China was restored,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and in Chinese eyes the borders of the Ming were again
0:21:18 > 0:21:21those of civilisation itself.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30And now, rather like today, China went out to the world.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35In the early 1400s, decades before Columbus and Vasco da Gama,
0:21:35 > 0:21:40they sent seven great voyages westwards, under Admiral Zheng He.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52One of the fleet assembly places was the bay of Quanzhou
0:21:52 > 0:21:54on the coast of Fujian.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59Here in this great natural lagoon is what the Chinese in
0:21:59 > 0:22:03the Ming Dynasty called the gathering place of the ships.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09This is where those huge expeditions
0:22:09 > 0:22:11waited at anchor for the monsoon winds.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Huge fleets - 63 ocean-going vessels -
0:22:18 > 0:22:22the biggest of them with 28,000 crew,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24just imagine it,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27heading out to the barbarian countries of the west.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Zheng He was a high-ranking Muslim courtier - a eunuch.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37He wasn't sent to explore or trade, let alone to conquer,
0:22:37 > 0:22:44but to receive tribute and show off the glory of the Yongle Emperor.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47As for the ships themselves,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49little was known till the modern excavation
0:22:49 > 0:22:51of the Ming dockyards in Nanjing.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56What they found suggests the largest boats
0:22:56 > 0:22:59could have reached 240 feet long -
0:22:59 > 0:23:02the biggest wooden ships yet made.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07And they're building a replica now in Nanjing.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13Mike, if you look at this assembly shop for a boat,
0:23:13 > 0:23:14it's pretty sizeable, isn't it?
0:23:14 > 0:23:18It's sensational. It's absolutely amazing.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21This is not complete yet, it's only half the size.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28'It has six main decks, with watertight compartments
0:23:28 > 0:23:34'and a great decorated stern towering 60 feet above the keel.'
0:23:34 > 0:23:37- All these planks, they're naturally curved.- Yeah.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42'Incredibly, it's said Zheng He had 60 of these large vessels.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46'What they called the treasure ships.'
0:23:47 > 0:23:50It's just an absolutely fantastic, isn't it?
0:23:50 > 0:23:53From the inside it looks much bigger than outside.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56It's amazing, amazing.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00And how many masts would a big ship like this have had?
0:24:00 > 0:24:03There are six masts, all together,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06with the two main masts in the middle.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09The tallest one is 38 meters.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13- That's huge. It's big mast. - That's huge.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18Because only that kind of size of sail and mast can drive this boat.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22You remember Zheng He's inscription says,
0:24:22 > 0:24:27- "And our sails, billowing like clouds."- Yes!
0:24:27 > 0:24:29"Pushed us on day and night"
0:24:29 > 0:24:32- Exactly! That's the exact description!- Fantastic.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37When we have all these sails in full wind it'll look like that.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50There's nothing approaching the treasure ships still afloat today.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52But an ocean-going junk sails out of Hong Kong
0:24:52 > 0:24:55for a children's charity, and I hitched a ride.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24And today, as China reaches out again to the west,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Zheng He has become a national hero.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30A symbol for the new self-confident world
0:25:30 > 0:25:34of Chinese expansionism and naval might.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56The great Ming voyages were made possibly by Chinese inventions -
0:25:56 > 0:25:59the stern rudder, watertight compartments
0:25:59 > 0:26:01and the magnetic compass,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04which they already had in the Tang Dynasty.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06So how did they navigate?
0:26:06 > 0:26:11Well, didn't have charts like modern charts, but Chinese merchants
0:26:11 > 0:26:14had sailed to the Persian Gulf before and east Africa
0:26:14 > 0:26:16as far back as the Tang Dynasty.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20And this is one of the portolans that they used.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Very schematic maps of direction of travel.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27A bit like a London Tube map, almost.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31Top of the page is actually India. North is that way,
0:26:31 > 0:26:33you sail this way from China,
0:26:33 > 0:26:36and the main landmarks are all actually
0:26:36 > 0:26:38written down in little boxes.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40The area of Mumbai there.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Further on, the area of the Gulf of Cambay,
0:26:43 > 0:26:44and then towards Pakistan,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47the Makran Coast and Iran.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50And there's an associated handbook which gives you
0:26:50 > 0:26:54the distances between the different ports and the star directions, too.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01The seven voyages between 1405 and 1433 went across the
0:27:01 > 0:27:05Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08and down the coast of east Africa.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11They brought back new knowledge, rare foods and plants
0:27:11 > 0:27:13and exotic animals.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Even a giraffe, which the Chinese identified
0:27:18 > 0:27:20with the mythical unicorn -
0:27:20 > 0:27:23an auspicious sign for the Yongle Emperor.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27But after the sixth voyage, Yongle died.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38And after one more expedition the new emperor, Xuande, called a halt.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44So why did they stop?
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Ming Dynasty at that point was the greatest power on Earth, -
0:27:47 > 0:27:50maybe 200 million people.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53They'd been the great scientific innovators.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56They'd made the great inventions with which the West would
0:27:56 > 0:27:58later dominate the world.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05For some western commentators it shows that Chinese lacked
0:28:05 > 0:28:09the will to pursue the boundaries of knowledge.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14It would be like stopping Moon exploration at Apollo 8.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17But maybe there's something else.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Maybe it's about how you use technology.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23And perhaps the Ming scholar-bureaucrats in the end
0:28:23 > 0:28:27realised that their interests were better served pursuing
0:28:27 > 0:28:31the traditional goals of Chinese civilisation -
0:28:31 > 0:28:35of achieving harmony between human kind and the cosmos
0:28:35 > 0:28:37within the borders of China.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58The truth is, dominating the wider world was not on the Chinese agenda.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03For the Ming, after all, China was the world.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08But there may have been a more pressing practical
0:29:08 > 0:29:10reason for giving up on sea power -
0:29:10 > 0:29:13the threat from their old enemies, the Mongols.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19Out to the north, Ming armies made almost annual expeditions
0:29:19 > 0:29:24beyond the mountains into the vast steppe lands of Mongolia.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29And then in 1449 the Zhengtong Emperor was defeated
0:29:29 > 0:29:31and captured by the Mongols -
0:29:31 > 0:29:35the greatest military fiasco in the Ming period.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39And that led to a massive rebuilding of the Great Wall
0:29:39 > 0:29:43and a new mood of defensiveness.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54This is the Juyongguan Pass -
0:29:54 > 0:29:57one of the most famous passes in Chinese history.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00As important in Chinese history as the Khyber is
0:30:00 > 0:30:01in the history of India.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11What you're looking at now, mainly the creation of the Ming Dynasty.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15You can see the Great Wall snaking down from the mountains
0:30:15 > 0:30:20all around us, coming down to this point, and down there, too.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24And it's coming down here to a great fortress.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27The Chinese emperors called it the First Fortress of the World.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31See the series of gates where the road originally ran out to Mongolia.
0:30:31 > 0:30:36The garrison town rooftops over there, and up there
0:30:36 > 0:30:42the Buddhist and Daoist temples that served the people who lived here.
0:30:43 > 0:30:44Bristling with weaponry,
0:30:44 > 0:30:49armoured bowmen on the walls and the watchtowers,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52beacons to alert the defences,
0:30:52 > 0:30:59as the Ming Emperors start to define China as a Han civilisation again,
0:30:59 > 0:31:03against what lay in the world beyond.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17But at home, China was changing.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Especially in the rich cities of the south like Suzhou.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26Ming China had begun as an agricultural state with
0:31:26 > 0:31:30a stifling command economy, but now the growth of the market
0:31:30 > 0:31:33gave birth to a new urban moneyed class,
0:31:33 > 0:31:38who would begin to loosen the grip of Ming autocracy.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Suzhou, they said, was heaven on Earth.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Like Renaissance Florence, with its high culture
0:31:46 > 0:31:48and its palaces and mansions.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51These days you can even stay in them.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02This was the house of the Fang family.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08They were only middling merchants, but as you can see,
0:32:08 > 0:32:10they lived the good life.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17And in your Ming Dynasty guest room
0:32:17 > 0:32:20there's fine furniture, as you can see,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24a wooden bath that the servants would fill for you in the evening,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28and a lovely four-poster bed hung with muslin mosquito nets -
0:32:28 > 0:32:32very necessary here in Suzhou.
0:32:39 > 0:32:4230 rooms, ancestral hall and a shrine room
0:32:42 > 0:32:44and a little family school.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47All belonging to the one extended family.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58The Fang family had joined a new world of conspicuous consumption,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01of private wealth and taste.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09On their table the finest blue-glaze porcelain bought by the
0:33:09 > 0:33:12new rich from their local art dealers,
0:33:12 > 0:33:17and made by thousands of indentured workers in the state pottery kilns.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28To meet the consumer demand old arts reached new heights under the Ming.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31Among them lacquer making.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37It's a craft that demands incredible attention to detail.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41The best work was so coveted that Ming collectors travelled
0:33:41 > 0:33:44hundreds of miles to buy the top brand names
0:33:44 > 0:33:47from the most famous houses.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53Now the Gan family are reviving the old techniques.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17These gorgeous things would soon become all the rage in Europe, too.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21Exported by Ming merchants, paid for by New World silver,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25as China connected with the growing world economy.
0:34:30 > 0:34:35And wealth brought leisure. Time to read for both men and women.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38This was the golden age of Chinese fiction,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41with novels like the Plum in the Golden Vase,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44where middle class morals were now the subject
0:34:44 > 0:34:47of Sex and the City satire.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Such confusions of pleasure were a long way
0:35:23 > 0:35:26from the austere world of the first Ming Emperor.
0:35:26 > 0:35:32Even fashion was now no longer the preserve of the ruling class.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34And as regards designer labels, well,
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Suzhou was all the rage.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38If it wasn't made in Suzhou,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42people said, people just didn't want to wear it.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45The hems go up the hems go down,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48and the fuddy duddys complained these new people,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51with their newfangled fashions,
0:35:51 > 0:35:53are erasing the class differences
0:35:53 > 0:35:57which were implicit in the old, traditional styles of costume.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05In the cotton and silk industries demand skyrocketed.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08And Suzhou silk was the best.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17In every village around Suzhou, they said, the people devoted
0:36:17 > 0:36:20all their energies to earning a living from silk.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25A proletariat of textile workers was emerging,
0:36:25 > 0:36:30but critics now asked was all this pursuit of wealth
0:36:30 > 0:36:32making a better world?
0:36:35 > 0:36:38- Hello, how are you? - Hello, fine.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40I'm just looking at your beautiful silk.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Yes, this a very traditional material.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45- May we have a look? - Which one do you like?
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Yeah, the one... It looks Chinese imperial gown, doesn't it?
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Maybe this one. OK.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58- This is the kind of thing the Mandarins used to wear.- Yes.
0:36:58 > 0:37:03This is like gold colour. In the pattern is long life.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05The meaning is very good - the long life.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08And here is five bats.
0:37:08 > 0:37:09- Beautiful.- Yes.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13And people buy this to make dresses or clothes or what?
0:37:13 > 0:37:16For making wedding dress. For Chinese wedding dress.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21Maybe Chinese man, the jacket is nice.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23- For men too? Really?- Yes.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25Like this one, maybe.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27I show you.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29- Oh, that is beautiful.- This is nice.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32You know here is a dragon.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36The dragon, for a man, it's a perfect pattern.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38Oh, right. So it's strength?
0:37:38 > 0:37:40The dragon is strong and brave?
0:37:40 > 0:37:42And good luck as well?
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Yes, it's like a king!
0:37:44 > 0:37:47- Like a king. The symbol of the king. Yes, of course!- Yes!
0:37:47 > 0:37:49- Yeah, the emperor wears dragons! - Yes.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05So to paraphrase Dr Johnson, if you were tired of Ming Suzhou,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07you were tired of life.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11And when you'd made your money and retired, you came home
0:38:11 > 0:38:13and left your mark with a lovely garden.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55This was one of 90 gardens in Suzhou.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59Adorned with playful poems and inscriptions,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02it was a feast for the senses.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05A far cry from Hongwu's day,
0:39:05 > 0:39:11when the land was simply there to be ploughed by the peasants.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16These private gardens in the Ming Dynasty were rich men's passions.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Passion being the operative word.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23They travelled hundreds of miles to bring back
0:39:23 > 0:39:26weirdly-shaped stones to place in the garden.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29They dug artificial hills, like this one,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31on which they placed gazebos where you could
0:39:31 > 0:39:34take in the different view points -
0:39:34 > 0:39:38the Distant Fragrance Hall where the lotuses were planted,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41the Magnolia Hall, and even better,
0:39:41 > 0:39:46the Scent of Snow and Rosy Clouds Hall.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49The pleasures of the Ming...
0:39:49 > 0:39:50for some.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56The gardens were nature in miniature.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58And as for nature at large,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Ming thinkers had a lot to say about that, too,
0:40:01 > 0:40:05in a time that saw the rise of tourism and guidebooks.
0:40:05 > 0:40:10Especially in the remote highlands down to Yunnan and Vietnam.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Here the Ming had opened up new territories
0:40:16 > 0:40:19with exotic tribes and peoples.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24And intrepid travel writers now describe their landscapes and geology.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28The most famous Ming travel writer was Xu Xiake.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04Xu wrote about nature and feeling like the European Romantics.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08In his records he sounds like a 19th-century natural scientist.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15But in all his wanderings, from the heartland to the edge of Ming China,
0:41:15 > 0:41:20what we never sense is the existence of a world beyond.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27And the world beyond was getting closer.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38In August 1582 a visitor arrived in the tiny Portuguese trading post
0:41:38 > 0:41:43of Macau on the South China Sea.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50It was an event of no apparent significance
0:41:50 > 0:41:52in the greater scheme of things.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56But its repercussions would be world-shaking.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01The visitor was an Italian Jesuit called Matteo Ricci,
0:42:01 > 0:42:06and his mission, unbelievably, was to convert China to Christianity.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15The founding of Macau had been part
0:42:15 > 0:42:19of the extraordinary expansion of European powers
0:42:19 > 0:42:23in the few decades since Columbus discovered the New World.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Small maritime states on the Atlantic seaboard,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31they were nothing compared with the greatness and antiquity of China.
0:42:31 > 0:42:36But with their new knowledge, and propelled by Chinese inventions,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39it was the Europeans, not the Chinese,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41who would seize the time.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46And it all began with a simple trading deal.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51This is the old fortress on the top of Macau.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Portuguese had made their earliest explorations
0:42:54 > 0:42:58of the Chinese coast in 1513-14.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02And then in 1557 the Ming government allowed them
0:43:02 > 0:43:07to actually settle on this peninsula and to live here.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09Not a formal treaty,
0:43:09 > 0:43:12and the Ming government looked after them very carefully.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16They had a landward wall with garrisons to make sure
0:43:16 > 0:43:20that they didn't come out of here, except at the allotted times -
0:43:20 > 0:43:24twice a year, when they could sail up to Canton to trade.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31It was the Europeans' first foothold.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Here in the south, Ricci worked for 15 years
0:43:35 > 0:43:37learning to speak Chinese like a native.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44And then, in 1598, he set off overland to Beijing.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49The China he travelled through, he wrote, was the
0:43:49 > 0:43:50best-governed state on Earth,
0:43:50 > 0:43:54and a deeply moral civilisation.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58But Christianity, he thought, would be the completion of their faith.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05To achieve that, his idea was to go to the very top to find
0:44:05 > 0:44:08a Chinese emperor like Constantine,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12who'd converted the Roman Empire to Christianity.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16- He's an honorary Chinese person? - Yeah, and a great person.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18'He didn't succeed in that,
0:44:18 > 0:44:23'but astonishingly there are 70 million Chinese Christians today.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27'And in a sense you could say their story begins with Ricci.'
0:44:28 > 0:44:33When he was in Chaozhou he wrote two important books.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36One is a true doctrine of the Lord of Heaven -
0:44:36 > 0:44:39that's Catholic doctrine.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43And another one is Euclid's elements.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Euclid's elements?
0:44:45 > 0:44:50That's very important, you know, mathematical books.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54Even after Matteo's death, people at that time,
0:44:54 > 0:44:58they say, "Oh, we have never had a foreigner
0:44:58 > 0:45:01"to be buried in the capital."
0:45:01 > 0:45:04And one important official at that time said,
0:45:04 > 0:45:11"One worthy only for the Euclid's elements can be buried here.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13"That's enough!"
0:45:13 > 0:45:18So you can see how important the works he has done.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Most Chinese scholars were more interested in that
0:45:23 > 0:45:25new knowledge than what one described as
0:45:25 > 0:45:27"the Christian's strange theology."
0:45:30 > 0:45:33Ricci prepared for the emperor a map of the world,
0:45:33 > 0:45:35on which the Chinese learned of new continents,
0:45:35 > 0:45:38and saw that the world was far bigger
0:45:38 > 0:45:40than they'd ever imagined.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45And in Ricci's western science, the Mandarins found
0:45:45 > 0:45:48even more astonishing revelations.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54"These Westerners are passionate about astronomy,"
0:45:54 > 0:45:57said one of the Chinese scholars.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01"And they've brought instruments with them
0:46:01 > 0:46:03"connected with that science."
0:46:04 > 0:46:08"And they believe that the Earth hangs in the firmament,
0:46:08 > 0:46:13"and that it's a globe. And that if you go all the way round westwards,
0:46:13 > 0:46:15"you end up going eastwards."
0:46:15 > 0:46:18"And if you go all the way up northwards, you go over
0:46:18 > 0:46:20"the top of the world, and then you travel southwards
0:46:20 > 0:46:23"and come back to where to you started."
0:46:25 > 0:46:30As you can see, it's an astrolabe. Oh, but what an astrolabe.
0:46:32 > 0:46:38Of course it enables you to take very accurate sun measurements and time measurements.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42The Chinese had used a lunar calendar
0:46:42 > 0:46:45prior to the arrival of the Jesuits, and Matteo Ricci,
0:46:45 > 0:46:50and now they're, with imperial patronage,
0:46:50 > 0:46:53have switched their science to a solar calendar,
0:46:53 > 0:46:55which is much more accurate, of course.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03But the implications of the new Western science
0:47:03 > 0:47:06were about far more than cosmology.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11They were a challenge to the entire system of thought
0:47:11 > 0:47:14developed by the Chinese over so many millennia.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19With Western ideas and Spanish silver from the Americas,
0:47:19 > 0:47:24Ming China was being drawn into the wider world.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27'The question was, how would it respond?'
0:47:28 > 0:47:30Hello.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34'Ricci himself died in China in 1610.
0:47:34 > 0:47:40'In the end, China had converted him, not the other way round.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43'He'd come to love and admire the Chinese
0:47:43 > 0:47:46'and what he called their 4,000-year-old tradition.'
0:47:48 > 0:47:52Ricci's Chinese diary was published after his death,
0:47:52 > 0:47:54and in it he makes some thought-provoking
0:47:54 > 0:47:59comparisons between the Europeans and the Chinese.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01"Though they have a well-equipped army and navy
0:48:01 > 0:48:05"that could easily conquer the neighbouring nations,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07"neither the king nor his people
0:48:07 > 0:48:10"ever think of waging wars of aggression.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12"In this respect it seems to me," says Ricci, "that they are
0:48:12 > 0:48:15"very different from the peoples of Europe
0:48:15 > 0:48:18"who are forever disturbing their neighbours,
0:48:18 > 0:48:23"and entirely consumed with the idea of supreme domination."
0:48:25 > 0:48:30But Ricci also saw a fatal insularity in the Chinese worldview.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36"The extent of the Chinese kingdom is so vast,
0:48:36 > 0:48:40"and its borders are so distant,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44"and yet their lack of knowledge about the world beyond the oceans
0:48:44 > 0:48:50"is so complete that they think their kingdom
0:48:50 > 0:48:52"includes the whole world."
0:48:59 > 0:49:02By the early 1600s, as the world was changing around them,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05the emperors were losing touch with the people -
0:49:05 > 0:49:08shutting themselves up in the Forbidden City,
0:49:08 > 0:49:13shunning the hard work and moral purpose needed to run the state.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17We've an insight into those times from the writer Zhang Dai,
0:49:17 > 0:49:22who came from a rich land-owning family here in Shaoxing.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26You can still make out the shape of the Ming Dynasty city -
0:49:26 > 0:49:30a great rectangle framed by tree-lined canals.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37This was a great cultural and economic centre.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41And this is where the Zhang family had set up in their beautiful estate,
0:49:41 > 0:49:46in what Grandad Zhang called the Happiness Garden.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Across the country the gap between rich and poor was widening,
0:49:51 > 0:49:56while Zhang wrote about the life of the rich, like a Chinese Proust.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23But the prosperity of the Ming had been
0:50:23 > 0:50:25bought on the backs of the poor,
0:50:25 > 0:50:27while the rich still lived the good life,
0:50:27 > 0:50:32like the Edwardian aristocracy on the eve of the First World War.
0:50:32 > 0:50:33This is a very beautiful hotel.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37'This is Zhang's house. It's now a hotel.'
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Hello. Yes, it's very nice to be here.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44'Zhang was typical of his class in the late Ming.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47'He had leisure and no responsibilities.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52'A career writer in a proudly literary city.'
0:50:52 > 0:50:55..2,500 years old.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59- 2,500 years old? - Yeah, yeah.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02I don't think we've got towns as old as that in England!
0:51:08 > 0:51:13Looking back, Zhang saw that society was corrupt and unjust.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17"I had it all in my youth," he wrote.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21"I was a silk stocking dandy addicted to luxury.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23"But it was all an illusion."
0:51:28 > 0:51:31Social critics were now asking whether the pursuit of wealth
0:51:31 > 0:51:35had eroded the idea of service to the state.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Some blamed the imperial system itself.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43"Let's throw the scoundrels out," they wrote.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45And died for it.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57In the 1630s the crisis came.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00Beyond the lantern-lit pavilions,
0:52:00 > 0:52:02gangs of unemployed roamed the countryside,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05the silk workers went on strike,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08peasant rebellions raised their flags.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11And then even nature seemed to turn against them.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25The Yellow River broke its banks, overwhelming the dykes
0:52:25 > 0:52:30so carefully restored by Ming engineers a century before.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Whole cities and towns were wiped out.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36Epidemics and famines killed millions.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43The old cycles of Chinese history had returned to haunt them.
0:52:43 > 0:52:44And for the first time,
0:52:44 > 0:52:49China's rulers had discovered the limits of autocracy.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54Along the coasts, the government could no longer give protection
0:52:54 > 0:52:58to communities against bandits, outlaws and pirates.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05More and more, the people were left to their own devices.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12'Here, in one village in Fujian, a public-spirited local,
0:53:12 > 0:53:16'a retired civil servant, came back home to help out.'
0:53:16 > 0:53:18Hello.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21'Here he set up charities.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25'And in 1604 paid for walls to protect the village
0:53:25 > 0:53:28'when the local government had run out of cash.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31'His family, the Zhaos, are still here.'
0:53:32 > 0:53:34It's like a mini-fortress, isn't it?
0:53:37 > 0:53:42'In the centre of the village he built a great fortified tower house.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46'A refuge for the whole village in time of crisis.'
0:53:46 > 0:53:48That's absolutely wonderful, isn't it?
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Because the soldiers have to watch the outside,
0:53:53 > 0:53:57and there's only windows for the outside on the top floor.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00You can see the landscape all around from the top floor.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06HE LAUGHS
0:54:06 > 0:54:08- Hi. Thank you.- Please sit down.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12So, Mr Zhao? Very nice to meet you. Hi.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16'And as in so many places in China,
0:54:16 > 0:54:20'the Zhao family still know their ancestors story.'
0:54:59 > 0:55:04At that time there were many pirates, pirates on the sea.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07And pirates attacked at them.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11So Zhao Wen came back to build this,
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Zhao's family's castle.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25The harsh justice of the first Ming Emperor,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28a guarantee of order was another world now.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35As Mr Zhao's son observed in 1619,
0:55:35 > 0:55:38"The days of peace seem a long time ago."
0:55:46 > 0:55:50And in 1644, the end came.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58HE SHOUTS ORDERS
0:56:00 > 0:56:01In the north, in Manchuria,
0:56:01 > 0:56:05the Manchus had created a powerful new state.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10And sensing China's weakness, their armies surged down onto Beijing.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19To avoid capture, the Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself
0:56:19 > 0:56:23from a tree on Coal Hill, overlooking the Forbidden City.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27The tree is still there, with his memorial.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Next year the Manchu armies swept across the Yangtze.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36If they resisted, the rich cities of the south were devastated.
0:56:45 > 0:56:50In Shaoxing, Grandad Zhang's Happiness Garden was wrecked,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53along with the family mansion.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56And the Chinese Proust, Zhang Dai,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59fled to become a penniless Buddhist monk.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04"As I think about the things that I did in the past," he said,
0:57:04 > 0:57:06"I write them all down.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10"To beg forgiveness.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14"In life, everything has a payback.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17"The rags I'm wearing now are payback
0:57:17 > 0:57:20"for the fine furs and silks that I once had.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25"The straw that I sleep on is a payback for the soft beds.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29"The smoke in my eyes and the dung in my nostrils
0:57:29 > 0:57:33"payback for the voluptuous fragrances of the past.
0:57:35 > 0:57:40"This sack on my shoulder, a payback to all those who used to carry me.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46"For every kind of sin, there is a kind of retribution."
0:57:53 > 0:57:58"I was nearly 50 years old that year of 1645," Zhang wrote.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04"My country was shattered and I had lost everything.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11"Looking back, it was as if my life under the Ming had been a dream."
0:58:21 > 0:58:26Next time: China's last empire, the glory of the Qing,
0:58:26 > 0:58:29and the fateful coming of the British.