Original subtitles

I'm on the Peak of the world.

Over there, to the north, are two of the most colossal empires on Earth.

This is Hong Kong. I was here when I was a little girl

and I haven't been back since.

I'm about to start on one of the most exciting journeys

you can make on land which is through China, Mongolia and Russia

on the Trans-Siberian Express.

We're going to end up in Moscow

where I was last in the mid '60s when I was a model

and it was in the grip of the Cold War.

I can't wait to begin. Well, I have begun.

This is the first part of the journey

leaving the Peak and coming down towards the ferry

to go across to the mainland to Kowloon.

My 6,000 mile adventure starts in Hong Kong

which I last saw when I was four.

I'll cross mighty China where the new world rubs up against the old...

.. and visit a wild stretch of the Great Wall.

This is honestly like being in a dream.

From there, it's on to romantic Mongolia, the land of Genghis Khan

with its hardy nomads...

.. and a mysterious shaman... a vast, empty land.

- Then I visit another empire... - This is Russia. Speak Russian.

.. crossing icy Siberia and glimpsing Russia's undimmed spirit

and troubled soul.

Two guys jump with Kalashnikovs in their hands.

Like, da-da-da, da-da.

I'll be meeting powerful oligarchs...

Oh, gosh. This is so I get the gold flakes.

.. stars of the future...

Zazdarovje!

.. and enjoy Russian hospitality to the full.

See, that is a small vodka.

Finally, I push on to Moscow, which I last visited

in the darkness of the Cold War in 1966.

- Is that a nuclear bomb? - Yes.

My Trans-Siberian journey. The adventure of a lifetime.

Hong Kong, once a British colony and protected by the British Army

and my father, who was stationed here with his Gurkha regiment.

Of course, Hong Kong is bound to have changed

but I think, more than any city in the world,

Hong Kong is the one that has altered. Its whole nature.

So much land reclamation.

You see that big scooping building like a great biscuit

with the tower behind? All that has been stolen back from the sea.

Where we're going now was water and it's now been grown out.

It's thrilling to be back.

It's terribly beautiful and I don't remember any of it.

It's as if I've been in a dream.

All I know is that we lived on Chatham Road.

It used to be on the water's edge.

It's the strangest thing in the world

because I've got... I've got a picture of me as a little girl...

.. in Hong Kong with my mother and my older sister.

And we're standing, I think somewhere pretty near Chatham Road

but here you can see the coastline so close to us.

And now, we're in the middle of a city.

It was a block of rather Victorian-y flats with little balconies

and we kept guinea pigs called Sammy and Michael.

And the guinea pigs whistled. Mummy taught them how to whistle.

(WHISTLES)

And sometimes sailors would come ashore on their shore leave,

walking past and they'd hear the guinea pigs whistle

and they'd whistle back thinking they were girls whistling to them.

Next morning and a suburban Hong Kong metro train.

Please mind the gap...

Please mind the gap. It reminds me of Earl's Court. Rather lovely.

Britain's 156-year rule of Hong Kong ended in 1997

when we handed it back to China.

They run it as a separate state so I'm clutching my passport and visa

with Hong Kong dollars cashed in for Chinese yuan.

One country, two systems.

I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a certain nervous thrill

to be crossing the border into Communist China.

Thank you.

So we're here and I want to go to Children's Palace.

Now where the hell am I going? This is where I want.

Shenzhen North Station. That's what I want.

Select quantity. One. Amount due. Four. Four Yuan.

It can't cost four. That's about three pence.

- Processing. - (CASH TINKLES ON THE FLOOR)

And money.

So that was it. It cost 40p.

And I've actually made money on that little transaction. Thrilling.

Shenzhen Mainline Station is where I catch the Bullet Train to Beijing.

It's huge.

Now this could be a difficult because I can't read Chinese.

And so I won't know when it says Beijing but I've got a clue

because I'm looking for the G80.

It's obviously saying it in English cos it realised I was on the train

and it knew I'd be anxious about the right thing.

So 11:28. Platform, I guess. A14.

On this high speed, 10½-hour and 1,400-mile journey,

I've got a business class ticket but it's a bit confusing.

6A.

That's it. That's my seat.

Well, it's very odd cos this is business class

and that's first class and business class is bigger and better

than first class so first class...

out here is just slightly down, you know.

Enormous cool window. Lovely big armrests.

- Take it away. - (CLICKS FINGERS)

As we hurtle through China, I feel I've been projected into the future.

When I was young, China was referred to as a sleeping giant.

Well, it's now very much awake.

1 in 5 people on Earth is Chinese

and it is now officially the world's biggest economy.

Flying past the window are cities I've never heard of

that have populations as big as London.

But my destination is what, in my geography books,

was called Peking.

We slip into Beijing under the cover of night

into a city teeming with life.

In fact, 21 million lives.

Old Peking has mostly gone. You really have to look for it.

New Beijing, still Communist but embracing consumerism with open arms,

is a shoppers' paradise.

China buys more smartphones than any other country

and a third of the world's luxury brands are sold here.

They also consume more red wine than anyone else,

partly because red is a lucky colour

so it's much more popular than white wine.

Luxury British bands are 30% more expensive in Beijing than in London.

Is this the Silver Wraith? This one here?

Mr Wilson runs the most successful Rolls-Royce dealership in the world

here in the capital of Communist China.

He introduces me to one of his favourite clients, Madam Liu,

to whom he recently sold his thousandth Rolls-Royce.

You can buy them here for half a million quid.

The average annual wage is just over £2,000.

Wow. Look. We've got stars on the ceiling.

The starry light at night.

(SPEAKS MANDARIN)

This is what she likes most.

The glitter, the bling, the starry, starry night.

- How do I get to close the door? - You can just press that button.

# MADONNA: Material Girl

# Cos we are living in a material world

# And I am a material girl

# You know that we are living in a material world

# And I am a material girl #

It's interesting. I never thought I'd see Beijing

from the heart of a Rolls-Royce.

- (LAUGHS) - It seems extraordinary. Who buys them?

Where does the money come from? This is riches beyond belief.

Definitely from the very rapid economic development in China. For sure.

Darling, I think probably not with a mobile at the moment.

(LAUGHS)

Because now we have so many successful, rich people in China.

And then they obviously enjoy finer things.

Darling, don't... Not the phone. You really must just...

Wilson, will you ask Madam Liu very kindly...?

And what business are you in, Madam Liu?

- (TRANSLATES TO MANDARIN) - (REPLIES IN MANDARIN) - Financial.

- And also real estate. - Real estate.

And Madam Liu, what is it that you love about the Rolls-Royce?

(REPLIES IN MANDARIN)

Because she believes Rolls-Royce is the pinnacle.

And that it is a symbol of success and status.

Madam Liu, do you ever feel any sense of resentment from poorer people

when you drive in such a beautiful rich car?

(REPLIES IN MANDARIN)

The first impression is that all the people are just appreciating the car.

Not her!

Beijing, once famous for its millions of bicycles,

is now cars bumper to bumper.

- (SPEAKS IN MANDARIN) - I know it's them.

(SPEAKS IN MANDARIN)

- She said if we were doing it in her home town... - Yes?

.. she could arrange blocking the roads.

For us to do the filming.

She has the connections with the authorities.

Connections with authorities oil wheels the world over

but absolute power here in China has always steered its own grim course

as I'm about to discover.

Beijing is a city where capitalism is now king

and money is power although the Communists are in charge.

It's very strange, however, to find a place that celebrates

the old days of Chairman Mao.

Now, I've travelled the world

and eaten in every type of restaurant imaginable,

but this one is by far the weirdest.

(VOICES SPEAK MANDARIN)

In the form of the most bizarre cabaret,

large helpings of Mao's Cultural Revolution

are served with wild enthusiasm along with pizza and cold beer

if you wish.

It's an odd atmosphere given that in Mao's Cultural Revolution in the '60s

some 1.5 million people were killed

and countless millions suffered banishment, imprisonment

and torture.

Tell me... Tell me...

what did you enjoy most about this evening?

But what are your thoughts now of Chairman Mao?

If you're ever in Beijing and you fancy Chairman Mao and chips,

then this is the restaurant for you.

This country is a paradox.

You can buy a Prada handbag but you're not allowed

to access Google or YouTube.

Nowhere is the power of the state more keenly felt

than here in Tiananmen Square.

For most of us, it'll be remembered forever

for the brutal suppression of the 1989 student demonstrations

which it's still illegal to talk about publicly in China.

Strangely, and bitterly really, I think,

erm... Tiananmen means 'Heaven peace gate'.

Probably not for everybody.

That's interesting showing Tibet.

Look, do show that, Tibet.

Since 1950, Tibet has been brutally occupied by Communist China.

In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled, Tibet's culture was crushed,

and hundreds of thousands were killed.

Tibet is displayed here as merely a Himalayan province of China.

This is the Chinese version of Tibet.

Before Communism, there was the time of emperors.

Oh! The size of it.

The Forbidden City, built in the early 15th Century,

was, for 500 years, the epicentre of power in China.

Here the Emperor and his court lived and ruled.

The Forbidden City is so-called because commoners were not allowed in

and merely to look at the Emperor incurred the death penalty.

It's vast. Five times bigger than Buckingham Palace.

These amazing buildings have wonderful names

like The Halls of Supreme Harmony and Enhanced Righteousness.

Everywhere there are dragons, a symbol of The Emperor.

It's got an Elvis quiff!

It's now a huge, slightly impersonal museum

attracting over nine million visitors a year.

- Look at these people. - They are dressed just like the Qing emperors.

- And they have consorts. - They look very beautiful.

- Do you want to rent one? - I think it would look wrong on a European.

You look enchanting.

Historian Dong Meizhao is taking me through the grand courtyards of power

to an area she knows I'm curious about -

the place where the Emperor's concubines lived.

When we say "concubine", we use all different words nowadays.

Do you think they were mistresses or kept women?

- How would you describe it? - No. No. No. They were legal.

An emperor could have a wife that is empress

but besides the wife, he could have many consorts

and many, many, many concubines.

The women's quarters are at the back of the palace

and are smaller and more intimate.

At the height of the Qing Dynasty,

the Emperor had thousands of concubines guarded by his eunuchs.

It was symbol of power but also ensured the production

of male heirs to the throne.

Albeit on a strict rota.

You know, only the Empress was allowed to spend

two full nights with the Emperor.

The other ladies were not allowed to spend a whole night.

- Only two hours. - Two hours?

Yes. Two hours and then she must leave.

- So make it snappy, make it good. - (LAUGHS)

Wow. That's a bit of pressure.

Oh, look at these little rooms. What are these little rooms?

- Sitting rooms. - Sitting rooms?

Eunuchs would present the Emperor with a tray on name cards

for him to choose a concubine.

- He was going to spend that night... - And she'd be the lucky one.

- And she'd be waiting here. - Yes.

Well!

What do you think it was like being a woman in those days?

What would it have been like to have been a concubine?

It must have been a miserable life.

Every day you pray that the Emperor might select you.

It must be very lonely.

It was a tough life for these girls, wasn't it?

The last emperor left the Forbidden City only in 1924

and in the small lanes, or Hutongs, that are huddled

round the back of the Imperial Palace,

I've been told there is an old lady who knew his favourite concubine.

- Ni hao. - Ni hao.

Hello. I'm Joanna.

This was the mansion that the former concubine moved into in the 1930s.

90-year-old Madam Ma now lives cheek by jowl

with half a dozen other families in a complex of rooms

- built into its courtyard. - (SPEAKS MANDARIN)

- TRANSLATOR: Don't laugh at me. - No. Never. In here?

40.

And was this her room? Did she sleep here?

- (TRANSLATES INTO MANDARIN) - In this bed.

This room.

Wen Xiu, at only 13, was the favourite of the last emperor Pu Yi.

And in fact, he wanted her to be his empress

but her relatively lowly background prevented that.

Erm... how old was...?

Why do you think she was a successful concubine

if she wasn't very pretty?

Was she very kind or very clever?

What memories you have, Mrs Ma.

As I leave Madam Ma and her brush with imperial history,

it's also time to leave Beijing.

I've already travelled 1,400 miles from Hong Kong

but now my journey really begins on the Trans-Siberian Railway itself.

I've got my passport cos I think we have to go through security

and I've got my ticket.

And I know it's the train to Moscow which I think is...

.. Mua-skua.

I'm not quite sure what these little lovely things are.

They could be little bars of something...

to eat or bars of soap.

The packaging and presentation is so pretty.

And some mystery items.

Maybe that's a fig. Maybe that's a...

.. apricot.

Beautiful squashed things.

You see, it could be mushrooms or sweet things.

Slightly soft. It could be toffee. I want one of those.

At last, I feel I'm getting on the train which is going to Moscow.

- I mean in actual fact, I'm going to be jumping... (TRAIN HISSES)

I'm going to be jumping on and off to film bits and pieces around.

But this is the train that goes to Moscow from Beijing.

All I've got to do now is to find zero, zero,

which is the carriage, and my seat which is 29.

That way?

33, eight...

29.

A little bit snugger than I imagined but this'll be just fine.

As we pull out of Beijing, it feels like my adventure is just beginning.

On a train, you've really got time to relax...

.. to watch the country flying by...

.. and to mingle with, in this case, the rather jolly staff.

You are very beautiful.

Thank you. May I wear your hat for a photograph?

This train will be travelling 4,880 miles from Beijing

through Mongolia and Siberia, eventually to Moscow.

But on this first leg, I'll only be on board for five hours

before getting off to visit Datong, a mining city in Northern China.

Communist China is full of surprises.

There are over 240 million Buddhists living here today.

In the 5th and 6th centuries, 51,000 Buddhas

were carved into the side of Datong's nearby mountains.

Jason, a knowledgeable local guide, has agreed to show me round.

So now this is the biggest one.

- Oh! - And the most preserved one.

- Look at the size of it! - And we can see the nose...

of this sculpture.

The nose is about 1.7m high.

Just like me.

That's the nose.

So it's a very giant Buddha.

Oh!

- So, the incense burning. - You can smell it, it's beautiful.

- China has changed a lot in this last century. - Of course.

- Hugely. - Especially for... young generations.

We grew up with the Western culture

or American culture so much.

We just believe in money.

Money is everything. Money is God.

- Do you think that's sad? - Yes.

Of course it's sad. So we don't have time to learn about art.

So that makes us... erm...

our heart is not very completed.

I like poems.

But if you write some poem on your Twitter

or something like that... Facebook..

your friends will all say, "You're funny. You're so funny.

You're so... er... crazy."

Oh, Jason. I hate that. You're a poet, aren't you?

Yeah, I'm a poet. Yeah.

I love poetry. And what about girls and girlfriends?

I don't have one, actually.

Cos I don't have money. There is a saying - "no money, no honey".

Oh, Jason. Would you ever think of marrying a non-Chinese girl?

- Hmmm. - Or is that...? Or is there pressure on you to marry

a Chinese girl?

The pressure from my parents who will introduce some friend.

- A suitable girl? - Yeah.

So that's the custom. Your parents will say,

- "We know a nice family." - It's natural.

- So you have an arranged marriage. - Yeah. - Your parents arrange it.

It seems suitable. You're not in love with her.

You've only met her a few times. You have to get married.

Don't do that, Jason. Write your poems, post them out.

Some darling girl will read them

and see in you a spiritual, cultural poet.

- Thanks. - It'll happen. - Yeah.

I worry for Jason's chances.

At the last count, China had 33 million more men than women.

(CHILDREN REPEAT PHRASES IN MANDARIN)

If I hadn't been an actress, I'd have liked to have been a teacher.

Welcome Joanna.

I wonder how I'd have faired here in a school in Datong

where the classes are huge.

How's it going, Joanna?

It's going very well, class. Thank you so much.

Do you guys have any questions about Joanna?

Are you...? Are you sexy? (JOANNA LAUGHS)

- Are you sexy? Wow! - I hope so. I hope so.

I come from England. I come from London.

And I come from the home of Shakespeare. Have you heard of him?

TEACHER: Shakespeare. You know Shakespeare? Yeah.

Do you like Harry Potter?

I love Harry Potter. Did you see Harry Potter?

- Yeah. - Do you read Harry Potter? Or see the film?

- See the film. - I have met Harry Potter.

Daniel Radcliffe. Delightful.

- That's nice. - I think he would love you.

- (LAUGHS) Thank you. - He would love you.

Very good.

(CLAP IN UNISON TO POP SONG)

OK. Tell me what is it? It is a...

ALL: Pop star.

Yes, and it is popular...? Where?

- All... - over the world.

- Yes, it is popular all over the... - world.

- OK. Follow me. Asia. - Asia.

- America. - America.

- Africa. - Africa.

- Europe. - Europe. - Yes. Europe.

And where does Joanna come from?

- Do you remember? - Europe. - Europe.

- Which country? Which country? - England.

Yes, England.

And it is Eu... Europe.

So any questions for Joanna?

- Can you speak Chinese? - I can't.

I'm gonna say this wrong.

(SPEAKS MANDARIN HESITANTLY)

(LAUGHTER)

- Do you like singing? - Singing?

Yes. I'm married to a musician.

Can you sing for us?

I strangely can't. No.

I suddenly cannot sing for you.

But I would love to hear you singing.

- Do you want to sing for Joanna? - Can you sing me a song?

- Any songs? - Is there a Chinese national anthem you could sing?

Chinese national...? OK.

(SPEAKS MANDARIN) One, two, three... here we go.

I think that somewhere along the tops of these hills

I'm going to see bits of the Great Wall.

I think you can get glimpses and I'm staring like mad.

And sometimes you see a rock formation that looks a bit...

I know I'll recognise it when I see it. I don't know why.

I've been thinking about the Great Wall all my life.

Oh, my God! There is the Wall.

One of the wonders of the world. The Great Wall.

It is THE defining symbol of China.

Popularly, but incorrectly, believed to be the only manmade structure

visible from outer space.

Visitors normally see the well-known stretch just outside Beijing

but I've driven up into these wild mountains

to meet an Englishman who lives here with his Chinese wife.

One of the world's experts on the Great Wall

is William Lindsay and he's invited me to stay

to take me up to parts of the wall that tourists

and visiting statesmen never reach.

Well, let's have a drink, an appropriate one.

What's it say? Chinggis?

In the West, we've always said Genghis Khan

but Chinggis Khan is more like the Mongolian translation.

Without this man and his descendants, this wouldn't have been built.

So Genghis Khan united tribes in Mongolia

and started invading China in the early 1200s.

And over three generations, he and his descendants

took the whole of China out of the hands of the Han Chinese

and established what we can say is a conquest dynasty to rule China.

It didn't last forever and in the mid 1300s,

the Chinese started to destabilise Mongol power and push them back.

And then they knew that they would face the threat again

so the construction of the Ming Wall began.

So the wall was built to keep the Mongolians out?

- To stop them invading again. - Again. - Yeah.

But it wasn't in place when Genghis Khan and his descendants invaded.

But even then, building a wall of these dimensions

is much slower than raising a colossal army

so and... and where it's built.

I mean, William, look, one can hardly scramble up there

let alone construct a huge wall

- which, presumably, armies could march on. - Yeah.

- Towers. I mean... - The top tower is... er...

.. 3,400ft above sea level.

- So it's higher than Snowdon. - Wow.

- (LAUGHS) Yeah. - Wow.

Er... this wall was recently surveyed to originally have extended

- for 5,500 miles. - Oh!

That's... That's more than London to New York.

And back.

- Yeah. - It hurts the brain, doesn't it? - Yeah.

I'm burning to see it. Will I get up there tonight?

I wouldn't... I don't think we should set off this evening.

I think tomorrow morning. I think it's gonna be a fabulous dawn.

- Dawn? - What time's dawn? - Dawn is about 5:45.

- So if we set off from home at about 3:30. - Oh.

And you will see the Wall in its true majesty.

Oh, I'll drink to that. But probably that's got to be the last drink.

I don't think we should top up after this.

- I seem to have drunk more than you. - Cheers.

Tonight is the Festival of the Moon here in China.

And in my hand, I'm holding the moon. Well, it's a moon cake, actually.

And I'm gonna take a bite of it.

And I hope that tonight, when the moon has gone down,

and I start my walk, by the time the sun has come up,

I shall be on the Great Wall.

But tonight... Nessun Dorma!

(PUCCINI'S TURANDOT PLAYS)

So it's just before four in the morning.

The moon is still up but it's sinking down.

I can hear cocks beginning to crow.

We've got an hour's walk ahead of us. You can see it's quite cold.

The path is wet with dew.

So this is onwards and upwards to the Great Wall of China.

- I think it would be best to keep left here, Joanna. - OK.

Yeah, it's a bit... This is the steepest part

and... er... once we're through here.

Is this the steepest part? Good.

The next corner, we may have a view.

Oh, wonderful. The sky is beginning to become paler.

("TURANDOT" CHORUS SWELLS)

Oh, my God! There is the wall.

"TURANDOT" CHORUS CONTINUES

This is extraordinary.

Even though I've seen this hundreds of times,

it's still magnificent.

Worth getting up in the middle of the night to see.

I would say so.

As you walk through the bush, be careful with the branches.

This is the wilderness wall.

On here you. You can just imagine the amount of people it took

to build all this.

So we can say it's the result of roughly 276 years of labour.

And, on average, a million military personnel were engaged per year

- in its construction. - A million? It's just extraordinary.

Gosh, this looks a bit ribbly, rubbly here.

Yeah. We're OK, though. I'll lead the way.

Is that best? OK.

- How are you doing? - I'm doing good.

A beautiful tower up ahead.

It's fantastic.

So these towers are the places where the guards were garrisoned.

Gosh. Do we go in?

Remember, before this wall was built,

the Chinese gave the Mongols the hardest ever fight.

The numbers that died are staggering.

Exceeding the numbers that died in First World

and Second World War combined.

And some researchers have actually suggested that

each Mongol warrior in the 1200s

killed about 210 men before he himself was killed or he died.

Where is Mongolia from here, William?

Erm... due north. This direction.

And as the crow flies, about 750 miles.

We're about to enter a different world -

the land of Genghis Khan.

At the border, we have to have a wheel change.

The railway gauge in Mongolia is wider than in China

so each carriage has to be laboriously raised up

for this massive operation.

Isn't it funny? These things are called bogies.

It strikes me that the English language which is so rich

in so many things, has the same word for a nostril event,

a golfing term and the wheels on a carriage.

It couldn't be something else other than bogie? Anyway.

I do rather love the bureaucracy of borders.

So many forms to be filled in.

(READS) Prohibited and restricted goods -

narcotics, psychotropic substances...

Dictionary, please.

.. printed materials - books, movies, audio and video recordings,

photo and other items of pornography.

Wild fauna, flora, minerals and items of anatomy,

archaeology, palaeontology, ethnography...

.. or numismatics.

That, my friends, means coins.

From one currency, language, culture and empire to another.

We were visited by endless people in uniform.

First Chinese, then Mongolian.

Inspecting documents and goods.

And in the case of the Mongolians, all rather charmingly.

- How are you? Hello. - Hello.

- Deutsch? - English.

- English? - Yeah.

- Sorry. - OK.

(TANNOY IN BACKGROUND)

And at last, after a four-hour border stop,

a time to dream about the next leg of my journey.

Well, I've just woken up and I'm looking out at the Gobi Desert

and I'm thundering through Mongolia.

Slept well. Underneath my blankets it was cosy.

Quite narrow but you just sleep, sleep, sleep.

And I woke up thinking, "Somebody has switched the light on."

And in fact, it was just the light of this extraordinary countryside

blazing in.

This is the Gobi Desert. It's as remote as Timbuktu.

Remoter.

I realise that I'm in a very different country.

Sparsely populated and full of mysticism.

When Genghis Khan ruled, it was a land of warriors and shamans.

Shamanism is an ancient belief system that is returning to modern Mongolia.

It's in at the deep end for this leg of the adventure.

Straight off the train and into the woods

to join a group of followers of a celebrated young shaman.

The young shaman gets himself in a trance.

enabling him, alarmingly, to lick flame.

He's channelling an ancestor from the 13th Century

who is obviously quite a character.

For the disciples, no important decision is made

without consulting the shaman.

It seems I'm up next.

I'm a bit nervous.

No.

Erm... nearly 10 years ago.

Yes. She was.

Well, it was interesting that he picked on my mother

as the person who taught about nature and animals and plants.

That's exactly what she did.

Taught me to love and care for the natural worlds.

Then getting the future badness spanked out of me

which was quite good.

The back didn't hurt but the front hurt a little bit on the leg.

Thank you.

Next time, it's nomads, giant statues,

gold and a spot of bother at the border.

Captions C SBS Australia 2018