Engineering An Empire - E11 China

00:44:47
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svQbhZR0NyA

摘要

TLDRThe documentary provides an in-depth look into the Chinese Empire's 4,000-year history, marked by its monumental engineering projects, such as the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, and the Terracotta Army. It delves into the rise and fall of powerful dynasties, starting with the Qin dynasty's ruthless unification of China. The Great Wall stands as a symbol of China's resolve and innovation, though it also reflects the harsh realities of imperial ambition. The film also highlights Zheng He's maritime explorations during the Ming dynasty, showcasing a brief period when China dominated global seas. The documentary underlines China's historical role as a technological pioneer with advances like deep drilling and iron casting. Despite shifts in power and periods of turmoil, China's civilization persisted, demonstrating resilience and adaptation, thus maintaining its presence as a significant power through the centuries.

心得

  • 🏯 China is the only empire that has survived for 4,000 years.
  • 🛤️ The world's longest canal and magnificent feats like river redirection were achieved.
  • ⚔️ The Qin dynasty unified China through military innovations and ruthlessness.
  • 🛡️ The Great Wall, though monumental, was built at a massive human cost.
  • 🛳️ Zheng He's naval expeditions made China a superpower on global seas.
  • ⚒️ China was a technological pioneer, excelling in iron casting and other innovations.
  • 🔄 Despite invasions and rebellions, China successfully rebuilt its empire multiple times.
  • 📚 China's history is marked by both splendid advancements and tragic costs.
  • 👑 Emperors like Qin Shi Huang and others often ruled with absolute authority.
  • 🌌 The Terracotta Army remains one of the most significant archaeological finds.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video explores the grandeur and longevity of the Chinese empire, highlighting its 4,000-year continuity and engineering feats such as the Great Wall. Emperors mobilized vast armies for massive construction projects, but dynasties fell when greed and oppression led to uprisings.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The narrative focuses on China's early civilization and its superiority in engineering compared to contemporaneous cultures like Egypt and Rome. Despite internal conflicts among warring states, the Qin kingdom's military advancements and strategic iron weapon production positioned it to unify China.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Li Bing's engineering prowess is highlighted as he overcame natural obstacles to construct an irrigation channel through a mountain, using a novel heating and cooling technique to crack rocks. This project boosted agriculture and supported the Qin military's dominance, setting the stage for unification under Ying Zheng.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    The story reveals Ying Zheng's consolidation of power amid palace intrigues, his ruthless ascent to become China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, and his vision for a unified China. The narrative details his monumental projects, like the Great Wall, and the harsh human costs involved.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The construction of the Great Wall under Qin Shi Huang serves as a symbol of engineering ambition and the emperor's oppressive measures, with severe human costs. While the Wall aimed to protect and define China culturally, its defense efficacy was mixed, and resentment against tyranny grew.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Qin Shi Huang's paranoia led to further oppressive acts, including cultural destruction and brutal punishment for dissent, as he embarked on constructing a lavish tomb guarded by the Terracotta Army. His death led to the dynasty's swift collapse due to overextension and popular revolt.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    After Qin Shi Huang's death, China plunged into chaos until Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, promoting stability and extending the Great Wall. The Han fostered economic growth and military expansion, but eventual internal issues and uprisings led to its fall, echoing past dynastic cycles.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:44:47

    The Sui unified China with infrastructure like the Grand Canal, enhancing trade and integration but at great human cost. The subsequent Ming Dynasty showcased China's naval prowess under Zheng He, leading vast voyages. However, a later shift inward under a new emperor halted exploration, focusing defensive efforts on fortifying the Great Wall against northern threats.

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思维导图

Mind Map

视频问答

  • What are some of the key highlights of Chinese history presented in the documentary?

    The documentary highlights China's impressive engineering feats, including the canal systems, Great Wall, and Terracotta Army, managed by a succession of authoritative emperors.

  • How did the Qin dynasty unify China?

    The unification of China involved ruthless military campaigns and strategic innovations, such as massive infantry armies and horse-riding tactics, spearheaded by the Qin dynasty.

  • What is the significance of the Great Wall in Chinese history?

    The Great Wall, meant to protect against Mongol invasions and mark cultural boundaries, became a symbol of imperial ambition but also took a tremendous human toll.

  • What impact did Zheng He's voyages have on China?

    Zheng He's naval expeditions established China as a dominant global power, demonstrating advanced shipbuilding and navigation, though a shift in political priorities led to the cessation of these explorations.

  • What was the significance of the Grand Canal?

    The canal system facilitated trade and communication across vast distances, boosting economic and cultural development within China.

  • How did China contribute to technological advancements historically?

    China adopted innovative technologies centuries ahead, such as deep drilling and iron casting, and profoundly influenced its neighbors through trade and military expansions.

  • How did China manage to maintain and rebuild its civilization over thousands of years?

    Despite internal chaos and invasions, China's resilience and ingenuity allowed it to continually rebuild and evolve its civilization across millennia.

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    it was Empire on a scale that has never
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    been equaled mysterious violent in the
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    extreme and endlessly inventive only one
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    Empire has survived for 4 000 years
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    China
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    all powerful Emperors mobilized immense
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    peasant armies for Feats of engineering
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    unparalleled in human history
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    gilded tomb with rivers of flowing
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    Mercury it's hard to believe that
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    something like that could be purely the
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    product of human labor the world's
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    longest canal
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    a naval fleet mightier than any that had
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    ever put to Sea
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    [Music]
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    but none can compare to the monument
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    that would change the face of the Earth
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    the Great Wall of China this is the
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    biggest project management in history
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    and yet Dynasty after Dynasty consumed
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    by Vanity and greed would be toppled
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    from power when the people rose up and
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    oppression turned to destruction
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    thank you
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    [Music]
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    foreign
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    at the dawn of civilization the Chinese
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    were there and they are still here hello
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    I'm Peter Weller when the Egyptians were
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    building their pyramids the Chinese
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    already had Sumptuous palaces for their
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    kings when Rome was planning its soaring
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    Aqueduct that would bathe its citizens
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    and quench their thirst the Chinese were
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    redirecting an entire River by blowing
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    up a mountain before gunpowder and
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    building a dam that would irrigate
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    thousands and thousands of acres of land
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    and launch a population explosion the
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    world had never seen
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    [Music]
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    four thousand years ago Chinese
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    civilization Rose and spread across a
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    vast area one-third larger than the
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    United States
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    but for centuries China was in turmoil
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    separate kingdoms battled for power and
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    control conflict and combat ravaged the
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    land
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    China was as we think of it today more
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    or less was made up of a number of
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    states all of which were fighting with
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    one another for Supremacy
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    the period was called the Warring States
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    by the 3rd Century BC One Kingdom
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    emerged as the most powerful and the
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    most ruthless
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    a western Province home to a hostile
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    war-like people they were ambitious
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    forbidding and determined to conquer and
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    unite all Seven Kingdoms they were
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    called the chin
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    their unification of this vast land
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    would create an empire like no other the
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    world has ever seen
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    [Music]
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    the gene prospered in a region that was
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    fertile and flat with access to Prime
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    trading routes like the famed Silk Road
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    connecting them to the farthest reaches
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    of China and Beyond
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    over time the Qing developed two
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    critical military advantages over the
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    other kingdoms
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    from neighboring Nomads and barbarians
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    the chain mastered Horsemanship
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    simultaneously they also changed
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    strategy for Waging War
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    until now Wars had been fought by small
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    platoons of nobles riding in chariots
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    but the recent discovery of new metal
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    forging Technologies led to mass
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    production of weapons and the rise of a
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    new type of warrior the foot soldier
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    it was a time when the use of iron
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    became much more widespread so just at
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    the same time as infantry armies which
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    tended to be much larger came in so it
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    was possible to make more weapons
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    the Breakthrough the chin launched an
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    offensive to conquer all of China as one
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    Kingdom after another fell the chain
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    faced a new challenge how to quickly
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    produce enough food to fuel their now
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    massive Army
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    that responsibility fell to one man
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    his name was Lee Bing A Team official
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    who was one of the greatest hydraulic
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    Engineers of all time
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    [Music]
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    under his guidance Chinese Builders
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    would construct a masterpiece of
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    engineering
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    for centuries the Min River had
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    tormented the Chinese people causing
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    winter droughts and summer floods
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    now libing was determined to harness its
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    Raging Waters
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    the centerpiece of his plan was a levy
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    that would create a whole new Waterway a
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    channel to control flooding as well as
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    to provide a water supply for
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    desperately needed food production
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    but Lee Bing had an enormous problem
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    Mount Jang
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    standing directly in the path of his
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    irrigation Channel he couldn't move the
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    mountain so he decided to carve a path
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    for his new Waterway straight through it
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    long before the invention of gunpowder
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    it would have taken decades to cut a
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    path through the mountain by manual
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    labor using only Hammers and drills
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    teen military demanded more immediate
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    results forcing Lee Bing to devise a
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    bold new technology
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    he'd let the forces of nature do the
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    heavy lifting for him
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    first heating the rocks through
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    controlled fires then dousing them with
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    cold water
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    this caused the boulders to crack into
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    small pieces that could be carted away
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    [Music]
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    eight years after he started Lee Bing
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    had blasted an irrigation Channel
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    straight through the mountain
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    now he had to construct the enormous
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    Levy that would divert the Waters of the
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    mean into the new irrigation Channel
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    thousands of workers were brought to the
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    site working with nothing but muscle and
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    chisels carving out the Earth
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    remarkably Lee Bing designed a levy that
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    could regulate the Raging Waters of the
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    mean according to the season
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    in summer more water could be driven to
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    the irrigation channel to prevent
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    flooding along the river
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    in Winter the proportions were reversed
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    directing more water into the river to
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    avoid drought
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    by irrigating a vast stretch of chain
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    territory Lee Bing's Levy triggered a
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    massive population boom and the military
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    had a new base to launch attacks into
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    enemy territory
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    the state of chin was evolving into a
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    Powerhouse
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    and he used the wealth created by
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    Agriculture and the power created by the
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    military to unite all of China
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    in 247 BC that job was left to the
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    Chain's New Emperor a 13 year old named
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    Yin Jang the Young Ruler assumed the
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    throne with his mother acting as Queen
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    dowager
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    but Ying Zhang came to power in a palace
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    teeming with enemies already plotting
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    his demise knives were being sharpened
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    top of the list of those who wanted him
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    dead was his own mother
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    she now had a lover and two new Sons she
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    wanted on the throne
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    at the age of 22 Yin Jang discovered her
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    plot to have him killed he had his
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    mother banished and his step-brothers
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    and her lover killed
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    his authority was now absolute
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    with his throne secured Ying Zhang sent
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    his armies out to finish the job of
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    unifying all of China
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    only one Kingdom stood in the way
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    they were called The Chew
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    in 238 BC the chain launched an epic
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    all-out war on the tube in a conflict
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    that raged doggedly on for 15 years
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    finally in 223 BC they too raised the
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    banner of surrender the last great
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    obstacle to the Qing conquest of China
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    had been crushed the Qin Supremacy over
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    the two is they were able to organize
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    their armies in a much more efficient
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    way than had been done before
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    the chain dream of empire was complete
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    China was unified and at peace now a
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    true Emperor Yin Zhang needed a royal
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    name
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    he would come to be known throughout
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    China and around the world simply as
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    kirwangdi the first emperor
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    shirwangdi proclaimed his dynasty would
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    last ten thousand Generations
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    it was during his Reign that China
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    embarked on perhaps the most spectacular
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    construction project of all time a wall
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    unlike any the world had ever seen
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    But the Qing would pay a heavy price for
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    their Emperor's Grand Ambitions in the
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    wrath of Ruthless leaders
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    and the blood of its own people
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    the Chinese invented deep Drilling in
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    the first century BC and were able to
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    drill boreholes up to 4 800 feet deep
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    220 BC China's first emperor the
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    triumphant shirwangdi sets off to survey
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    his new Empire for the first time ever
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    China was unified and secure and he
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    intended to keep it that way with the
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    most ambitious engineering project ever
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    conceived
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    Great Wall of China
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    well the Great Wall was a linking up of
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    walls that had existed previously a
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    number of states in the north of China
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    had built walls partly to defend against
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    one another but more importantly to
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    defend their Northern Frontier
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    it remains to this day unsurpassed by
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    modern engineering a single impregnable
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    barrier to seal the vast Chinese Empire
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    from the outside world along a border
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    that stretches for thousands of miles
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    this is Chong Chung in mandarinet means
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    long wall and believe me covering more
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    Turf than the continental United States
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    is wide and including all of its Spurs
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    that go off into no place it's six
  • 00:11:28
    thousand miles and man that's long
  • 00:11:32
    D China's first emperor started building
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    it two thousand years ago it was worked
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    on right up until the 17th century but
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    the original wall didn't look like this
  • 00:11:40
    it was kind of a mud brick Affair but it
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    presented an interesting engineering
  • 00:11:44
    challenge nonetheless because it had to
  • 00:11:46
    go all the way from the sea and the East
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    to the Gobi desert in the west just to
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    keep the northern Nomads like the
  • 00:11:52
    Mongols out and the Chinese people in
  • 00:11:56
    if it took the audacity of Emperors to
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    dream great it took the Relentless Drive
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    of the Chinese labor force to build
  • 00:12:03
    great but not without a price their
  • 00:12:05
    capacity to endure hardship was
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    unimaginable men women and children
  • 00:12:09
    worked with their hands on this wall and
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    if you complained or tried to run away
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    you were killed disease was constant
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    injury was commonplace dressed only in
  • 00:12:18
    rags these people suffered bitter cold
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    bitter hunger bitter exhaustion records
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    say that at the height of production on
  • 00:12:26
    this wall close to one-fifth of China's
  • 00:12:28
    entire labor force one million people
  • 00:12:31
    were working here and a quarter of those
  • 00:12:33
    people died and if you died here usually
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    you were buried here in the wall giving
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    rise to its other nickname among some a
  • 00:12:41
    long graveyard
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    foreign
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    millions of arms and legs and backs were
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    broken to build the wall
  • 00:12:54
    there is very Moving Poetry mostly
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    written by wives and mothers about young
  • 00:12:59
    boys going off and working on the Great
  • 00:13:01
    Wall project not having food dying in
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    the cold Winters and never returning
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    home
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    but brute force would not be enough
  • 00:13:12
    different regions had vastly different
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    terrain and varying construction
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    materials on hand
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    wherever possible Engineers added to
  • 00:13:22
    existing walls but most of it was built
  • 00:13:25
    from scratch they devised a brilliant
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    system utilizing one material they had
  • 00:13:30
    in abundance the tapped Earth method is
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    what Chinese is called Hong tool what
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    this means is you build a wooden frame
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    to enclose the wall and you start low
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    with say two boards parallel and then
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    you pour some gravel and some sticks and
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    some clay and then you use the end of a
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    log to beat it and pound it until it's
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    very very compact
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    and then you put another layer in and
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    you keep doing that and then you put
  • 00:13:58
    other boards on the outside to hold it
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    in place and you keep going up and keep
  • 00:14:03
    going up until you reach the height that
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    you want
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    when it was dry the frame was removed
  • 00:14:09
    leaving just a solid slab of tamped
  • 00:14:12
    Earth strengthened by the willow Reeds
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    like the steel rebar that reinforces
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    modern concrete
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    the southern side facing China was
  • 00:14:24
    defended by a simple parapet while the
  • 00:14:27
    northern side Facing The Barbarians was
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    crenellated
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    there was a guard Tower every seven
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    hundred to one thousand yards
  • 00:14:38
    a paved Road ran along the top of the
  • 00:14:40
    wall for troops and even wagons making
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    it an efficient Communications route
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    especially for the soldiers stationed at
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    each Tower
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    but as a work of military engineering
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    the wall was only partially successful
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    a wall exists to be defended but in the
  • 00:15:01
    long run the wall was not very
  • 00:15:02
    defensible Nomads could break through it
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    or go around it
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    bribe their way through it
  • 00:15:09
    but the Great Wall was not only designed
  • 00:15:11
    to keep barbarians out it was also a
  • 00:15:14
    symbolic dividing line locking the
  • 00:15:17
    Chinese in the Great Wall in a sense is
  • 00:15:20
    a cultural marker as much as it is a
  • 00:15:23
    military fortification it's the way of
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    the Chinese saying to the nomads you
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    stay out there and raise horses and
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    sheep and will stay in here and grow
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    grain
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    by 210 BC the Great Wall had stretched
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    over 3 000 miles leaving an indelible
  • 00:15:42
    mark on China's harsh Terrain
  • 00:15:45
    but resentment was swelling into a rage
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    against shirwangdi many in his kingdom
  • 00:15:51
    felt the Colossal barrier was not worth
  • 00:15:53
    the toll it inflicted on the Chinese
  • 00:15:55
    people
  • 00:15:56
    once again his enemies were plotting
  • 00:15:59
    against him
  • 00:16:01
    final years were marked by what I think
  • 00:16:05
    is reasonable to call paranoia
  • 00:16:07
    but as the old joke says just because
  • 00:16:09
    you paranoid doesn't mean people are now
  • 00:16:11
    to get you
  • 00:16:13
    at least three assassination plots came
  • 00:16:15
    very close to succeeding
  • 00:16:18
    struck back by turning China into a
  • 00:16:22
    virtual prison for its people he ordered
  • 00:16:24
    all historical records of his ruthless
  • 00:16:27
    regime destroyed punishment for anyone
  • 00:16:30
    who didn't comply was forced labor or
  • 00:16:33
    even death some 400 people were buried
  • 00:16:37
    alive as a lesson to those who spoke out
  • 00:16:40
    against the regime when the emperor's
  • 00:16:42
    eldest son objected even he was banished
  • 00:16:47
    sherwangdi's brilliant Vision had
  • 00:16:49
    transformed China into a great Empire
  • 00:16:52
    but he paid the price with a descent
  • 00:16:55
    into madness
  • 00:16:57
    he would now turn his obsessions and his
  • 00:17:00
    army of forced labor to another stunning
  • 00:17:03
    feat of construction begun years earlier
  • 00:17:05
    [Music]
  • 00:17:07
    a monument to his own fear and death
  • 00:17:11
    in the 1040s movable type printing was
  • 00:17:16
    invented in China a huge development in
  • 00:17:19
    the history of printing
  • 00:17:23
    by 220 BC teen Emperor shirwangi has
  • 00:17:28
    United China for the first time
  • 00:17:30
    [Music]
  • 00:17:34
    on the northern border millions are
  • 00:17:37
    toiling and dying laying the foundation
  • 00:17:39
    for China's signature engineering
  • 00:17:41
    Triumph
  • 00:17:45
    the 3 000 mile long Great Wall
  • 00:17:49
    but the first emperor wasn't done even
  • 00:17:53
    as he fought against other Chinese
  • 00:17:54
    kingdoms and his own demons
  • 00:17:58
    shirwangdi began to Garrison nearly 700
  • 00:18:01
    000 men near his capital in central
  • 00:18:03
    China to build the most personal of all
  • 00:18:07
    his engineering projects an epic tomb he
  • 00:18:11
    had begun planning at the age of 13.
  • 00:18:15
    this was a Monumental project that
  • 00:18:18
    required the labor of thousands and
  • 00:18:20
    thousands of people over a very long
  • 00:18:21
    time it was by Design the biggest and
  • 00:18:25
    best tomb that China had ever known
  • 00:18:27
    [Music]
  • 00:18:30
    in 1974 Farmers digging a well came face
  • 00:18:34
    to face with an ancient Chinese warrior
  • 00:18:38
    the mysterious terracotta skull would
  • 00:18:41
    prove the gateway to one of the greatest
  • 00:18:43
    archaeological discoveries of all time
  • 00:18:50
    the mound is huge the mound was always
  • 00:18:53
    known to be the tomb mound of the first
  • 00:18:55
    emperor what was a total surprise was
  • 00:18:58
    the army of terracotta warriors about a
  • 00:19:02
    kilometer to the east of the Tomb who
  • 00:19:05
    presumably were guarding
  • 00:19:07
    the approach to the tomb itself
  • 00:19:11
    season after season of excavation since
  • 00:19:14
    the 1970s has yielded more than five
  • 00:19:18
    large pits
  • 00:19:21
    the individualized faces and drapery and
  • 00:19:25
    armor suggest that each one of these
  • 00:19:26
    Warriors was molded from the life from
  • 00:19:29
    an individual separate human being the
  • 00:19:31
    Precision and Detail in the sculpting
  • 00:19:33
    the firing of the Claire unmatched today
  • 00:19:35
    these Warriors are a colossal
  • 00:19:37
    achievement and some believe the
  • 00:19:39
    greatest archaeological find of the 20th
  • 00:19:41
    century but they are only the tip of the
  • 00:19:43
    iceberg because this ghost Army only
  • 00:19:47
    served as a guard detail for an
  • 00:19:49
    engineering feat as fantastic as the
  • 00:19:51
    world has ever known the opulent tomb of
  • 00:19:54
    schwer hongdi each statue stands between
  • 00:19:58
    five feet eight inches and six feet two
  • 00:20:01
    inches tall Giants for the time some
  • 00:20:04
    weighed up to 600 pounds
  • 00:20:07
    but it was the Terracotta itself that
  • 00:20:10
    sent shock waves through the teams
  • 00:20:12
    Excavating the site the clay had a
  • 00:20:15
    hardness beyond anything they'd ever
  • 00:20:17
    seen before indicating that sheer
  • 00:20:20
    wangdi's Artisans had developed a
  • 00:20:22
    revolutionary new technology Blast
  • 00:20:25
    Furnace Kilns that fired the statues at
  • 00:20:28
    temperatures up to 2 000 degrees
  • 00:20:30
    Fahrenheit
  • 00:20:32
    archaeologists eventually uncovered
  • 00:20:34
    three massive pits filled with a
  • 00:20:37
    Terracotta Army guarding the first
  • 00:20:39
    Emperor's tomb
  • 00:20:41
    one pit alone contains over six thousand
  • 00:20:45
    life-size Warriors and horses in battle
  • 00:20:48
    formation
  • 00:20:50
    in a second pit thirteen hundred of
  • 00:20:53
    sheer wangdi's Elite military forces
  • 00:20:56
    including archers chariots and Cavalry
  • 00:21:00
    were discovered
  • 00:21:01
    while the third pit with 68 figures and
  • 00:21:04
    one Chariot was the command center of
  • 00:21:07
    the entire Army headquarters for the
  • 00:21:10
    defense of shirwangdi's Empire even in
  • 00:21:13
    death
  • 00:21:15
    the military armor is fairly specific we
  • 00:21:19
    can tell that the armor used was
  • 00:21:21
    lacquered leather we can see that people
  • 00:21:23
    had cleats on the bottom of their boots
  • 00:21:25
    to help them run in the mud we can see
  • 00:21:28
    the kinds of caps people wore and
  • 00:21:30
    Associate them with rank
  • 00:21:35
    30-foot walls divided the massive
  • 00:21:38
    complex which stretches out for seven
  • 00:21:41
    thousand yards into three parts the
  • 00:21:44
    outer city and inner city and then the
  • 00:21:47
    mausoleum itself
  • 00:21:49
    during construction of the Tomb an army
  • 00:21:52
    of workers excavated a gigantic
  • 00:21:54
    terrorist pit measuring about sixteen
  • 00:21:57
    hundred feet by Seventeen hundred feet
  • 00:22:00
    equal to 580 basketball courts
  • 00:22:04
    when the sprawling tomb complex was
  • 00:22:07
    complete it was topped with a terraced
  • 00:22:10
    mountain of Earth nearly 400 feet tall
  • 00:22:15
    at the time it may have been nearly as
  • 00:22:17
    large as the Great Pyramid of Giza in
  • 00:22:20
    Egypt
  • 00:22:21
    but over two thousand years weather has
  • 00:22:24
    worn down the original man-made Mountain
  • 00:22:26
    to about 250 feet
  • 00:22:29
    it's hard to believe that something like
  • 00:22:31
    that could be
  • 00:22:32
    purely the product of human labor but it
  • 00:22:35
    is that mound was put there basket full
  • 00:22:38
    of Earth after basket full of Earth to
  • 00:22:40
    cover
  • 00:22:41
    what we assume is an entire underground
  • 00:22:44
    city
  • 00:22:45
    dedicated to the afterlife of the first
  • 00:22:49
    emperor
  • 00:22:50
    [Music]
  • 00:22:54
    expression of a guy who wanted his
  • 00:22:55
    Empire to blow away everything the world
  • 00:22:57
    had ever known the ceiling is said to be
  • 00:23:00
    a night sky studded with constellations
  • 00:23:02
    made out of pearl the floor an entire
  • 00:23:04
    Recreation of his Empire and miniature
  • 00:23:07
    with Pavilions and pagodas by a flowing
  • 00:23:09
    river of mercury the king himself laid
  • 00:23:11
    out in gold and Jade in a bronze coffin
  • 00:23:14
    floating on a pool of mercury now all
  • 00:23:17
    this is pretty fantastic and
  • 00:23:18
    mind-blowing but is it true
  • 00:23:20
    well scientific tests have proven
  • 00:23:23
    mercury levels 100 times the norm around
  • 00:23:25
    the mountain and ground penetrating
  • 00:23:28
    Radars detected a room inside the
  • 00:23:30
    mountain 33 feet high so the emperor's
  • 00:23:32
    tomb may be all it's cranked up to be
  • 00:23:34
    but we're gonna have to wait to find out
  • 00:23:35
    because the Chinese government has
  • 00:23:37
    decided not to excavate the place until
  • 00:23:40
    they have the technology to preserve
  • 00:23:42
    what's inside and even then once they go
  • 00:23:45
    in it may be a very treacherous dig
  • 00:23:50
    there were corridors and trap doors and
  • 00:23:54
    booby traps that were designed to
  • 00:23:56
    prevent tomb robbing
  • 00:23:59
    now we assume that those are no longer
  • 00:24:01
    operable after a couple thousand years
  • 00:24:03
    but I'm sure whoever goes into that tune
  • 00:24:06
    first is going to step carefully
  • 00:24:10
    huangdi had boasted the Qing Dynasty
  • 00:24:13
    would last 10 000 Generations but just
  • 00:24:16
    three years after his mysterious death
  • 00:24:18
    the vast Empire collapsed
  • 00:24:22
    the first emperor paid a steep price for
  • 00:24:25
    his epic engineering projects the great
  • 00:24:27
    wall and magnificent tomb bankrupted the
  • 00:24:30
    country and ultimately broke the backs
  • 00:24:33
    of China's peasants
  • 00:24:35
    pushed to their limits the people
  • 00:24:37
    revolted and China was plunged into
  • 00:24:40
    chaos
  • 00:24:45
    shirwangdi is said to have died from
  • 00:24:48
    ingesting Mercury which he believed to
  • 00:24:51
    be an elixir of immortality
  • 00:24:55
    shirwangdi the first emperor of a United
  • 00:24:58
    China is dead
  • 00:25:00
    few mourn
  • 00:25:03
    many have eagerly anticipated an end to
  • 00:25:07
    the hated and ruthless Qing Dynasty
  • 00:25:10
    a vicious power struggle ensued for
  • 00:25:13
    control of the empire
  • 00:25:15
    in a word it was chaotic very quickly
  • 00:25:18
    after the death of potential Juan D
  • 00:25:20
    things fell into civil war with various
  • 00:25:23
    people vying for power
  • 00:25:28
    206 BC a new ruler comes to power
  • 00:25:32
    determined to bring stability to China
  • 00:25:34
    his name was lubong
  • 00:25:37
    a former Soldier and cunning politician
  • 00:25:40
    who knew how to win the hearts and minds
  • 00:25:43
    of the people over the next four years
  • 00:25:46
    new bong Consolidated his Rule and
  • 00:25:49
    rallied the people behind him peace and
  • 00:25:52
    stability returned to the Empire
  • 00:25:55
    by the time he died in 195 BC he had
  • 00:25:59
    launched a dynasty that would Thrive for
  • 00:26:01
    nearly four centuries the Han
  • 00:26:07
    the Han embarked on a wall building
  • 00:26:09
    campaign even more massive than
  • 00:26:11
    shirwangdi's
  • 00:26:14
    they extended the Great Wall much
  • 00:26:16
    further to the West than it had been and
  • 00:26:19
    set up a set of garrisons and a series
  • 00:26:23
    of watchtowers that guarded the trade
  • 00:26:27
    routes out into Central Asia for
  • 00:26:29
    hundreds of miles to the northwest of
  • 00:26:32
    the capital the Han built their
  • 00:26:34
    fortresses at closer intervals than
  • 00:26:36
    earlier dynasties every one to three
  • 00:26:39
    miles
  • 00:26:40
    in areas of heavy enemy activity that
  • 00:26:43
    could increase to only 500 yards apart
  • 00:26:47
    Han soldiers had three critical missions
  • 00:26:49
    along the wall defend against Invasion
  • 00:26:52
    gather Military Intelligence on enemy
  • 00:26:55
    activity
  • 00:26:56
    and keep the vital Beacon Towers
  • 00:26:58
    maintained and supplied with Beacon fire
  • 00:27:01
    fuels
  • 00:27:05
    Han Dynasty signal Towers Incorporated
  • 00:27:08
    several sorts of alarms flags and smoke
  • 00:27:11
    were only used in the daytime torches
  • 00:27:13
    were only used at night bigger bonfires
  • 00:27:15
    and drums were used at any time and
  • 00:27:17
    complex codes were devised for these
  • 00:27:19
    signals and just like today modern codes
  • 00:27:22
    they were all classified as top secret
  • 00:27:24
    and unknown to the public
  • 00:27:27
    from around 200 BC to 200 A.D just about
  • 00:27:31
    the time that Rome was dissolving as a
  • 00:27:33
    republic only to be reborn as an Empire
  • 00:27:35
    that would gobble up and transform the
  • 00:27:37
    Western World China was an Empire that
  • 00:27:39
    was consuming and transforming the East
  • 00:27:42
    during the Han Dynasty the population of
  • 00:27:44
    China grew to 50 million people the
  • 00:27:47
    Empire went as far south as Vietnam as
  • 00:27:50
    far west as Afghanistan it was massive
  • 00:27:53
    but after 400 years just like Rome
  • 00:27:55
    internal disintegration started to
  • 00:27:57
    overshadow military success and in 184
  • 00:28:01
    A.D a peasant Rebellion brought the Han
  • 00:28:03
    Dynasty to a screeching halt and once
  • 00:28:06
    again China was on the verge of Chaos
  • 00:28:14
    for three centuries Warfare treachery
  • 00:28:17
    and death were the rule in China and
  • 00:28:21
    once again it took a ruthless hand to
  • 00:28:23
    put an end to the time of turmoil
  • 00:28:26
    [Music]
  • 00:28:27
    in the 6th Century a northern people the
  • 00:28:31
    sway declared war on the chaos
  • 00:28:33
    conquering one part of the Empire after
  • 00:28:36
    another until China was United again for
  • 00:28:40
    the first time since the Han Dynasty
  • 00:28:42
    fell three centuries earlier
  • 00:28:45
    the emperor yangdi would build the sway
  • 00:28:48
    Empire on the foundation of nearly 1 000
  • 00:28:51
    years of dynasties that came before
  • 00:28:54
    [Music]
  • 00:28:56
    unlike previous Emperors who had
  • 00:28:58
    concentrated on fortifying China against
  • 00:29:01
    the outside world yangdi would Channel
  • 00:29:04
    his energies Inward and strengthen his
  • 00:29:07
    Empire within its borders
  • 00:29:11
    China is vast and its waterways provided
  • 00:29:15
    the most efficient means of
  • 00:29:17
    transportation over such great distances
  • 00:29:20
    two major rivers Traverse the country
  • 00:29:22
    east to west the Yang sea in the South
  • 00:29:25
    and the Yellow River in the north but
  • 00:29:28
    they are a thousand miles apart
  • 00:29:30
    China was A house divided
  • 00:29:36
    yangdi decided to do something about
  • 00:29:38
    that he aimed to link northern and
  • 00:29:41
    southern China by a gigantic Central
  • 00:29:43
    artery a grand canal
  • 00:29:46
    a kind of hydraulic Highway for
  • 00:29:49
    merchants soldiers and citizens
  • 00:29:52
    very common to China in terms of
  • 00:29:55
    constructing any large infrastructure
  • 00:29:58
    project
  • 00:29:59
    you know they would look at existing
  • 00:30:01
    waterways and try to find area where
  • 00:30:04
    they could connect and Link the entire
  • 00:30:06
    canal
  • 00:30:07
    they want to take advantage of the
  • 00:30:09
    natural geography
  • 00:30:11
    [Music]
  • 00:30:13
    this gigantic construction project would
  • 00:30:16
    take more than one million Mand days of
  • 00:30:19
    work most of it digging
  • 00:30:21
    living and working conditions were
  • 00:30:23
    horrendous harsh and primitive tens of
  • 00:30:27
    thousands died of starvation fatigue and
  • 00:30:30
    illness many were simply beaten to death
  • 00:30:33
    by overseers
  • 00:30:36
    [Music]
  • 00:30:39
    more than 24 locks were needed to create
  • 00:30:43
    a massive network of channels but every
  • 00:30:46
    time you encounter a natural body of
  • 00:30:48
    water you need a lock to make a barrier
  • 00:30:50
    between the canal and the lake or the
  • 00:30:53
    river when you go up any significant
  • 00:30:56
    grade you have to have locks to raise
  • 00:30:59
    the water and the boats with it to get
  • 00:31:01
    over any rise in the terrain
  • 00:31:06
    it took five million workers over six
  • 00:31:09
    years to build the Grand Canal
  • 00:31:14
    when it was built it stretched 1200
  • 00:31:17
    miles and it was the longest and most
  • 00:31:19
    ambitious Canal project that had ever
  • 00:31:22
    been enacted on the earth up to that
  • 00:31:24
    time
  • 00:31:25
    by connecting the Yellow River with the
  • 00:31:28
    Yangtze the Grand Canal could now
  • 00:31:30
    transport Goods up to 45 miles a day
  • 00:31:35
    major cities along the canal grew into
  • 00:31:37
    silk porcelain and cotton centers
  • 00:31:40
    merchants and Artisans supplied
  • 00:31:42
    manufactured goods to opening markets
  • 00:31:45
    throughout the entire country
  • 00:31:49
    economically speaking it made
  • 00:31:51
    inter-regional trade much easier as well
  • 00:31:54
    as providing work for a lot of people
  • 00:31:55
    building it maintaining it working on it
  • 00:31:59
    transporting goods and people up and
  • 00:32:02
    down it like the Nile in Egypt it
  • 00:32:05
    integrated the North and the South
  • 00:32:07
    strengthening the foundations of a
  • 00:32:09
    unified empire
  • 00:32:12
    well the canal was a tremendous
  • 00:32:14
    generator of wealth it was opportunity
  • 00:32:16
    for poets to travel for painters to
  • 00:32:20
    wander and begin painting Landscapes so
  • 00:32:23
    it really was an engine of cultural
  • 00:32:26
    development not just along its own route
  • 00:32:29
    but with influence far beyond its own
  • 00:32:33
    confines
  • 00:32:35
    with his engineering feat completed
  • 00:32:37
    Emperor yangdi decided it was time for a
  • 00:32:40
    victory tour down the Grand Canal
  • 00:32:43
    it was a garish spectacle with an
  • 00:32:46
    Entourage of thousands traveling in
  • 00:32:48
    opulence that bordered on the obscene
  • 00:32:50
    well the emperor had beautifully
  • 00:32:53
    appointed luxurious Imperial barges that
  • 00:32:55
    could take him down the Grand Canal
  • 00:32:57
    so he would spend as much as half of
  • 00:33:00
    every year enjoying himself in the sunny
  • 00:33:03
    South the emperor redefined luxury
  • 00:33:06
    demanding Exquisite foods and exorbitant
  • 00:33:09
    tribute from every County and town along
  • 00:33:12
    the canal when large amounts of leftover
  • 00:33:14
    Delicacies were dumped overboard the
  • 00:33:17
    destitute who built the canal watched
  • 00:33:19
    from the shore in despair
  • 00:33:23
    but once again a Chinese emperor
  • 00:33:27
    underestimated the power of the people
  • 00:33:29
    his voyages of conspicuous consumption
  • 00:33:31
    fueled a mounting sense of rage against
  • 00:33:34
    his decadent regime in 618 A.D the
  • 00:33:39
    people rebelled in a series of peasant
  • 00:33:41
    uprisings throughout the country
  • 00:33:44
    once again chaos consumed China and soon
  • 00:33:49
    reached the palace itself
  • 00:33:51
    Emperor yangdi was killed by his own
  • 00:33:54
    generals and the sway Dynasty came to an
  • 00:33:58
    abrupt end
  • 00:34:00
    but with the Empire United again the
  • 00:34:03
    stage was now set for China's golden age
  • 00:34:06
    and for the first time China's Engineers
  • 00:34:09
    would extend the Empire's reach around
  • 00:34:12
    the globe
  • 00:34:13
    [Music]
  • 00:34:14
    from a 4th Century BC on the Chinese
  • 00:34:17
    used Blast furnaces to cast iron nearly
  • 00:34:21
    1800 years before its widespread use in
  • 00:34:23
    Europe
  • 00:34:25
    six centuries ago
  • 00:34:28
    an astonishing Armada of Chinese ships
  • 00:34:31
    crossed the China Sea
  • 00:34:33
    before venturing West to Salon Arabia
  • 00:34:36
    and East Africa
  • 00:34:39
    it was a fleet unlike any that had ever
  • 00:34:41
    put to Sea giant nine masted junks
  • 00:34:44
    escorted by dozens of Supply ships
  • 00:34:47
    Patrol boats and transports for Cavalry
  • 00:34:50
    horses crew totaled more than 27
  • 00:34:53
    thousand sailors and soldiers
  • 00:34:56
    this was the famed Armada of the
  • 00:34:59
    powerful Ming Dynasty a Herald to the
  • 00:35:02
    world that after a century of Mongol
  • 00:35:04
    domination China was returned to its
  • 00:35:07
    rightful rulers
  • 00:35:09
    at its home was an unlikely Admiral a
  • 00:35:13
    commoner from the outlying Yunnan
  • 00:35:15
    Province Who Rose to become one of the
  • 00:35:17
    most powerful figures of the Ming
  • 00:35:19
    Dynasty
  • 00:35:21
    his name was jung-ha
  • 00:35:25
    Zhang Hao was 11 when his hometown was
  • 00:35:28
    conquered by the Ming he was plucked
  • 00:35:31
    from his family brought to court as a
  • 00:35:33
    gift for the emperor's son
  • 00:35:36
    and castrated
  • 00:35:40
    eunuchs appear often in Chinese history
  • 00:35:43
    and the reason that they gained power
  • 00:35:45
    was because they had much greater access
  • 00:35:49
    to the emperor and to Imperial women
  • 00:35:51
    because they didn't pose a threat
  • 00:35:55
    soon Rose through the ranks to become
  • 00:35:57
    the chief Lieutenant to the emperor
  • 00:36:00
    himself
  • 00:36:01
    together they sketched out a bold plan
  • 00:36:03
    for conquest of the Seas
  • 00:36:06
    Zhang Hao was named to lead an
  • 00:36:08
    extraordinary Fleet of ships
  • 00:36:10
    it was an engineering challenge unlike
  • 00:36:13
    anything a Chinese dynasty had ever
  • 00:36:15
    attempted he was somebody who definitely
  • 00:36:19
    wanted to create a personal stamp on the
  • 00:36:21
    world
  • 00:36:23
    [Music]
  • 00:36:24
    he ordered 337 ocean-going ships an
  • 00:36:29
    additional 188 flat bottom transports
  • 00:36:32
    were converted for Ocean Travel
  • 00:36:36
    just to get the building materials
  • 00:36:37
    together get the Craftsmen get the
  • 00:36:40
    designers and all the rest and then say
  • 00:36:42
    put together a fleet of 300 ships is
  • 00:36:45
    remarkable I mean the British Fleet in
  • 00:36:48
    the time of Napoleon it had a really an
  • 00:36:50
    upper limit of about a hundred ships of
  • 00:36:53
    the line man of war an army of thirty
  • 00:36:56
    thousand Carpenters sail makers and sail
  • 00:36:59
    rights worked and lived at the shipyards
  • 00:37:02
    Working Day and Night on zhengha's
  • 00:37:05
    magnificent Fleet
  • 00:37:07
    at the center of the enormous Shipyard
  • 00:37:09
    seven 1500 foot dry docks were separated
  • 00:37:13
    from the Yangtze River by 25 foot high
  • 00:37:16
    dams once the ships were complete the
  • 00:37:20
    dams were opened flooding the dry docks
  • 00:37:23
    the flagship of the fleet was a
  • 00:37:25
    spectacular nine-masted vessel measuring
  • 00:37:28
    440 feet nearly 1.5 times the length of
  • 00:37:32
    a football field making it the largest
  • 00:37:35
    wooden ship ever built
  • 00:37:39
    designed for stability it had a flat
  • 00:37:42
    bottom filled with heavy ballasts of
  • 00:37:44
    stones and an Innovative exterior Rudder
  • 00:37:47
    post that could be raised to reduce the
  • 00:37:49
    ship's draft in Shallow Waters
  • 00:37:52
    watertight bulwark compartments inspired
  • 00:37:56
    by the partition shape of bamboo stalks
  • 00:37:58
    stored drinking water and supplies and
  • 00:38:01
    kept the ship afloat if the hull was
  • 00:38:03
    breached
  • 00:38:05
    the second deck had living quarters for
  • 00:38:08
    the crew the kitchen mess all and
  • 00:38:11
    operations were on the third
  • 00:38:13
    while the fourth deck was used as a high
  • 00:38:16
    fighting platform fully rigged the
  • 00:38:19
    flagships had nine staggered masts and
  • 00:38:22
    12 square sails of red silk soaring
  • 00:38:25
    Skyward
  • 00:38:27
    other ships were armed with as many as
  • 00:38:30
    24 bronze cannons capable of firing up
  • 00:38:33
    to 900 feet their bows and Sterns had
  • 00:38:37
    reinforced High profiles for ramming
  • 00:38:39
    smaller boats some ships carried horses
  • 00:38:42
    or transported troops others were
  • 00:38:45
    freshwater tankers packed with
  • 00:38:47
    Provisions for up to 28 000 men we're
  • 00:38:50
    talking about a really really big Fleet
  • 00:38:53
    it had as many Soldiers and Sailors on
  • 00:38:55
    it as the Spanish Armada of 1588 it had
  • 00:38:59
    about twice as many ships
  • 00:39:00
    in 1405 the unit Commander jungha set
  • 00:39:05
    sail for the world jung-ho was not an
  • 00:39:08
    Explorer of what jung-ho was doing was
  • 00:39:11
    what we would call in modern terminology
  • 00:39:13
    power projection during his 28-year
  • 00:39:16
    Naval career Admiral Zhang ha visited 37
  • 00:39:21
    countries traveled around the tip of
  • 00:39:23
    Africa into the Atlantic Ocean and
  • 00:39:26
    commanded a single Fleet whose numbers
  • 00:39:28
    surpassed The Fleets of all Europe
  • 00:39:31
    combined
  • 00:39:33
    Zhang Haas voyages established China as
  • 00:39:36
    a superpower on the world's oceans but
  • 00:39:39
    in 1433 China's Age of Exploration came
  • 00:39:44
    to a crashing halt
  • 00:39:46
    Zhang ha suddenly died during a stopover
  • 00:39:50
    in India and the fleet was recalled to
  • 00:39:52
    China
  • 00:39:54
    a new emperor was on the throne
  • 00:39:57
    in one stunning command he would change
  • 00:40:00
    the course of Chinese history
  • 00:40:02
    despite China's Total Domination as a
  • 00:40:05
    naval power Zhang ha's magnificent fleet
  • 00:40:09
    was to be burned to the ground
  • 00:40:13
    it would be one of the great turning
  • 00:40:15
    points in Chinese history
  • 00:40:17
    China was poised to seize control of the
  • 00:40:20
    Seas and colonize the world years before
  • 00:40:23
    the Portuguese Spanish Dutch and British
  • 00:40:28
    under the new emperor all ocean-going
  • 00:40:31
    vessels were destroyed
  • 00:40:33
    even records of zhengha's expeditions
  • 00:40:36
    were torched China's Age of Exploration
  • 00:40:40
    was over the open door slammed shut
  • 00:40:45
    the ships were gone and the promise of
  • 00:40:48
    international power and Conquest was
  • 00:40:51
    dead the reason for the emperor's
  • 00:40:54
    decision remains a mystery to this day
  • 00:40:59
    1449 16 years after the Empire turned
  • 00:41:03
    inward again China's age-old enemy
  • 00:41:06
    returned
  • 00:41:07
    Mongol forces mounted A Massive Attack
  • 00:41:12
    like great dynasties before them the
  • 00:41:14
    Ming returned to the wall for protection
  • 00:41:19
    the result would be the most Monumental
  • 00:41:21
    feat of the entire Chinese Empire
  • 00:41:24
    a complex re-engineering of the Great
  • 00:41:27
    Wall into the Colossal structure we know
  • 00:41:30
    today
  • 00:41:34
    made of the Ming walls were faced with a
  • 00:41:38
    with brick and stone they were much more
  • 00:41:40
    solid and those are the ones that we can
  • 00:41:41
    still see parts of today
  • 00:41:43
    a crude mortar of sticky rice and burnt
  • 00:41:47
    lime created a seal between bricks that
  • 00:41:50
    rivaled modern cement in strength
  • 00:41:54
    construction of military fortifications
  • 00:41:56
    on the Great Wall reached its peak under
  • 00:41:59
    the Ming
  • 00:42:00
    double walls were added in military
  • 00:42:03
    zones along with strongholds passes and
  • 00:42:07
    other reinforcements
  • 00:42:09
    watchtowers of various shapes and sizes
  • 00:42:12
    served as shelters or simply as signal
  • 00:42:15
    stations along the wall
  • 00:42:17
    shelter Towers were built large enough
  • 00:42:19
    to store food and arms and serve as the
  • 00:42:22
    living quarters for soldiers a staircase
  • 00:42:26
    from the interior led up to the top of
  • 00:42:28
    the tower with small holes on each side
  • 00:42:31
    of the wall for Lookouts
  • 00:42:33
    the overall defenses were enhanced with
  • 00:42:36
    a variety of features including
  • 00:42:39
    artillery
  • 00:42:41
    the Chinese have a clear superiority
  • 00:42:43
    over the Mongols in gunpowder weapons
  • 00:42:45
    and as long as the Ming Dynasty could
  • 00:42:49
    maintain a cohesive enough Army along
  • 00:42:51
    the Great Wall
  • 00:42:52
    they were capable of resisting
  • 00:42:55
    individual Mongol attacks
  • 00:42:57
    [Music]
  • 00:43:01
    by the end of the Ming Dynasty over 6
  • 00:43:04
    000 miles of wall including its many
  • 00:43:07
    loops and digressions sprawled across
  • 00:43:10
    Northern China
  • 00:43:12
    for a century and a half the wall stood
  • 00:43:15
    firm but by 1600 the dynasty behind it
  • 00:43:19
    was crumbling and a foreign tribe known
  • 00:43:22
    as the Manchu were gathering strength on
  • 00:43:25
    China's northern border
  • 00:43:27
    on May 26
  • 00:43:30
    1644 Beijing finally fell to Manchu
  • 00:43:34
    forces it would take the Chinese more
  • 00:43:37
    than 250 years to overthrow the Invaders
  • 00:43:40
    from the north but when they did a new
  • 00:43:43
    Chinese Kingdom emerged like none before
  • 00:43:46
    it
  • 00:43:47
    communist China
  • 00:43:52
    nothing symbolizes the enduring power
  • 00:43:54
    and Imagination of the Chinese more than
  • 00:43:56
    this Great Wall of all of the
  • 00:43:58
    civilizations that have reached the
  • 00:44:00
    Glorious Heights of Empire only one has
  • 00:44:03
    avoided the inevitable Oblivion that
  • 00:44:05
    follows
  • 00:44:07
    Emperors come and go but for thousands
  • 00:44:09
    and thousands of years from the
  • 00:44:11
    dedication and vision and resilience and
  • 00:44:13
    Brilliance of these remarkable people
  • 00:44:14
    they've pushed their civilization to
  • 00:44:17
    Triumph again and again and again where
  • 00:44:19
    others have simply morphed or dissolved
  • 00:44:22
    or just faded away
  • 00:44:24
    at the dawn of humanity the Chinese were
  • 00:44:26
    here and they are still here and they
  • 00:44:29
    ain't finished yet
  • 00:44:31
    I'm Peter Weller for the History Channel
  • 00:44:33
    [Music]
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