WEBVTT

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[music]

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China is host to an unconventional theme
park. Celebrating multiculturalism,

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this theme park showcases the way
of life of various ethnic groups.

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The people of this great
nation are shockingly diverse.

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Even a simple greeting \"Hello\" is
different for each ethnic group.

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[non-English narration]

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Since a long ago,

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China has been composed of a diversity of
ethnic groups with the unique languages

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and cultures. But somehow,

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the country has managed to exist as one
unified entity with thousands of years.

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All other great civilizations
of the ancient world collapsed,

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all but China. How did this

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unparalleled civilization
survive, when others failed?

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Recent archaeological excavations may
help solve this ancient mystery.

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One crucial clue,

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language. A major factor that helped

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to unite diverse groups of people was an
advantage of the Chinese writing system.

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A system, no other
civilization could sustain.

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Three thousand years ago, Chinese characters
were first developed by the Shang dynasty,

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a strong military power. Originally,

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Chinese characters were a
secret script, accessible only

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to the powerful, and used to
communicate with the spirit world.

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The trigger that sparked the
change was a battle for survival

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with Language at its heart.

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[music]

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This highway network crisscrosses

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the vast land of China.

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[sil.]

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In 2010, a major discovery was made

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at one of the construction sites.
This is the first time,

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foreign media has been allowed
to film at the Nanjing tower,

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excavation site. This was where
the first Legendary Dynasty,

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Xia was overthrown by the second
dynasty, the military Shang,

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3,600 years ago. This is the first site

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to provide insight into the transition
from the Xia dynasty to the Shang dynasty.

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The Xia was a dynasty of prehistory.

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The foundation upon which 4,000 years
of Chinese culture has been built.

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Many discoveries have
been made at this site.

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Not only was this person’s ankle amputated,

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but also his face was bashed
in with a heavy object.

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[sil.]

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There are many other remains
here, some missing lower halves

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or heads, all of them, Xia people.

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This is a bronze axe

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uncovered at the site.

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The Xia Dynasty did not have
bronze tools this sharp.

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The Xia produced massive
amounts of bronze weapons,

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and defeated the Xia with a single blow.

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Around 1600 B.C.

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after defeating the Xia, the Shang used their
military force to expand their influence

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over a vast territory. The Shang dynasty

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then continued to flourish
for over 500 years.

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The Shang created the characters that
are still used by China and Japan

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to this day. Yinxu,

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where excavation activities are ongoing.
The oldest

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known examples of Chinese
characters were found at this site.

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This served as the capital of the Shang
dynasty for the latter half of that period.

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About a hundred years ago,
farmers plowing the land

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discovered strange barns.
Excavation of the area revealed

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extensive ruins.

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[music] Over 1,000 graves,
and 5,000 bronze pieces

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were uncovered. And then,
an even more remarkable

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and unexpected discovery,
over 60,000 turtle shells

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and ox bones were discovered piled
in a hole, five meters deep,

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carved on the shelves and bones
with the oldest known version

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of Chinese characters. Jiǎgǔwén,

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oracle bone script. Oracle bones are
the ancient equivalent of tea leaves.

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Bones carved with characters
to divine the future.

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What surprised the excavators, was that most
of the characters written on these bones

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3,000 years ago, were a dead match
for modern Chinese characters.

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This represents due

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dripping down from the sky, it is rain.

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This represents human beings
gathering under the sun,

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it is people. Because many characters in

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Jiǎgǔwén oracle bone script, resemble modern characters.
The script was relatively easy to decipher.

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This would be impossible

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with any other ancient language.

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[music] Egypt hieroglyphs
fell permanently out of use

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in the fourth century A.D., and were not
deciphered again until the 19th century.

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In contrast, the Chinese writing system

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has continued to be used for over 3,000
years, since the Shang created it

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without major changes to style or grammar.

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While the writing systems of other
ancient civilizations were discarded,

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only one writing system
withstood the test of time,

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the Chinese one.

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[music]

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In Beijing, schoolchildren draw characters
that are the same as those found,

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buried 4,000 years ago. How these
characters got from mystical oracle bones

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to the modern classroom
is the story of China.

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[sil.]

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The science

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that lined at streets the Beijing today, they are
characters that every Chinese school child can read.

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Archaeologists have discovered
that these exact letters

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are 3,000 years old, unchanged by time.

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This makes Chinese language the oldest
written language on the planet.

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They began as magical markings,
and ended as the written language

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of the people. How that
happened is the story of China,

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a story written in blood.

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[music]

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Oracle bones

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were first discovered in Yinxu,
almost a hundred years ago.

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Most of the 60,000 oracle bones
found have been deciphered.

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And on this bone, in this 10 day period,

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there will be misfortune or not. Most
of what was written on the oracle bones

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was divination. There are
a number of the cracks

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in the oracle bones. The
shape of the cracks

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indicated the answer to each question.

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The Emperor was the one

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communing with the spirit world. Only his most
trusted accomplices were allowed to be present.

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[music]

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The spirits that answered him,

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were his deified ancestors. The Emperor
himself would choose the questions.

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Will we see victory in the war?

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When should the seeds be sown?

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To reveal the will of the spirits,
he would touch a hot bronze rod

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to the oracle bone.

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When the oracle bone was heated, cracks
appeared, and he would interpret the cracks.

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After interpreting the message

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from the spirits, the Emperor
would record the result.

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On this oracle bone, the Emperor asked,

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if he would have a hunting accident.

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The inscribed oracle bones

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were buried to hide them from public view.
The characters used to communicate directly

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with the spirit world were highly sacred,

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meaning, only for the eyes of the
Emperor and his closest advisers.

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[music]

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The Shang Emperors used
characters to ask the spirit

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about everything from war to governing.

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There was one word that appeared
frequently in those inquiries.

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The word \"Qiang.\" Qiang reveals

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a dark side of Shang character divination.

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The word Qiang indicates,

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a human sacrifice.

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Offer up 30 Qiang and 10 cattle,
they were to be the sacrifices

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to the deities in return
for the divination.

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A number of pits used to bury sacrifices

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were found in Yinxu.

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The pits contain a massive
amount of human remains.

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[music]

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Every single skeleton

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is beheaded.

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The Shang believed, that
their deities enjoyed it

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devouring human heads. Receiving messages
from the Gods came with a price.

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[music]

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As of now, excavations have uncovered

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14,000 human sacrifices.

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The Shang took human sacrifices seriously.

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And the language they used
to protect their power

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was a sacred text. Those who
were killed, did not understand

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the written ritual to which
they were connected.

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In May of this year,

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joint research between the U.S. and
China was conducted on the Shang.

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Professor Tang Jigen is head
of the Yinxu excavations.

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Due to the sheer number of bodies,

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the human sacrifices were originally
believed to be criminals and slaves.

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[sil.]

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However, Tang thinks that the human
sacrifices were actually members

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of a specific tribe. He
will test his theory,

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using state of the art analysis equipment
at the University of Wisconsin.

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This is one teeth of human molars.
Yeah. It’s… Yeah, I’m too.

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Tang has brought with him
over a 150 samples of teeth

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from modern people all over China.

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Depending on where the individuals lived,
different levels of radioactive substances

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can be traced in their bones. The origin

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of the decapitated bodies could be
determined by comparing these levels.

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That’s it. No, it’s nice. No, it’s not,
it’s not. You know, crazy off the map.

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It’s nice range at the best.

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These are the results.
The levels of the Qiang

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are almost identical to those of groups
that live in Gansu province today.

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Originally thought to indicate
all kinds of human sacrifice.

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All of these dead were a
tribe targeted for genocide.

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Why only the people of Gansu
were murdered is a mystery

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that researchers have yet to solve.

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[music]

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The writings of the past
do not reveal the answer,

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but lead to other clues.

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Great civilizations

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have risen and fallen, and
only one has survived

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to the modern era, China.

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And some now believe a major reason for
that survival comes from the continuity

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of language across 3,000 years.
How the exclusive language

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of ancient emperors devised
to tell the future

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turned into the language of the
people, is now being discovered

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by archaeologists and
historians all over China.

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[sil.]

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The revolution of how Chinese characters

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went from private to public
began 3,000 years ago,

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and the best piece of evidence
lies in this remote corner

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of northwestern China.
Zhouyuan in Shaanxi province

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is located 800 kilometers west of Yinxu.

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The same characters used by the
Shang have been found here.

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These oracle bones were found
in a pit under the basement

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of a large building. This is the
first time such a large collection

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has been discovered so
far outside of Yinxu.

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How did the characters spread
beyond the Shang capital?

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Researchers have sort clues

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to find an answer to this mystery.

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Compared to the Shang oracle bones,

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those found in Zhouyuan
was extremely small.

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[music]

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This inscribed turtle shell is just

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two centimeters wide.
Invisible to the naked eye,

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the characters come into view,
when enhanced by a microscope.

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The size of each character
is roughly one millimeter.

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Thirty-one intricately carved characters

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are packed tightly into
the tiny turtle shell.

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The shell wishes for the
health of the Emperor Xia,

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second last emperor of the Shang Dynasty.
Proof, that these people

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were loyal to a ruler
hundreds of kilometers away.

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Far away, in Zhouyuan,
more evidence of the power

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of the written word. The dependent
state that adopted the writing system

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was called \"Zhou\" before that

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Zhou had no written language.
Zhou was remote from Shang,

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and it’s believed that they didn’t
even speak the same language.

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However, the people of
Zhou skillfully applied

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the Shang writing system
to their own language.

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How were the Zhou people

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able to adopt this Shang characters, despite
having a completely different spoken language?

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This may hold the key to the
mystery of how ancient China

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extended its reach into the 21st century.

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The people of vastly different
tribes spread across China,

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had long war. Could these
characters unite them?

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Other than what is written
on this oracle bone,

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a little is known about relationships
between that Zhou and other tribes,

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but the evidence indicates
Zhou was about to

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wage war against Shang.

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[music]

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And the war would be waged here.
A 125 kilometers

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south of Yinxu Park,

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the decisive battle took place
here over 3,000 years ago.

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The battle has been recreated

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based on texts from the Shiji,
the ancient historical record

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written in the first century B.C..

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The once faithful, Zhou had launched
a revolt against the Shang.

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When the Shang Emperor received the news,

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he immediately rushed into battle.
But upon arrival,

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a shocking sight. Expecting to
see only the red battle flags

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of the Zhou, he saw instead,
a colorful a ray of flags

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flying above the revolting army.
According to Shiji,

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eight other tribes joined
forces with the Zhou army,

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the way coconspirators in the revolt

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against the Shang. And the Xiu,
who came all the way up north

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from the middle region
of the Yangtze River.

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An array of peoples with completely
different, independent cultures,

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joined to fight the Zhou army.
According to the ancient texts,

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the battle ended in just one day.
The complete victory for the Zhou.

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Eight tribes participated
in the Muye Battle.

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These tribes likely had unresolved

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cultural conflicts with the Shang.

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[sil.]

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It is recorded in a Shiji,

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that the Shang had a massive
army of 70,000 troops.

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However, with support from so many tribes,

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the Zhou army had the numbers
to compete with the Shang.

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The Shang army

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was facing a military force like nothing
they had to come up against before.

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The frontline soldiers

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dropped their weapons, turned
their backs to the enemy,

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and fled.

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[sil.]

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The Shang army was defeated
without putting up a fight.

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After reigning, as a military superpower,

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for over 500 years, the
Shang dynasty was destroyed

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in just one day. But that Zhou
took their written language,

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and turned it into a powerful weapon.

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[sil.]

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In ancient China, written language

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was the connection that held a
vast warring nation together.

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As warriors destroyed warriors,
the leaders somehow understood

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
that the pen was mightier than the sword,

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
and took ruthless control
of the written word.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
Modern archaeology in China

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
keeps reinforcing this fact.
The village of Yanchang

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
is located in the western
part of Shaanxi province.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
Ten years ago, a large
number of Zhou writings

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:40.000
were discovered here.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
Farmers come here to dig
clay for coating walls.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
One of them was digging with
a hoe, when he uncovered

00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:03.000
this large cave.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
Long hidden

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
from public view, this footage
shows part of the excavation.

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
[non-English narration]

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
Twenty-seven bronze pieces

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:40.000
were discovered.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
The bronze items were made
in the eighth century B.C..

00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:03.000
[sil.]

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
The farmers of the village were quick
to realize that these bronze objects

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
were extremely valuable.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
Chinese characters

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
appeared on almost all
of the bronze pieces.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
These bronze pieces were gifted to the
local tribe by the ruling Zhou dynasty.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
Three hundred and seventy
intricately carved characters

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
are packed into the surface of a pan.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
These characters had a totally different
purpose than that of the Shang oracle bones.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
Zhou allocates a plot of
land to the local people.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
Exchange for that, taxes will be collected.
What the Zhou recorded

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
on bronze items were not
messages to the spirit world

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
but rather packs with other tribes.

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
But Zhou still quickly spread their
influence across a diverse, warring,

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
and vast land. They took
control of seven states

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
reaching across thousands of kilometers.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
This bronze piece was found 750 kilometers

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
east of the Zhou capital
and Henan Province.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
It was also sent from Zhou for a pact.
\"In case of emergency,

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
come lead your troops.\" The Zhou imposed

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
a military duty on them. This was
what was written on a bronze piece

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
said to have been recovered
from Zhengzhou province.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
Zhengzhou is separated from the
Zhou capital by 1,300 kilometers.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
Administrate peoples, and
command an elite army.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
This was an order to gather soldiers

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
for the Zhou dynasty, a written
contract rather than a verbal promise.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
These inscribed objects revolutionized
the way the governing power

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
could control distance states.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
The advantage to be able to convey meaning
despite differences in spoken languages.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
There is only one writing
system in the world today

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
that uses symbols that represent ideas

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
or concepts rather than sounds.
Perhaps, Chinese characters

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
have been used for so long because they
were exactly what the diverse people

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
needed to live in China. Peace
on the Chinese continent,

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
under Zhou’s rule, didn’t last long.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
Soon warlords from various provinces
would challenge their authority.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
From this, an age of a war began.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
And that Age of war ended in the birth

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
of a new dynasty, the great Qin Shi Huang,

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
first Emperor of Qin. In the
process of uniting a nation,

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
he established an ideology that
still defines China to this day.

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
It was the first step to the birth

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
of a huge, strong, unified empire.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
But this birth would come at a bloody cost.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
The Great Wall of China,

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
this famous barricade stretches
for almost 20,000 kilometers

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
across the northern border of China.
The wall of today was built

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
in the 14th century to protect
China from various invaders.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
But the great wall origins date
back to a much earlier time.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
ordered construction of the wall
to defend his newly created empire

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
from warring factions.
Researchers now believe

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Qin knew history dating
back 2,000 years earlier.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
And Shi knew he needed
not just the defenses,

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
but the cultural authority
to consolidate his empire.

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
China, 227 B.C., a show down between
a massive army of barbarians

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
and a legendary seat of Chinese
culture will define the future

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
of an entire country. As Qin Shi Huang

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
gathered his forces, the countries of
the Central Plain joined together.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
They strengthened their ties with
a ceremony based in traditions

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
from the ancient Xia dynasty.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
The year of a sacrificial cow was cutoff

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
and the warriors drank its blood.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:23.000
[sil.]

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
They wrote down their promise to defeat the enemy on
a series of documents called the covenant scripts.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
Analysis showed, that the covenant scripts

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:40.000
were written with a mixture
of cow’s blood and pigment.

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
As Qin’s army grew larger, the states of
the Central Plain depended more and more

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
on the legendary power of their ancestors.
The Xia, despite their differences,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
the rulers united against Qin,

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
calling themselves kings
of the Xia Dynasty.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Qin’s hunger to claim power over the Xia, knew
no bounds. Despite many losses in battle,

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
Qin launched attack after attack.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
And the various states fell one-by-one.
They conducted

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
a radical military reform
redesigned to increase

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
their soldier’s motivation. \"We will
grant one rank for each head you take.\"

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
A wooden tablet found Hubei province,

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
gives testament to the
effectiveness of this system.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
It’s a 2,000 year old letter
from a soldier to his mother.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
\"It’s February, and we two, Hafu and Zin,

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
want to ask after your health.
How are you feeling, Mother?

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
We are doing quite well. Right now,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
we are participating in
the battle of Haiyang.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
We’re having no success in attacking
the resisting enemies fort,

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
but we haven’t yet been wounded.
If you receive this letter,

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
I am sure everyone in the village will
say, ‘We better make big achievements

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
on the battlefield and come
back with a new rank.’

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
You can tell them that we definitely will.\"

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
The letter is proof that these
commoners turned to warriors

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
could exchange the heads of
their enemies for higher ranks.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
It was a merit base system,
regardless of social standing,

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
and it gave an astonishing boost
to the soldiers will to fight.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
Qin had become

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
a great military power
by implementing reforms

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
which skillfully mobilized
people for warfare.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
Qin invaded the state of Wei, and
defeated the best trained soldiers.

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
[sil.]

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
His warriors, who had been
disdained as barbarians,

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
had managed to conquer part of the
Central Plain. This became a foothold

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
for the completion of Qin Shi Huang’s
Zhuangxiang Empire, a plan of cultural unity

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
never before seen. After each victory,

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
Qin’s confidence grew, and he
conquered huge territories

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
one-by-one. Qin came up with another
system to strengthen his ties

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
with the states he conquered.
He married of Qin women

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
to powerful men in the conquered
States, assimilating the states

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
into the Qin tribe. The most
important thing about this strategy,

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
was giving the children of these
couples the status of Shaji.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
[music]

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
This position to these
children as Xia citizens,

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
legitimate inheritors of
Chinese civilization.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Because by now, the barbarian claimed

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
that he was the descendant
of the hollowed Xia.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:43.000
[music]

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
However, Qin faced an unforseen challenge.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
And this challenge played a part

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
in defining Chinese nationalism, today.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
Qin faced the resistance of the people.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
He tried to force his own rules

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
and systems on the people in his conquests.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
The people refused.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
One of the most opposing areas

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
was the southern state issue in
Zhou, in the Yangtze River basin.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
These texts

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
reveal the political resistance.
The laws are already in place.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
However, some of the locals

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
do not obey them and far too many get out
of line simply according to the customs

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
they are used to.

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:28.000
[music]

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
The local Zhou believed in Xiamen customs,

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
their invaders refused to accept.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
[music]

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
On the coffin of a Zhou king,

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
a lacquered painting depicts a
Xiamen covered with bird feathers.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
Qin faced a culture,

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
deeply rooted in nature,
and a belief in magic.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
No matter what enforcement,

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
no matter what violence, these
people would never surrender.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
Qin began to realize the limits of force.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
The future emperor

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
came up with a new strategy,
to conquer these people

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
with the power of ancient symbols.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
The first emperor encoded his power

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
in one of the world’s
greatest artistic wonders,

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
\"The Terracotta Army.\" Farmers
discovered this ancient acropolis

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
in 1974, while digging for a well.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
What they uncovered was 8,000
life sized soldiers armed

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
and ready for battle in
an underground pit larger

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
than a modern football field.
Excavation continues even now.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
The Terracotta Army was created to resemble

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
Qin Shi Huang’s soldiers. There has been
a discovery about his grandiose parade

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
of clay figures that hints to the Qin Huang

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
concept of unity. The Terracotta Army

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
was thought to have been simply earth
colored, but it was actually vividly painted.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
[music]

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
The five most commonly
used colors were white,

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
black, red, blue, and yellow.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
The five colors thought to represent
everything in the universe.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
[music]

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
This is a visualization

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
of the Terracotta army as
it looked 2,000 years ago,

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
created using archaeological data.
Why did Qin Shi Huang

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
have an each statue painted
with these five colors?

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
Researchers think, that he wanted to
make it known that he had unified

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
all of China’s diverse regions and people.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
The colors of the Terracotta
army were also the reflection

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
of his determination to
attain absolute power.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
Once the established his
power, Qin Shi Huang

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
shows the title of \"Huangdi,\" meaning
brilliantly shining emperor.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:55.000
A man on earth, chosen
by the stars themselves.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
All of this was encoded in the only
language to survive from ancient times

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
to the present. The 20th century would see

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
Qin Shi Huang’s two millennium
Empire come crashing down,

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
but the ideas that drove it, endured.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
The legacy of his empire defines
China, today. And modern archaeology

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
has traced its origins back
much further to the same time

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
as the great civilizations
of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
But all things must pass.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
In 1911, the Shanghai revolution

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
brought down the last dynasty, the Qin.
And the 2,000 years

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
of the empire finally ended.

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
But even after that, the
idea of one nation,

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
what the Chinese called
Zhōnghuá continued to exist

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
in an altered form.

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
[music]

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
The People’s Republic of China stressed
that the Chinese people were one.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Zhōnghuá Mínguó, a communist interpretation

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
of a 4,000 year old belief.

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
The leader of the Communist party Mao
Zedong, declare that the ancient tradition

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
of uniting ethnic groups must continue
to honor the ancient origins of China.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
No other country can
claim the same heritage,

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
a heritage that has been
passed on to every child,

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
and continues to be on earth
in archaeological sites

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
all over the country. China’s past,

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
present, and future

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:25.000
are bound by an ancient
contract written in blood.