麻豆约拍

Omnibus edition of episodes 1-5 of China: As History is My Witness in which the 麻豆约拍's former Beijing Correspondent Carrie Gracie explores 5 great lives from Chinese history and asks what they tell us about China today.

1. SIMA QIAN: China's Great Historian faces a tough choice - death or castration.

2. KUBLAI KHAN: How the man from Mongolia beat the odds and conquered the south and became China's favourite barbarian.

3. THE DUKE OF ZHOU: In a society built around ancestor worship, Carrie Gracie charts the life of the ultimate ancestor and the man who inspired Confucius.

4. DU FU & LI BAI: China's answer to Shakespeare - Chinese children still quote these two drunkard poets from the 8th Century.

5. THE SOONG SISTERS: The story of three sisters who married some of the most powerful men of the 20th Century - it is said that one sister loved money, one loved power and one loved her country.

Presenter: Carrie Gracie
Producer: Neal Razzell.