Series of essays exploring Chinese history through the life stories of key personalities.
Radio 4,Β·24 episodes
Rana Mitter tells the story of China's first and only female emperor.
The power couple who reunited China and nearly lost it to Japan.
The translator and Buddhist monk whose words are chanted daily by millions of Chinese.
The Jesuit who brought together Renaissance Europe and Ming China through geometry.
Rana Mitter on the life of one of China's most important feminist authors.
The historian who spoke the truth to the emperor and suffered for it.
The Mongol head of a dynasty that both occupied China and connected it to a wider world.
The smiling philosopher who is perhaps the most famous Chinese person in history.
The woman remembered today as one of the great poets of Chinese history.
River Elegy was a pioneering TV documentary series, one of the most watched in history.
The Muslim sailor whose epic maritime voyages created new routes for trade and influence.
The influential Ulsterman who became a servant of the Chinese emperors.
A writer still read by every Chinese pupil and considered China's greatest modern author.
The man who saw himself as a patriot, but is remembered as one of China's worst traitors.
The rebel leader of the Taiping and his nemesis.
The empress dowager who tried - and failed - to reform.
The hard-working, hard-living factory girls behind China's industrial revolution.
The Communist leader who changed his country forever.
The fastest pair of fists in East Asia and the first global Chinese film star.
The paramount leader who enabled China's economic miracle.
Portraits of remarkable individuals who have made China what it is today.
