1 00:00:04,550 --> 00:00:10,030 China, a global superpower, eyes set on the future 2 00:00:10,030 --> 00:00:12,910 its arrival on the world stage greeted like the appearance 3 00:00:12,910 --> 00:00:14,081 of a new planet. 4 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:17,810 But it is not the first time 5 00:00:19,201 --> 00:00:22,240 In the seventh century, when Europe was in its Dark Age, 6 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:24,560 Tang Dynasty China became the greatest 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:26,610 power on earth and would be for 8 00:00:26,610 --> 00:00:29,170 1,000 years until the rise of the West. 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,456 What's happening now has happened before. 10 00:00:35,321 --> 00:00:39,560 I'm in Xi'an, the capital of the Tang, which 1,300 years ago was 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,370 the greatest and most cosmopolitan city on earth. 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,960 And what made it great was not only its economic and cultural power, 13 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:53,886 its sense of its own identity, but its openness to other cultures. 14 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,630 Standing over the square, the statue of one of the heroes 15 00:00:58,630 --> 00:01:00,960 of that time, one of the great figures in the history 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,040 of civilisation, the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, 17 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,000 who brought the wisdom of India back here to China. 18 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,201 This is the tale of a time which even now the Chinese 19 00:01:12,201 --> 00:01:14,180 see as a golden age. 20 00:01:14,180 --> 00:01:17,456 In the story of China we have reached the Tang Dynasty. 21 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,451 It's often said that in history 22 00:01:57,451 --> 00:01:59,920 China has been a closed civilisation, 23 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:02,639 introverted, cutting itself off from the world. 24 00:02:07,331 --> 00:02:10,810 And there have been times when it has looked that way, 25 00:02:10,810 --> 00:02:14,280 but since prehistory China has never been isolated 26 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,180 and has thrived on contact. 27 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:22,810 And the Tang Dynasty was a great age of international connection. 28 00:02:22,810 --> 00:02:27,970 That time, vast numbers of foreign peoples poured into China with 29 00:02:27,970 --> 00:02:33,920 exotic goods, foods and ideas, and even new religions. 30 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:37,890 And the great pathway of exchange was the Silk Road. 31 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:46,211 We call it the Silk Road today, but it wasn't really one road 32 00:02:46,211 --> 00:02:49,100 but a series of land routes connecting China with 33 00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:50,852 the Mediterranean and India. 34 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,920 And the Silk Road turned China, 35 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:58,003 for the first time, into a global civilisation. 36 00:03:00,350 --> 00:03:04,050 Along it, just as today, were many cultures and peoples, 37 00:03:04,050 --> 00:03:05,990 different religions, 38 00:03:05,990 --> 00:03:08,250 different ways of seeing the world. 39 00:03:08,250 --> 00:03:10,480 Thank you, thank you so much. 40 00:03:11,890 --> 00:03:14,404 The magic of the Silk Road. 41 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,050 The magic of Central Asia. 42 00:03:18,050 --> 00:03:21,160 There is Han Chinese, there's Uyghurs everywhere, 43 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,040 there's a guy from Kyrgyzstan - you can tell by his hat. 44 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:26,550 Just like it would have been in ancient times, you would've 45 00:03:26,550 --> 00:03:30,341 seen Arabs and Persians, probably Indians along with 46 00:03:30,341 --> 00:03:36,010 the Han Chinese on this very edge of Tang Dynasty China. 47 00:03:36,010 --> 00:03:39,690 Greek historian Polybius has a very interesting remark about this. 48 00:03:39,690 --> 00:03:42,545 He is writing in the 100s BC. 49 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,920 He says that in ancient times the histories of Europe 50 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,331 and Asia were completely separate, 51 00:03:49,331 --> 00:03:52,690 they ran their own way, but from our age onwards 52 00:03:52,690 --> 00:03:56,640 the history of Europe began to interact and engage with 53 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:02,050 the history of Asia and the history of Asia with that of Europe. 54 00:04:02,050 --> 00:04:05,321 You could say it is the beginning of universal history 55 00:04:05,321 --> 00:04:07,721 and it is happening in the Tang Dynasty. 56 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,050 But in history, when two civilisations first 57 00:04:16,050 --> 00:04:20,202 come into contact, it's not always peaceful and not always enriching. 58 00:04:24,350 --> 00:04:28,890 To really open up to another culture needs patience and humility, 59 00:04:28,890 --> 00:04:31,541 to be willing to shed your own preconceptions. 60 00:04:33,170 --> 00:04:37,050 And in the seventh century the Chinese were confident enough 61 00:04:37,050 --> 00:04:41,931 to do that, to be changed by the experience of the other. 62 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,840 The story begins at the Chinese end of 63 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:54,003 the Silk Road in the old city of Luoyang. 64 00:04:55,850 --> 00:05:01,120 Luoyang was the ancient capital of the Zhou Dynasty of 500 years 65 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,321 and for those centuries its poets 66 00:05:03,321 --> 00:05:07,570 and scholars had praised it as a place of great culture. 67 00:05:07,570 --> 00:05:09,490 "It was the real heart of China," 68 00:05:09,490 --> 00:05:13,563 they said, "in the middle of the middle plain of the Middle Kingdom." 69 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,890 And this is not just a story about empires and economies 70 00:05:19,890 --> 00:05:22,250 but about what it is to be civilised. 71 00:05:22,250 --> 00:05:23,530 Ni hao. Hello. 72 00:05:23,530 --> 00:05:26,124 'It is about a new spirit in Chinese culture...' 73 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,890 Look at this. Magic world, Aladdin's cave. 74 00:05:31,890 --> 00:05:34,280 '..a spirit that will give birth to the greatest age 75 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:36,170 'of Chinese poetry...' 76 00:05:36,170 --> 00:05:37,440 Ni hao. Ni hao. 77 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,490 '..a time when poetry came out of the court into the streets, 78 00:05:40,490 --> 00:05:42,970 'a witness to the times, 79 00:05:42,970 --> 00:05:46,724 'expressing the human condition as never before...' 80 00:05:48,130 --> 00:05:51,050 HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE 81 00:05:51,050 --> 00:05:53,360 Famous poem of the Tang Dynasty. 82 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,530 '..knowing the insecurity of human life as the Chinese always have.' 83 00:05:57,530 --> 00:06:04,480 This floating life is just like the water under the ice, 84 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:09,440 flowing eastwards day and night and no-one notices. 85 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:10,657 Isn't that great? 86 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:18,400 So it is a place rich in culture, rich in trade and merchants 87 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:20,721 and interested in foreigners. 88 00:06:23,530 --> 00:06:27,450 And if you want to see just how interested, go a few miles 89 00:06:27,450 --> 00:06:29,690 outside Luoyang where the most 90 00:06:29,690 --> 00:06:32,693 famous Indian of all time is commemorated. 91 00:06:34,130 --> 00:06:36,081 The Buddha. 92 00:06:36,081 --> 00:06:39,450 The foreigner who most fascinated the Chinese through 93 00:06:39,450 --> 00:06:41,099 the whole of their history. 94 00:06:42,780 --> 00:06:45,700 The adoption of this Indian religion would 95 00:06:45,700 --> 00:06:50,410 Ieave its mark on the very DNA of Chinese civilisation. 96 00:06:50,410 --> 00:06:54,260 What better symbol is there of the impact of Buddhism 97 00:06:54,260 --> 00:06:58,331 on Tang Dynasty China, indeed a symbol of the impact 98 00:06:58,331 --> 00:07:03,440 of the exchange of ideas and civilisations, than this great cliff 99 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,850 pockmarked with devotion, and in the middle, that huge 100 00:07:06,850 --> 00:07:10,640 image of the Buddha himself whose message had been carried 101 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,930 along what the Chinese called the Road Carrying the Jewel of Truth? 102 00:07:23,770 --> 00:07:25,360 How that happened, 103 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:30,002 how China embraced Buddhism, is one of the great stories in history. 104 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,580 An adventure that generations of storytellers 105 00:07:35,580 --> 00:07:38,447 have turned into China's favourite fairytale. 106 00:07:42,570 --> 00:07:45,449 SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE 107 00:07:45,449 --> 00:07:48,499 The Emperor had a dream 108 00:07:48,499 --> 00:07:54,689 and in the dream a strange man appeared to him with his skin 109 00:07:54,689 --> 00:07:58,819 the colour of gold, framed by the sun and moon and stars. 110 00:08:04,290 --> 00:08:07,885 And the court astrologers and diviners interpreted the dream. 111 00:08:12,209 --> 00:08:14,609 But this man had come from the West 112 00:08:14,609 --> 00:08:16,816 and it must be the Buddha himself. 113 00:08:19,364 --> 00:08:22,564 The Emperor was fascinated and organised an expedition. 114 00:08:22,564 --> 00:08:26,444 18 courtiers and scholars with all their attendants journeyed 115 00:08:26,444 --> 00:08:28,366 out to the West to find out more. 116 00:08:30,364 --> 00:08:33,934 They got as far as Afghanistan and there in a Buddhist monastery 117 00:08:33,934 --> 00:08:39,019 they met two Indian monks who agreed to come back with them to China. 118 00:08:43,064 --> 00:08:46,264 They came back here and were established in this monastery, 119 00:08:46,264 --> 00:08:50,294 the White Horse Pagoda after the white horses that they rode, 120 00:08:50,294 --> 00:08:53,374 and they translated the first Buddhist scriptures ever to be 121 00:08:53,374 --> 00:08:58,220 rendered into Chinese. And they died here and were buried here. 122 00:08:59,984 --> 00:09:02,373 This is the tomb of one of them, Kasyapa Matanga. 123 00:09:03,884 --> 00:09:08,004 It's not the first exchange between India and China but from that 124 00:09:08,004 --> 00:09:12,782 moment onwards the dialogue of civilisations will be continuous. 125 00:09:17,774 --> 00:09:22,374 Now the story moves on in time to the year 600. 126 00:09:22,374 --> 00:09:25,054 In the wider world the Roman Empire has fallen, 127 00:09:25,054 --> 00:09:29,564 Byzantium is flowering and in China the Mandate of Heaven has 128 00:09:29,564 --> 00:09:32,089 passed to a new dynasty, the Tang. 129 00:09:37,614 --> 00:09:42,345 In a village outside Luoyang, a boy was born who would become 130 00:09:42,345 --> 00:09:45,225 one of the most famous people in Chinese history 131 00:09:45,225 --> 00:09:48,297 and his name was Xuanzang. 132 00:09:54,254 --> 00:09:57,014 Xuanzang must have known this place very well 133 00:09:57,014 --> 00:10:00,144 from childhood and known all the stories, 134 00:10:00,144 --> 00:10:03,574 especially about the two strangers who had come from India. 135 00:10:03,574 --> 00:10:07,014 "I was inflamed by a passionate curiosity," 136 00:10:07,014 --> 00:10:10,374 he says, "about the Buddha and about the origins of the faith 137 00:10:10,374 --> 00:10:15,614 "and I applied for a foreign travel permit several times to no avail. 138 00:10:15,614 --> 00:10:18,064 "Perhaps because I was a nobody. 139 00:10:18,064 --> 00:10:20,864 "And in the end I took matters into my own hands 140 00:10:20,864 --> 00:10:24,174 "and I left in secret for India." 141 00:10:31,095 --> 00:10:32,894 He was 26 years old 142 00:10:32,894 --> 00:10:36,660 and his journey would change the course of Chinese civilisation. 143 00:10:38,174 --> 00:10:42,144 It is a story that has fascinated me over the years, travelling in his 144 00:10:42,144 --> 00:10:45,095 footsteps between China and Central Asia, 145 00:10:45,095 --> 00:10:46,938 across Afghanistan into India. 146 00:10:48,814 --> 00:10:52,654 At that time Xuanzang said, "The Tang were new on the throne, 147 00:10:52,654 --> 00:10:55,494 "China's frontiers didn't extend far. 148 00:10:55,494 --> 00:10:57,654 "There was a ban on foreign travel. 149 00:10:57,654 --> 00:11:01,294 "At first I had to move by night to dodge the border guards." 150 00:11:03,884 --> 00:11:07,774 The real-life adventures of Xuanzang gave birth to some of China's 151 00:11:07,774 --> 00:11:10,414 best-loved legends and characters. 152 00:11:10,414 --> 00:11:13,854 EXPLOSION 153 00:11:13,854 --> 00:11:16,425 The Tang monk and his crazy companions... 154 00:11:19,974 --> 00:11:24,064 ..the lustful Piggy, the dim-witted Sandy 155 00:11:24,064 --> 00:11:25,577 and above all the faithful Monkey. 156 00:11:25,654 --> 00:11:27,531 and above all the faithful Monkey. 157 00:11:30,644 --> 00:11:35,354 All of them changed by their magical encounters along the Silk Road. 158 00:11:37,524 --> 00:11:39,606 HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE 159 00:11:43,604 --> 00:11:47,254 In later novels and films it turned into the kind of fantasy 160 00:11:47,254 --> 00:11:49,975 the Chinese have always loved - 161 00:11:49,975 --> 00:11:53,229 both comic adventure and spiritual allegory. 162 00:11:58,944 --> 00:12:03,064 On the real journey, Xuanzang tells of oceans of sand 163 00:12:03,064 --> 00:12:06,101 and the exotic peoples whose lands he passed through. 164 00:12:07,854 --> 00:12:10,074 "My fellow Buddhists tried to persuade me 165 00:12:10,074 --> 00:12:12,784 "not to risk my life further," he said, 166 00:12:12,784 --> 00:12:15,024 "but I must reach the West. 167 00:12:15,024 --> 00:12:17,595 "If I don't there's no point in coming back." 168 00:12:27,504 --> 00:12:31,254 Through time the story just grew and grew. 169 00:12:31,254 --> 00:12:35,941 The travelling shadow puppet players still play it out in the villages. 170 00:12:40,504 --> 00:12:43,944 And the city's storytellers say that to tell the tale in full 171 00:12:43,944 --> 00:12:46,230 would take 110 days. 172 00:13:22,613 --> 00:13:25,582 So today it's one of the great myths of Chinese culture. 173 00:13:27,533 --> 00:13:31,651 A strange and wonderful afterlife for a real Tang monk. 174 00:13:36,693 --> 00:13:41,255 Xuanzang is one of those rare people who turn up in history. 175 00:13:43,333 --> 00:13:45,699 Visionary, great scholar... 176 00:13:48,543 --> 00:13:52,213 ..and yet possessed of incredible physical toughness 177 00:13:52,213 --> 00:13:54,113 and bravery and stamina. 178 00:13:58,613 --> 00:14:01,613 After three years and nearly 5,000 miles, he says, 179 00:14:01,613 --> 00:14:06,824 "We crossed the great snowy mountains and came down into India." 180 00:14:12,533 --> 00:14:15,753 He crossed the River Indus and entered the plains of India 181 00:14:15,753 --> 00:14:18,381 with their teaming kingdoms and cities. 182 00:14:27,013 --> 00:14:30,263 He travelled with Buddhist pilgrims down 183 00:14:30,263 --> 00:14:32,493 the Grand Trunk Road to the River Ganges. 184 00:14:45,743 --> 00:14:50,853 And finally he reached Bodh Gaya and the sacred Bodhi Tree 185 00:14:50,853 --> 00:14:54,693 where 1,000 years before the Buddha had sat in meditation 186 00:14:54,693 --> 00:14:56,263 and gained enlightenment. 187 00:15:00,783 --> 00:15:04,983 "And when I saw it," Xuanzang says, "I lay on the ground 188 00:15:04,983 --> 00:15:06,712 "and shed many tears." 189 00:15:08,703 --> 00:15:10,753 THEY CHANT 190 00:15:10,753 --> 00:15:14,463 He stayed in India for ten years studying the Buddhist teachings, 191 00:15:14,463 --> 00:15:16,988 his noble truths about the human condition. 192 00:15:20,253 --> 00:15:23,973 Then he set off home to take them back to the Chinese people, 193 00:15:23,973 --> 00:15:27,989 to fire their imaginations as his story has ever since. 194 00:15:32,143 --> 00:15:34,743 HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE 195 00:15:34,743 --> 00:15:38,343 Four-year-old Xiao Yunhao is hoping to be one of the next 196 00:15:38,343 --> 00:15:40,834 generation of Monkey storytellers. 197 00:16:22,823 --> 00:16:27,213 The China he came back to in 643 was the largest 198 00:16:27,213 --> 00:16:29,213 and strongest country on earth. 199 00:16:29,213 --> 00:16:33,543 Its capital Chang'an, today's Xi'an, was one of the world's great 200 00:16:33,543 --> 00:16:35,545 centres of civilisation. 201 00:16:40,543 --> 00:16:43,493 And as for the Emperor himself, Taizong was at 202 00:16:43,493 --> 00:16:47,725 the height of his powers and a stickler for protocol. 203 00:16:49,184 --> 00:16:53,188 The emperor's first words to Xuanzang were, "Welcome back... 204 00:16:55,543 --> 00:16:58,263 "..but you never asked permission to go." 205 00:16:58,263 --> 00:17:00,013 "Well," said Xuanzang, 206 00:17:00,013 --> 00:17:03,934 "I applied for a permit for foreign travel on several occasions 207 00:17:03,934 --> 00:17:06,213 "but it never worked. 208 00:17:06,213 --> 00:17:08,181 "Perhaps because I was a nobody." 209 00:17:11,293 --> 00:17:15,423 He wasn't a nobody now. Crowds came just to look at him. 210 00:17:20,453 --> 00:17:22,903 He was supposed to be very good looking which stood him 211 00:17:22,903 --> 00:17:24,143 in good stead. 212 00:17:24,143 --> 00:17:25,917 He was a very good-looking man. 213 00:17:28,633 --> 00:17:31,983 I think it is difficult to underestimate how much 214 00:17:31,983 --> 00:17:35,093 Xuanzang really aroused people's interest in him. 215 00:17:35,093 --> 00:17:37,013 So many people came to welcome him, 216 00:17:37,013 --> 00:17:39,223 so many people came to have a squint at him. 217 00:17:39,223 --> 00:17:42,653 In fact he had to shut his doors and say, "No more visitors, please," 218 00:17:42,653 --> 00:17:44,575 so that he could get on with some work. 219 00:17:53,423 --> 00:17:56,213 "It was my life's task," Xuanzang said, 220 00:17:56,213 --> 00:17:58,293 "to bring the Buddha's teachings 221 00:17:58,293 --> 00:18:02,297 "to the people of China for the benefit of generations to come." 222 00:18:05,944 --> 00:18:10,253 The Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an was built to house the manuscripts 223 00:18:10,253 --> 00:18:11,733 he brought back. 224 00:18:11,733 --> 00:18:14,693 Most were lost long ago in wars and revolutions 225 00:18:14,693 --> 00:18:17,713 but for a few precious fragments. 226 00:18:17,713 --> 00:18:21,463 So these are in Pali. Yeah. This is the language of South India 227 00:18:21,463 --> 00:18:22,589 and Sri Lanka. 228 00:18:36,983 --> 00:18:39,623 657 books 229 00:18:39,623 --> 00:18:43,503 in 520 packages 230 00:18:43,503 --> 00:18:45,312 on 20 pack horses. 231 00:18:51,184 --> 00:18:53,934 It must make you feel very proud to be monks here. 232 00:18:53,934 --> 00:18:55,913 THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE 233 00:19:04,083 --> 00:19:06,733 The Emperor now commissioned Xuanzang 234 00:19:06,733 --> 00:19:10,351 to translate the Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. 235 00:19:13,093 --> 00:19:16,804 In the history of civilisation it's a project comparable to 236 00:19:16,804 --> 00:19:19,093 the Arabic translations out of Greek... 237 00:19:19,093 --> 00:19:21,723 THEY CHANT 238 00:19:21,723 --> 00:19:24,556 ..or the Bible from Greek into Latin. 239 00:19:29,583 --> 00:19:33,503 With the permission of the Emperor he got quite a team together. 240 00:19:33,503 --> 00:19:37,173 He had 12 people in his team of Buddhists 241 00:19:37,173 --> 00:19:39,653 who knew about the literature 242 00:19:39,653 --> 00:19:42,623 and he had eight people also in the team 243 00:19:42,623 --> 00:19:47,013 who were phrase connectors, is what they're called. 244 00:19:47,013 --> 00:19:49,993 People who tried to put things into Chinese of the time. 245 00:19:52,023 --> 00:19:57,423 It was all part of Taizong's insatiable appetite for learning. 246 00:19:57,423 --> 00:20:00,493 He was one of China's great rulers, 247 00:20:00,493 --> 00:20:03,303 a model of the Confucian virtuous man. 248 00:20:04,373 --> 00:20:08,064 He was a philosopher prince, poet and rationalist, 249 00:20:08,064 --> 00:20:10,773 and he thought that ruling was inseparable 250 00:20:10,773 --> 00:20:13,453 from the patronage of culture. 251 00:20:13,453 --> 00:20:16,217 And now Taizong wouldn't leave Xuanzang alone. 252 00:20:18,343 --> 00:20:21,233 Xuanzang was supposed to be doing all this translation work 253 00:20:21,233 --> 00:20:23,023 but he didn't have time. 254 00:20:23,023 --> 00:20:25,814 He had to spend all his time at court trying to fulfil 255 00:20:25,814 --> 00:20:28,633 the emperor's need for conversation. 256 00:20:28,633 --> 00:20:31,386 He was a man who was consumed by curiosity. 257 00:20:33,653 --> 00:20:37,633 The Emperor himself said the scriptures of Buddhism, 258 00:20:37,633 --> 00:20:41,353 "are as unfathomable as the depths of the sea 259 00:20:41,353 --> 00:20:43,824 "or the height of the sky. 260 00:20:43,824 --> 00:20:47,303 "In comparison, the teachings of Confucius and Laozi 261 00:20:47,303 --> 00:20:52,354 "and The Nine Schools are just a single island in a great ocean". 262 00:20:56,103 --> 00:20:58,743 The Emperor was so impressed by his bearing 263 00:20:58,743 --> 00:21:02,793 and intelligence that he asked him to hang up his Buddhist robe 264 00:21:02,793 --> 00:21:05,583 and to become his prime minister. 265 00:21:05,583 --> 00:21:07,543 "Help me run the country." 266 00:21:07,543 --> 00:21:10,153 And Xuanzang refused him. 267 00:21:10,153 --> 00:21:15,273 He said, "It would be like taking a boat out of the water. 268 00:21:15,273 --> 00:21:17,623 "Not only would it cease to be useful 269 00:21:17,623 --> 00:21:19,625 "but in time it would rot away." 270 00:21:38,703 --> 00:21:41,297 Xuanzang Died in 664. 271 00:21:42,343 --> 00:21:45,993 His ashes are buried in the little monastery of Xingjiao Si 272 00:21:45,993 --> 00:21:47,085 near Xi'an. 273 00:21:48,183 --> 00:21:51,993 Spared in the cultural revolution of the 1960s at the command 274 00:21:51,993 --> 00:21:55,463 of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai himself, 275 00:21:55,463 --> 00:21:59,536 too precious to the collective memory of the Chinese people. 276 00:22:02,533 --> 00:22:07,253 Over the centuries Buddhism would profoundly touch the Chinese soul, 277 00:22:07,253 --> 00:22:09,533 as it still does. 278 00:22:09,533 --> 00:22:13,533 And back then, perhaps this Indian religion brought something 279 00:22:13,533 --> 00:22:15,433 they felt their culture lacked. 280 00:22:16,663 --> 00:22:18,313 A spiritual path based on 281 00:22:18,313 --> 00:22:20,907 personal conscience and compassion. 282 00:22:22,954 --> 00:22:26,223 For me it is almost a homage to a fellow traveller. 283 00:22:26,223 --> 00:22:28,814 I travelled most of his route through Xinjiang 284 00:22:28,814 --> 00:22:30,743 and the northwest frontier of Pakistan 285 00:22:30,743 --> 00:22:33,863 and all the way across India to Patna. 286 00:22:33,863 --> 00:22:36,434 And to think, he did most of that on foot. 287 00:22:44,223 --> 00:22:46,669 Here is Xuanzang, the great traveller. 288 00:22:48,954 --> 00:22:55,183 I can't believe that he had sandals on the Hindu Kush! 289 00:22:55,183 --> 00:22:59,303 Huge framed backpack here made out of bamboo. 290 00:22:59,303 --> 00:23:01,583 Can you see the bamboo strips? 291 00:23:01,583 --> 00:23:05,423 With all the scrolls of the manuscripts stored there. 292 00:23:05,423 --> 00:23:06,703 Of course, actually, 293 00:23:06,703 --> 00:23:09,423 he had all that stuff in cases. 294 00:23:09,423 --> 00:23:11,173 It is a symbolic picture. 295 00:23:11,173 --> 00:23:14,583 And finally the lovely touch here of a lantern to 296 00:23:14,583 --> 00:23:18,075 illuminate his journey at night. 297 00:23:26,944 --> 00:23:30,623 After he had returned from China, Xuanzang kept in touch with his old 298 00:23:30,623 --> 00:23:32,903 Indian friends by letter. 299 00:23:32,903 --> 00:23:36,743 And those letters, though unknown in the West, 300 00:23:36,743 --> 00:23:41,263 are among the most moving documents in the history of civilisation. 301 00:23:41,263 --> 00:23:47,433 In fact, in my opinion, they tell you what civilisation really is, 302 00:23:47,433 --> 00:23:52,453 written by a member of one culture who had lovingly and totally 303 00:23:52,453 --> 00:23:54,239 immersed himself in another. 304 00:23:55,893 --> 00:23:57,393 He writes the news. 305 00:23:57,393 --> 00:24:02,143 "The great Emperor of the Tang," he says, "is joyfully supporting 306 00:24:02,143 --> 00:24:06,824 "Buddhism and ruling with justice and mercy like a compassionate 307 00:24:06,824 --> 00:24:12,423 "Chakravartin," the old Sanskrit Indian word for a great ruler. 308 00:24:12,423 --> 00:24:15,503 But it is his letter to the abbot of Bodh Gaya which is 309 00:24:15,503 --> 00:24:17,223 the most touching. 310 00:24:17,223 --> 00:24:18,513 Indeed all the more so 311 00:24:18,513 --> 00:24:21,630 because they belonged to opposed schools of Buddhism. 312 00:24:26,103 --> 00:24:28,754 MAN READS LETTER 313 00:24:31,393 --> 00:24:35,263 "A great while has elapsed since we were parted," 314 00:24:35,263 --> 00:24:40,075 he writes, "which has only increased my admiration for you. 315 00:24:43,814 --> 00:24:47,534 "I am sending you my very best wishes. 316 00:24:49,973 --> 00:24:53,383 "Of the works that we brought back from India I have already 317 00:24:53,383 --> 00:24:57,342 "translated 30 and two more will be finished by the end of the year. 318 00:25:03,713 --> 00:25:05,863 "And there's one more thing. 319 00:25:05,863 --> 00:25:10,333 "On my way back from India I lost a horse-load of manuscripts 320 00:25:10,333 --> 00:25:12,173 "fording the River Indus. 321 00:25:12,173 --> 00:25:16,033 "I am sending you a list of the books in the hope that 322 00:25:16,033 --> 00:25:19,514 "perhaps you can get them translated and sent to me. 323 00:25:21,954 --> 00:25:23,706 "This is all for now. 324 00:25:25,543 --> 00:25:29,343 "Best wishes, the monk Xuanzang." 325 00:25:35,513 --> 00:25:37,242 YELLING 326 00:25:43,903 --> 00:25:47,441 In the seventh century Xi'an was the greatest city in the world... 327 00:25:48,983 --> 00:25:52,433 ..half a million people, where the biggest European city 328 00:25:52,433 --> 00:25:54,321 had only a few thousand. 329 00:25:57,103 --> 00:26:01,983 It was a dynamic place of new styles, new fashions and new music. 330 00:26:01,983 --> 00:26:05,225 PEOPLE SING 331 00:26:14,533 --> 00:26:18,230 The city, it was said, was laid out like a vast chessboard. 332 00:26:26,074 --> 00:26:31,865 About five miles square and we are just here at this corner. 333 00:26:32,983 --> 00:26:35,743 Tang Xi'an was strictly regulated. 334 00:26:35,743 --> 00:26:38,183 That was the way Chinese cities had always been, 335 00:26:38,183 --> 00:26:42,153 vast gated royal enclosures where public access was controlled. 336 00:26:43,433 --> 00:26:45,383 Xi'an had 108 wards, 337 00:26:45,383 --> 00:26:46,953 all of them under curfew. 338 00:26:48,303 --> 00:26:50,663 So this was Anxi Ward in 339 00:26:50,663 --> 00:26:54,633 Tang Dynasty times, in between a palace area 340 00:26:54,633 --> 00:26:57,625 and the great government area over there. 341 00:26:58,753 --> 00:27:01,623 So it was quite posh, quite well-to-do. 342 00:27:01,623 --> 00:27:02,760 There was... 343 00:27:04,473 --> 00:27:10,313 ..mansions of court musicians, a princess lived down the road. 344 00:27:10,313 --> 00:27:14,317 Looks like you can still buy some of their garden ornaments, doesn't it? 345 00:27:17,113 --> 00:27:20,873 The city was low-rise. Palaces, residential quarters, 346 00:27:20,873 --> 00:27:25,033 gardens, almost every ward had Buddhist and Taoist temples. 347 00:27:25,033 --> 00:27:27,193 Ni hao. Ni hao. 348 00:27:27,193 --> 00:27:31,433 You see all the things for temples here. 349 00:27:31,433 --> 00:27:35,973 Incense, that's because right back to the Tang Dynasty there was 350 00:27:35,973 --> 00:27:38,305 a huge temple in this area. 351 00:27:40,103 --> 00:27:42,053 And it is still a Taoist temple today, 352 00:27:42,053 --> 00:27:44,112 the Temple of the Eight Immortals. 353 00:27:48,753 --> 00:27:49,879 There you go. 354 00:27:51,263 --> 00:27:52,969 The Temple of the Eight Immortals. 355 00:27:56,543 --> 00:27:59,603 The theatre quarter and red light districts were here, 356 00:27:59,603 --> 00:28:03,233 the hostels for candidates for the civil service exams, 357 00:28:03,233 --> 00:28:04,962 and all tastes were catered for. 358 00:28:08,824 --> 00:28:13,067 Fortune-tellers, ancient Chinese craft. 359 00:28:16,303 --> 00:28:17,747 Later, later! 360 00:28:19,253 --> 00:28:21,103 There were special funeral streets. 361 00:28:21,103 --> 00:28:24,743 One of them features in a famous Tang novel. 362 00:28:24,743 --> 00:28:26,613 I love all these pilgrimage knick-knacks. 363 00:28:26,613 --> 00:28:29,383 My family are really fed up with me bringing them back to London. 364 00:28:29,383 --> 00:28:33,793 It may seem hard to square all this control with an outward-looking age 365 00:28:33,793 --> 00:28:35,893 but the Tang was a centralized state 366 00:28:35,893 --> 00:28:39,053 where everyone was registered in the censuses. 367 00:28:39,053 --> 00:28:43,274 Social harmony came from knowing and keeping your place. 368 00:28:45,423 --> 00:28:46,873 Here is the Drum Tower. 369 00:28:46,873 --> 00:28:50,063 Much later, of course, Ming Dynasty, but there was a drum tower 370 00:28:50,063 --> 00:28:54,393 in the middle of Tang Dynasty Xi'an, beating the drum for the curfew. 371 00:28:54,393 --> 00:28:57,313 A very strictly-regulated city. 372 00:28:57,313 --> 00:29:00,873 You couldn't be found outside your own ward at night, for example. 373 00:29:00,873 --> 00:29:04,423 So the 600 beats of the drum, you had to be back home. 374 00:29:04,423 --> 00:29:06,596 DRUMBEATS 375 00:29:16,543 --> 00:29:18,704 In the seventh century the West Market 376 00:29:18,704 --> 00:29:20,633 was the Central Asian quarter. 377 00:29:20,633 --> 00:29:24,683 Here were the Silk Road merchants, Uyghurs and Persians, 378 00:29:24,683 --> 00:29:27,720 and they brought all their exotic foods with them. 379 00:29:29,343 --> 00:29:34,713 Cherries, barbaries, apricots, peaches from Afghanistan. 380 00:29:37,873 --> 00:29:40,387 Xie xie. 381 00:29:44,423 --> 00:29:45,959 Oh, my God! 382 00:29:47,663 --> 00:29:50,632 I'm coming back there. Beautiful! Xie xie. 383 00:29:55,964 --> 00:29:58,753 Fizzing with energy, the capital city matched 384 00:29:58,753 --> 00:30:01,483 the ambitions of the Emperor Taizong on himself. 385 00:30:02,913 --> 00:30:06,353 In this period China changes from a feudal order 386 00:30:06,353 --> 00:30:10,513 to a bureaucratic state with civil service exams. 387 00:30:10,513 --> 00:30:15,883 And the state becomes synonymous with Han Chinese civilisation. 388 00:30:17,423 --> 00:30:22,122 Which is why people today look on Taizong's reign as a golden age. 389 00:30:23,753 --> 00:30:27,063 I'm a great admirer of Li Shimin, Tang Taizong. 390 00:30:27,063 --> 00:30:30,393 He was like a lot of founding emperors - 391 00:30:30,393 --> 00:30:34,383 he was very ambitious, very ruthless, excellent administrator 392 00:30:34,383 --> 00:30:37,473 and probably a bit of a control freak. 393 00:30:37,473 --> 00:30:41,352 He did a lot to establish the rule of China. 394 00:30:44,263 --> 00:30:48,113 It was Taizong who decided that the Silk Road should be 395 00:30:48,113 --> 00:30:51,150 brought under the umbrella of Chinese civilisation. 396 00:30:53,033 --> 00:30:56,753 Only a few years after Xuanzang made his journey west, 397 00:30:56,753 --> 00:30:59,711 Chinese armies marched in his footsteps. 398 00:31:01,683 --> 00:31:05,753 The Tang emperors sent their armies up the Silk Route 399 00:31:05,753 --> 00:31:09,704 here into Central Asia and they captured the great city of 400 00:31:09,704 --> 00:31:13,513 Gaochang here in 642. 401 00:31:13,513 --> 00:31:18,673 And you could say that the modern idea of a greater China, including 402 00:31:18,673 --> 00:31:24,600 all these territories, can be traced back to that time and this place. 403 00:31:30,273 --> 00:31:33,913 The goal was to protect China's luxury trade with the West 404 00:31:33,913 --> 00:31:36,113 but it was also political - 405 00:31:36,113 --> 00:31:38,911 to make China the great power of Asia. 406 00:31:41,563 --> 00:31:45,683 China was now at its biggest extent before the 18th century. 407 00:31:45,683 --> 00:31:48,553 It had become a continental civilisation 408 00:31:48,553 --> 00:31:52,717 and will see itself that way from then until now. 409 00:31:59,993 --> 00:32:03,783 Driven by a thriving economy and a rising population, 410 00:32:03,783 --> 00:32:06,033 this is the time of the colonization 411 00:32:06,033 --> 00:32:08,263 and development of the south 412 00:32:08,263 --> 00:32:11,073 as China's centre of wealth and trade. 413 00:32:13,913 --> 00:32:17,954 The big story of the Tang Dynasty between the 600s 414 00:32:17,954 --> 00:32:20,991 and the 900s is the shift to the south. 415 00:32:23,033 --> 00:32:26,593 At that time, a Chinese official writes, 416 00:32:26,593 --> 00:32:29,393 "Every stream in the Empire was full of ships. 417 00:32:29,393 --> 00:32:34,423 "Thousands, tens of thousands of great ships moving constantly 418 00:32:34,423 --> 00:32:39,283 "back and forth, always circulating, and if they stop for a single 419 00:32:39,283 --> 00:32:43,714 "moment 10,000 merchants would be bankrupted." 420 00:32:43,714 --> 00:32:48,473 It's the beginning of China as a commercial society 421 00:32:48,473 --> 00:32:52,063 and the beginning of great trading cities, and none of them 422 00:32:52,063 --> 00:32:55,793 was more important than the one that grew up at the junction 423 00:32:55,793 --> 00:33:00,113 of the Grand Canal going north-south and the Yangtze River going from 424 00:33:00,113 --> 00:33:05,033 the west to the east, the number one city of the Tang Dynasty in trade, 425 00:33:05,033 --> 00:33:06,113 Yangzhou. 426 00:33:23,433 --> 00:33:26,834 If Xi'an was the centre of the imperial administration, 427 00:33:26,834 --> 00:33:29,928 Yangzhou was China's commercial heart. 428 00:33:32,193 --> 00:33:34,673 It is the beginning of the industrial south. 429 00:33:38,223 --> 00:33:43,343 You can still get a feel of the Tang in the core of old Yangzhou. 430 00:33:43,343 --> 00:33:47,673 And the key to the success of the city and to the rise of the south 431 00:33:47,673 --> 00:33:52,428 was one of China's great practical achievements, the Grand Canal. 432 00:34:00,574 --> 00:34:04,584 Built at the start of the 600s the canal connected the north 433 00:34:04,584 --> 00:34:07,633 and the south with the river routes east and west. 434 00:34:10,323 --> 00:34:13,212 And it is still crucial to today's economy. 435 00:34:14,353 --> 00:34:19,283 Originally built 1,500 years ago, Shaobo Lock today 436 00:34:19,283 --> 00:34:22,913 handles over 70 million tonnes a year. 437 00:34:22,913 --> 00:34:24,863 It's an amazing scene. 438 00:34:24,863 --> 00:34:27,033 It goes on all through the day, does it? 439 00:34:27,033 --> 00:34:28,873 Yes, 24 hours a day. 440 00:34:28,873 --> 00:34:31,046 24 hours a day! Yeah. Wow! 441 00:34:34,113 --> 00:34:39,063 It took five million men to build the first section in 605, 442 00:34:39,063 --> 00:34:42,362 eventually running north to a small place called Beijing. 443 00:34:44,433 --> 00:34:48,961 And it was built 1,000 years before the Industrial Revolution in Europe. 444 00:34:51,123 --> 00:34:57,513 On the up is number three and in the middle is number two 445 00:34:57,513 --> 00:34:59,953 and behind is number one. 446 00:34:59,953 --> 00:35:02,844 Mainly carrying heavy materials. 447 00:35:02,844 --> 00:35:04,844 Erm... 448 00:35:04,844 --> 00:35:06,943 Coal. Coal. 449 00:35:06,943 --> 00:35:09,953 And building materials. Building materials. 450 00:35:09,953 --> 00:35:12,844 China is building everywhere! 451 00:35:12,844 --> 00:35:14,288 Fantastic! 452 00:35:21,273 --> 00:35:24,714 Just as today, such projects were only possible with 453 00:35:24,714 --> 00:35:26,124 a command economy. 454 00:35:27,763 --> 00:35:30,800 And with it, the Tang transformed China. 455 00:35:33,403 --> 00:35:35,917 In the seventh century the economy boomed. 456 00:35:39,193 --> 00:35:44,303 The canal shipped 165,000 tonnes of grain each year just to feed 457 00:35:44,303 --> 00:35:46,715 the new garrisons in the south. 458 00:35:51,433 --> 00:35:54,793 And standing at the intersection of China's waterways, 459 00:35:54,793 --> 00:35:57,523 Yangzhou became a new kind of city. 460 00:35:59,633 --> 00:36:03,433 It's the first sign of the beginning of the modern. 461 00:36:08,523 --> 00:36:10,206 The city never slept. 462 00:36:12,953 --> 00:36:17,594 It is probably the first large city in history to employ 463 00:36:17,594 --> 00:36:20,763 artificial lighting on a grand scale. 464 00:36:20,763 --> 00:36:24,873 Even the barge traffic on the Grand Canal was able to keep moving 465 00:36:24,873 --> 00:36:27,410 through the city until well after midnight. 466 00:36:29,123 --> 00:36:33,492 So Tang Dynasty Yangzhou was always open for business. 467 00:36:35,483 --> 00:36:39,123 And so too, of course, was the entertainment industry, 468 00:36:39,123 --> 00:36:41,273 the taverns and music bars 469 00:36:41,273 --> 00:36:45,873 and the brothels described with delicate euphemisms 470 00:36:45,873 --> 00:36:51,800 in Tang Dynasty poetry as Yangzhou's "ten miles of summer breeze." 471 00:36:54,473 --> 00:36:58,203 In the 830s it was all immortalized by the poet Du Mu 472 00:36:58,203 --> 00:37:01,123 in a tag which has hung around the city, 473 00:37:01,123 --> 00:37:04,714 for all its ups and downs, from that day to this - 474 00:37:04,714 --> 00:37:06,488 "the Yangzhou dream." 475 00:37:20,943 --> 00:37:23,923 And as the south grew rich they looked for new 476 00:37:23,923 --> 00:37:26,923 outlets for international trade, 477 00:37:26,923 --> 00:37:31,132 not only by land but by sea, all the way to the Persian Gulf. 478 00:37:33,223 --> 00:37:36,203 So here in the south in the Tang Dynasty we've got 479 00:37:36,203 --> 00:37:42,233 the beginnings of what I suppose we could call the maritime Silk Road. 480 00:37:44,023 --> 00:37:49,083 Long-distance international trade organized by merchants 481 00:37:49,083 --> 00:37:52,203 here in cities like Yangzhou. 482 00:37:52,203 --> 00:37:55,073 And they're selling very top-end stuff - 483 00:37:55,073 --> 00:37:58,763 silks and fine cloths and exotic tableware. 484 00:37:58,763 --> 00:38:02,673 They are selling mass-produced ceramics designed with 485 00:38:02,673 --> 00:38:06,353 the Western consumer in mind and they are also selling 486 00:38:06,353 --> 00:38:10,513 what will become the most popular drink in the world - 487 00:38:10,513 --> 00:38:11,639 tea. 488 00:38:16,193 --> 00:38:21,513 Tea had begun in the south on the subtropical hillsides of Yunnan. 489 00:38:21,513 --> 00:38:24,523 Originally drunk for health, by the Tang 490 00:38:24,523 --> 00:38:27,594 its use spread everywhere and the first books had been 491 00:38:27,594 --> 00:38:30,363 published on its beneficial effects. 492 00:38:30,363 --> 00:38:32,399 It has never looked back. 493 00:38:36,594 --> 00:38:38,873 They exported silk, too, 494 00:38:38,873 --> 00:38:42,383 coveted since Roman times by Westerners 495 00:38:42,383 --> 00:38:45,873 who were prepared to pay jaw-dropping prices 496 00:38:45,873 --> 00:38:47,955 for garments fit for an emperor. 497 00:38:49,663 --> 00:38:53,884 Here is a dragon, it's a dragon. 498 00:38:55,433 --> 00:38:59,844 So you might think China's role today as a global mass producer 499 00:38:59,844 --> 00:39:04,203 is a new phenomenon in world history but it's not. 500 00:39:04,203 --> 00:39:10,193 It has been estimated that Tang China had 55% of the world's GDP 501 00:39:10,193 --> 00:39:15,203 with its vast internal market, from local village craftsmen 502 00:39:15,203 --> 00:39:18,303 and women to the Imperial factories, 503 00:39:18,303 --> 00:39:22,524 and from everyday ceramics to gorgeous works of art. 504 00:39:24,923 --> 00:39:28,962 Tang China was a giant engine of growth. 505 00:39:34,113 --> 00:39:38,033 So let's view the early medieval world in a different way. 506 00:39:38,033 --> 00:39:40,714 Tang China was the superpower. 507 00:39:40,714 --> 00:39:44,963 They exported Confucian ideas, Buddhist religion, 508 00:39:44,963 --> 00:39:48,163 their written script and their language, 509 00:39:48,163 --> 00:39:50,677 adopted across East Asia and Japan. 510 00:39:52,673 --> 00:39:56,943 The Japanese even imitated Tang Xi'an in the architecture of 511 00:39:56,943 --> 00:39:58,638 their capital, Nara. 512 00:39:59,943 --> 00:40:02,033 China's influence on the East 513 00:40:02,033 --> 00:40:06,083 was as profound as Rome in the Latin West. 514 00:40:06,083 --> 00:40:09,003 In the East, in the seventh century, 515 00:40:09,003 --> 00:40:12,233 all roads led to Xi'an. 516 00:40:12,233 --> 00:40:14,793 And if you want a symbol of the age, 517 00:40:14,793 --> 00:40:19,363 just outside Xi'an stand the statues of 108 ambassadors 518 00:40:19,363 --> 00:40:22,753 from Central Asia to Japan, 519 00:40:22,753 --> 00:40:25,283 and Vietnam to Persia. 520 00:40:25,283 --> 00:40:28,684 The diplomatic pecking order of the Tang foreign office. 521 00:40:30,854 --> 00:40:35,673 This was the time when China went out to the world 522 00:40:35,673 --> 00:40:38,324 and the world came here to China. 523 00:40:47,283 --> 00:40:50,286 HE CHANTS 524 00:41:00,594 --> 00:41:05,233 And Islam also came to China in the Tang. 525 00:41:05,233 --> 00:41:08,828 Peacefully, which was not always the case in history. 526 00:41:11,363 --> 00:41:14,243 We believe during the Prophet Muhammad's time, 527 00:41:14,243 --> 00:41:15,673 peace be upon him, 528 00:41:15,673 --> 00:41:19,793 encouraged our ancestors to find technology developed in China. 529 00:41:19,793 --> 00:41:21,823 Seek knowledge as far as China. 530 00:41:21,823 --> 00:41:24,714 It had been the year Xuanzang arrived in India 531 00:41:24,714 --> 00:41:27,923 that the Prophet had died in Arabia, 532 00:41:27,923 --> 00:41:31,474 telling his followers to seek knowledge as far as China. 533 00:41:31,474 --> 00:41:35,023 HE CHANTS 534 00:41:35,023 --> 00:41:39,833 Today we speak Chinese Mandarin and the local dialect 535 00:41:39,833 --> 00:41:42,513 but in history we used to speak Chinese, 536 00:41:42,513 --> 00:41:45,027 Arabic, Farsi and Mongolian. 537 00:41:48,724 --> 00:41:50,533 Four languages, some time. 538 00:41:52,933 --> 00:41:57,594 And this time, Tang Dynasty China was the centre of the world. 539 00:41:57,594 --> 00:42:00,243 Xi'an was the centre of the world, I suppose. 540 00:42:00,243 --> 00:42:01,892 Superpower. The superpower. 541 00:42:08,523 --> 00:42:11,793 To welcome an alien religion 542 00:42:11,793 --> 00:42:15,753 would hardly have been possible in the West or the Islamic world 543 00:42:15,753 --> 00:42:17,402 before modern times. 544 00:42:19,563 --> 00:42:23,203 It shows that while the Chinese believed in the superiority 545 00:42:23,203 --> 00:42:25,474 of their civilisation, 546 00:42:25,474 --> 00:42:29,683 they also knew there were many paths to enlightenment... 547 00:42:32,363 --> 00:42:35,685 ..that all knowledge was useful in understanding the cosmos... 548 00:42:37,673 --> 00:42:39,925 ..and the position of humanity in it. 549 00:42:42,193 --> 00:42:46,643 And that idea is expressed in one of the most astonishing monuments 550 00:42:46,643 --> 00:42:48,929 in the whole of Chinese history. 551 00:42:51,103 --> 00:42:56,163 It's a stone inscription recording the coming of Christianity to China 552 00:42:56,163 --> 00:42:58,961 as far back as the 630s. 553 00:43:00,573 --> 00:43:03,523 This is one of China's great national treasures, 554 00:43:03,523 --> 00:43:07,033 one of the select list of the A-list monuments 555 00:43:07,033 --> 00:43:08,833 that can never leave the country, 556 00:43:08,833 --> 00:43:12,013 and as an account of the interaction of civilisations 557 00:43:12,013 --> 00:43:15,083 it's really hard to beat. Let's start at the top. 558 00:43:15,083 --> 00:43:17,163 Those nine characters say 559 00:43:17,163 --> 00:43:19,553 "a monument commemorating 560 00:43:19,553 --> 00:43:23,443 "the propagation of the luminous religion of the West." 561 00:43:23,443 --> 00:43:24,831 That is Christianity. 562 00:43:28,724 --> 00:43:33,123 In 635, it says, a wise man from the West, 563 00:43:33,123 --> 00:43:36,833 perhaps from Persia, called Raban, 564 00:43:36,833 --> 00:43:40,443 decided to bring the Christian scriptures to China. 565 00:43:40,443 --> 00:43:42,474 Observing the path of the winds, 566 00:43:42,474 --> 00:43:46,313 through great perils he made his way all the way to China, 567 00:43:46,313 --> 00:43:48,003 presumably on the Silk Route, 568 00:43:48,003 --> 00:43:51,003 and arrived here in Chang'an. The Emperor, it says, 569 00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:54,604 received him here in Chang'an and the Christian scriptures 570 00:43:54,604 --> 00:43:57,233 were translated in the Imperial Library. 571 00:43:57,233 --> 00:44:00,193 And then the Emperor considered them in his private apartments 572 00:44:00,193 --> 00:44:04,283 and was deeply convinced by their truthfulness 573 00:44:04,283 --> 00:44:08,526 and issued this proclamation in 638. 574 00:44:11,123 --> 00:44:16,013 "The way for humanity, at different times, different places, 575 00:44:16,013 --> 00:44:19,393 "did not have the same name. 576 00:44:19,393 --> 00:44:23,443 "And the great Sage, at different times and different places, 577 00:44:23,443 --> 00:44:26,313 "was not in the same human body. 578 00:44:26,313 --> 00:44:29,724 "Over history, heaven ordained 579 00:44:29,724 --> 00:44:32,913 "that true religion would be established in different countries 580 00:44:32,913 --> 00:44:37,833 "and different climates so that all of humanity could be saved. 581 00:44:37,833 --> 00:44:42,474 "And we've considered the Christian scriptures and have decided that, 582 00:44:42,474 --> 00:44:44,604 "in all their essentials, 583 00:44:44,604 --> 00:44:47,903 "they are about the core values of humanity 584 00:44:47,903 --> 00:44:52,203 "and we have decreed that they be propagated throughout the Empire." 585 00:44:55,484 --> 00:45:01,172 But the story of China is one of cycles of creation and destruction. 586 00:45:02,953 --> 00:45:08,209 And in the next century the Empire faced a perfect storm of crises. 587 00:45:12,604 --> 00:45:16,523 It began out in the West. 588 00:45:16,523 --> 00:45:20,003 Battles against the expanding Muslim caliphate, 589 00:45:20,003 --> 00:45:22,563 savage internal rebellions 590 00:45:22,563 --> 00:45:26,920 reported by one of the great Tang poets, Li Bai. 591 00:45:28,373 --> 00:45:30,724 "Last year," says Li Bai, 592 00:45:30,724 --> 00:45:34,003 "we were fighting out to the north beyond the Great Wall 593 00:45:34,003 --> 00:45:37,724 "and this year we're fighting far out in the west 594 00:45:37,724 --> 00:45:39,913 "on the Kashgar River. 595 00:45:39,913 --> 00:45:43,683 "We've washed our blades in the streams of Parthia 596 00:45:43,683 --> 00:45:48,734 "and grazed our horses amid the snows of Tian Shan." 597 00:45:48,734 --> 00:45:51,203 There it is. There's Tian Shan. 598 00:45:51,203 --> 00:45:54,963 What a place to imagine it, here in Jiaohe, 599 00:45:54,963 --> 00:45:59,673 Tang Dynasty-garrisoned town with its watch tower and beacon platform. 600 00:45:59,673 --> 00:46:05,373 "But," says Li Bai, "the beacon fires are always burning. 601 00:46:05,373 --> 00:46:09,253 "The marching and the fighting never stops and nor does the dying. 602 00:46:09,253 --> 00:46:12,673 "You should know that the sword is a cursed thing 603 00:46:12,673 --> 00:46:15,562 "that the wise man uses only if he must." 604 00:46:26,093 --> 00:46:30,848 Out in these vast expanses the Tang Empire was overstretched. 605 00:46:35,083 --> 00:46:38,086 And in the end they abandoned the west. 606 00:46:42,484 --> 00:46:45,965 China would only regain it in the 18th century. 607 00:46:48,053 --> 00:46:51,373 The crisis came under the Emperor Xuanzong, 608 00:46:51,373 --> 00:46:56,683 the apocalyptic eight-year rebellion of General An Lushan 609 00:46:56,683 --> 00:47:01,120 which saw the end of the Tang dream of a greater China. 610 00:47:28,123 --> 00:47:31,963 The oasis of Turfan was one of the Tang garrison towns 611 00:47:31,963 --> 00:47:33,965 out in the western deserts. 612 00:47:35,273 --> 00:47:39,533 So when Li Bai writes his poem about fighting in the west, 613 00:47:39,533 --> 00:47:43,113 it's this area he's talking about. Mm, yes, I think so, yes. 614 00:47:43,113 --> 00:47:46,993 In about 755, because of the rebellion 615 00:47:46,993 --> 00:47:49,683 of An Lushan and Shi Siming, 616 00:47:49,683 --> 00:47:53,893 the central government became much weaker so the stationed troops 617 00:47:53,893 --> 00:47:58,253 were returned to inland China to fight against 618 00:47:58,253 --> 00:48:00,283 the army of An Lushan and Shi Siming. 619 00:48:00,283 --> 00:48:04,970 An Lushan. So this was a very big shock. Yeah, a big war lord. Yeah. 620 00:48:06,354 --> 00:48:11,371 An Lushan, a bogeyman who chilled hearts back in Xi'an. 621 00:48:12,883 --> 00:48:16,043 Far to the northeast he gathered armies to take revenge 622 00:48:16,043 --> 00:48:18,614 after the Emperor had killed his son. 623 00:48:21,523 --> 00:48:25,323 At home, the Dynasty had lost touch with the people. 624 00:48:25,323 --> 00:48:28,763 The tombs of the eighth-century royals near Xi'an 625 00:48:28,763 --> 00:48:32,713 show their pastimes and pleasures, polo and hunting 626 00:48:32,713 --> 00:48:37,013 and courtly parties, oblivious to the gathering storm. 627 00:48:40,273 --> 00:48:44,403 These are wonderful images outside the tomb chamber. 628 00:48:44,403 --> 00:48:48,134 They're courtly ladies, just attendants. 629 00:48:49,523 --> 00:48:54,843 In their stylish fashions they could be fin de siecle, Paris, 630 00:48:54,843 --> 00:48:56,883 couldn't they? Central Asian fashions. 631 00:48:56,883 --> 00:49:01,729 These are the vogue in the early 700s. 632 00:49:03,993 --> 00:49:08,763 The faces are so animated, you can almost imagine their conversations. 633 00:49:08,763 --> 00:49:10,845 The gossip, the rumours. 634 00:49:12,604 --> 00:49:15,641 Courts that were seething with anxiety. 635 00:49:18,474 --> 00:49:21,893 I'm afraid we Chinese never manage to live more than 50 years 636 00:49:21,893 --> 00:49:24,963 without some terrible cataclysmic event. 637 00:49:24,963 --> 00:49:27,563 The cycles of Chinese history. That's right. 638 00:49:27,563 --> 00:49:32,253 And it had been a particularly good period up until the Emperor - 639 00:49:32,253 --> 00:49:34,283 the brilliant Emperor - 640 00:49:34,283 --> 00:49:39,283 began, allegedly, to love his concubine, Yang Guifei, 641 00:49:39,283 --> 00:49:41,365 the precious concubine, too much. 642 00:49:42,614 --> 00:49:46,413 And he left quite a lot of the work of governing the country 643 00:49:46,413 --> 00:49:50,843 to various people, especially to this concubine's family and so on, 644 00:49:50,843 --> 00:49:52,913 which was absolutely disastrous. 645 00:49:54,163 --> 00:49:57,893 The story goes that the Emperor sent his men over the land to find 646 00:49:57,893 --> 00:50:00,646 the most beautiful woman in China. 647 00:50:02,713 --> 00:50:05,003 They failed, of course, but then, 648 00:50:05,003 --> 00:50:07,893 when he was bathing here in the hot springs, 649 00:50:07,893 --> 00:50:11,283 he saw the 18-year-old daughter of a high official... 650 00:50:14,323 --> 00:50:18,773 ..the warm water running down her glistening, jade-like body, 651 00:50:18,773 --> 00:50:22,129 as the poet Bai Juyi tells the story. 652 00:50:23,843 --> 00:50:28,359 The Emperor had dreamed of a beauty who could topple an empire. 653 00:50:30,563 --> 00:50:34,897 Meanwhile, a girl in the Yang family came of age. 654 00:50:36,604 --> 00:50:42,203 And when she smiled she could melt the heart with a single glance. 655 00:50:42,203 --> 00:50:46,537 And from that day the Emperor missed every morning court. 656 00:50:50,723 --> 00:50:55,274 But then one day the ground was shaken by the war drums of a revolt. 657 00:50:57,413 --> 00:51:02,484 An Lushan came in with his Tibetans, went straight to Chang'an. 658 00:51:02,484 --> 00:51:05,683 Soldiers carried the Emperor and his favourites 659 00:51:05,683 --> 00:51:08,773 out of the capital overnight, 660 00:51:08,773 --> 00:51:11,643 it was so desperate an emergency. 661 00:51:11,643 --> 00:51:15,283 But when they got into the hills - because he was making for Sichuan, 662 00:51:15,283 --> 00:51:18,403 which was hilly, where he thought he would be safe - 663 00:51:18,403 --> 00:51:22,343 his bodyguards, a small group of people, 664 00:51:22,343 --> 00:51:25,443 rebelled and said they were not going any further 665 00:51:25,443 --> 00:51:28,973 as long as the Emperor had this favourite, and favourites with him. 666 00:51:28,973 --> 00:51:31,294 And the favourites had to be slaughtered. 667 00:51:37,893 --> 00:51:40,614 Among them was the Lady Yang, 668 00:51:40,614 --> 00:51:44,254 strung up on a tree on a silk cord. 669 00:51:49,083 --> 00:51:54,646 The great rebellion of the An Lushan period was extremely hard on China. 670 00:51:56,763 --> 00:52:00,255 An enormous number of people were killed or displaced. 671 00:52:03,843 --> 00:52:07,443 And we know from the census that were taken before that happened 672 00:52:07,443 --> 00:52:10,799 and after it, 35 million people were missing. 673 00:52:12,203 --> 00:52:16,923 As government broke down, eight years of horror unfolded. 674 00:52:16,923 --> 00:52:21,693 It was a national catastrophe, described by China's greatest poet, 675 00:52:21,693 --> 00:52:26,333 Du Fu, in lines remembered ever since by the Chinese people 676 00:52:26,333 --> 00:52:28,993 in times of trouble. 677 00:52:28,993 --> 00:52:31,780 WOMAN READS POEM 678 00:52:38,643 --> 00:52:43,003 "Guo po." Just two words. It means the state has been demolished 679 00:52:43,003 --> 00:52:45,893 and it doesn't exist any more. There's no state left. 680 00:52:45,893 --> 00:52:47,563 But "shan he zai" - 681 00:52:47,563 --> 00:52:49,281 the mountains and the river still remain. 682 00:52:53,645 --> 00:52:56,915 In all the 3,000 years of Chinese poetry, 683 00:52:56,915 --> 00:53:00,895 the world's oldest living poetic tradition, it's Du Fu, 684 00:53:00,895 --> 00:53:03,435 the poet of this terrible time, 685 00:53:03,435 --> 00:53:08,259 who is their most loved because he spoke in the people's voice. 686 00:53:11,835 --> 00:53:14,515 He's still part of the school syllabus today 687 00:53:14,515 --> 00:53:17,845 so every Chinese child knows how the Tang fell... 688 00:53:17,845 --> 00:53:19,565 Hi, hello. 689 00:53:19,565 --> 00:53:22,795 '..not from their history class but from poetry.' 690 00:53:22,795 --> 00:53:25,555 Nice to meet you. Ah, very good, you speak English. Wonderful! 691 00:53:25,555 --> 00:53:29,275 'And here at the secondary school in Yanshi outside Luoyang, 692 00:53:29,275 --> 00:53:32,195 'they've an extra reason to know all about it.' 693 00:53:32,195 --> 00:53:34,835 This is the tomb here? Yes. Ah! 694 00:53:34,835 --> 00:53:38,845 'Because Du Fu's grave is in the school grounds. 695 00:53:38,845 --> 00:53:43,125 'He wasn't famous when he died. The inscription says...' 696 00:53:43,125 --> 00:53:46,205 GIRL READS INSCRIPTION 697 00:53:46,205 --> 00:53:50,278 "The tomb of Mr Du, government deputy irrigation inspector." 698 00:53:51,995 --> 00:53:54,725 Terrific, xie xie. Wonderful, wonderful. 699 00:53:58,335 --> 00:53:59,515 LAUGHTER 700 00:53:59,515 --> 00:54:00,971 Fantastic! Fantastic. 701 00:54:03,125 --> 00:54:05,435 As the Tang world collapsed, 702 00:54:05,435 --> 00:54:09,425 one last brief poem by Du Fu tells how he met again, 703 00:54:09,425 --> 00:54:11,115 south of the river, 704 00:54:11,115 --> 00:54:15,484 a famous musician once high in the king's favour. 705 00:54:59,875 --> 00:55:03,765 MICHAEL READS POEM 706 00:55:03,765 --> 00:55:07,775 Who is the prince of the Qi, Qiwang? Does anybody know? 707 00:55:07,775 --> 00:55:10,565 Is he a big, important person? 708 00:55:10,565 --> 00:55:15,285 I know Qiwang is the brother of the Emperor Tang Xuanzong. 709 00:55:15,285 --> 00:55:18,055 He's the brother of the Emperor Xuanzong. Yes. 710 00:55:18,055 --> 00:55:21,325 Great. So a very important man, then. 711 00:55:21,325 --> 00:55:23,765 Du Fu is recalling... 712 00:55:23,765 --> 00:55:26,515 the palace of Qiwang's. 713 00:55:26,515 --> 00:55:29,236 Now, this phrase here... 714 00:55:29,236 --> 00:55:32,490 HE READS THE POEM 715 00:55:35,155 --> 00:55:40,075 Which you read beautifully, if I may say so, it was very, very good. 716 00:55:40,075 --> 00:55:43,875 And then this line here is so fantastic - don't laugh at me. 717 00:55:43,875 --> 00:55:46,639 HE READS THE POEM 718 00:55:49,285 --> 00:55:53,445 "The falling flowers time, season, is here again 719 00:55:53,445 --> 00:55:56,376 "and in this time I meet you again." 720 00:55:56,376 --> 00:55:59,055 The falling flowers in Chinese poetry, 721 00:55:59,055 --> 00:56:02,366 can you explain to me what this means? 722 00:56:02,366 --> 00:56:03,925 Anybody? 723 00:56:03,925 --> 00:56:07,635 I think it means, you know, flowers are falling down 724 00:56:07,635 --> 00:56:10,565 and the period of the season is gone. 725 00:56:10,565 --> 00:56:14,236 And it also means that Tang Dynasty is gone. 726 00:56:14,236 --> 00:56:18,125 And at the same time he meets his old friend 727 00:56:18,125 --> 00:56:21,226 and the old memories - the beautiful memories - 728 00:56:21,226 --> 00:56:23,925 come back and he feels very sad. 729 00:56:23,925 --> 00:56:26,555 So falling flowers is not just blossom falling, 730 00:56:26,555 --> 00:56:29,165 it's a feeling of melancholy in the heart. 731 00:56:29,165 --> 00:56:32,575 And the Tang Dynasty is falling, 732 00:56:32,575 --> 00:56:36,125 there is a mood of Autumn and sadness 733 00:56:36,125 --> 00:56:39,366 and he meets the man who was once this great figure. 734 00:56:39,366 --> 00:56:41,356 Such a simple poem, isn't it? 735 00:56:41,356 --> 00:56:46,055 Just four lines and yet it's full of fantastic ideas. 736 00:56:46,055 --> 00:56:48,496 Thank you for being patient! 737 00:56:48,496 --> 00:56:49,702 Xie xie... 738 00:56:51,155 --> 00:56:52,213 ..to you! 739 00:57:06,925 --> 00:57:08,955 So the state was broken 740 00:57:08,955 --> 00:57:11,405 but the landscape survived 741 00:57:11,405 --> 00:57:13,134 and so did the people. 742 00:57:14,805 --> 00:57:16,966 It's a very high-class social media piece here. 743 00:57:18,515 --> 00:57:23,925 The ninth century was a time of famines and more rebellions. 744 00:57:23,925 --> 00:57:28,316 In the end, the Tang lose their nerve and start to look inwards. 745 00:57:30,405 --> 00:57:34,285 In the 840s they even launch a persecution of Buddhism, 746 00:57:34,285 --> 00:57:36,856 now a symbol of un-Chinese ideas. 747 00:57:38,445 --> 00:57:43,885 And so the Mandate of Heaven was lost but as the Buddha had said, 748 00:57:43,885 --> 00:57:47,215 and the Chinese have always known too well, 749 00:57:47,215 --> 00:57:49,285 all things must pass. 750 00:57:53,669 --> 00:57:59,639 On the 1st of June, 907, the last Tang Emperor abdicated, 751 00:57:59,639 --> 00:58:03,769 bringing to end an age of amazing creativity. 752 00:58:05,829 --> 00:58:10,399 An age by which the Chinese still define themselves today. 753 00:58:10,399 --> 00:58:15,230 A time in which Xi'an here rivalled and then surpassed Baghdad 754 00:58:15,230 --> 00:58:18,631 and Constantinople as a city of the world. 755 00:58:20,399 --> 00:58:23,709 For a time, China will plunge into anarchy, 756 00:58:23,709 --> 00:58:28,299 but a new age of greatness will soon arise, 757 00:58:28,299 --> 00:58:31,302 as in China it always has.