The Entire History of CHINA in 43 Minutes

Paper, the compass, gunpowder, printing, silk, tea and even paper money: all of them were invented or first used on a large scale in China. For long stretches of history it was the richest and most advanced country on Earth. Then, in barely a century, it fell into invasion, civil war and famine. And then, in just forty years, it came roaring back to become the second-largest economy in the world. How does a country rise, collapse and rise again, over and over, for four thousand years? The Chinese had an old answer: the Mandate of Heaven, and the wheel of dynasties that keeps on turning. In this animated history documentary we go from oracle bones and the Shang kings, through the First Emperor and his clay army, the Han and the Silk Road, the golden age of the Tang, the inventions of the Song, the Mongols, the treasure fleets of the Ming, the Opium Wars and the Century of Humiliation, Mao and the People's Republic, all the way to Deng Xiaoping's great opening and China today. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: the farmers who found an army 2:42 1600 BC: Bones and Bronze 7:02 221 BC: The First Emperor 10:50 206 BC: The Han and the Silk Road 14:49 618: The Golden Age 18:37 960: Gunpowder and Paper Money 22:53 1368: The Ming Turn Inward 27:07 1839: The Century of Humiliation 32:06 1949: The Red Star 36:42 1978: The Great Opening 41:07 Ending: the wheel 📚 MAP & DATA CREDITS Night-lights imagery: NASA Earth Observatory, Black Marble 2016. Daytime satellite imagery: NASA Earth Observatory, Blue Marble Next Generation (topography and bathymetry, 2004). Thumbnail portraits (AI-assisted illustrations based on photos via Wikimedia Commons): Xi Jinping, Press Service of the President of Russia (CC BY 4.0); Mao Zedong, Chen Zhengqing, 1950 (public domain); Qin Shi Huang, anonymous historical painting (public domain). Borders and rivers: Natural Earth (public domain). Dynasty borders are simplified and approximate. Ancient dates, populations and death tolls are approximate; where historians disagree, we give the range or say "by most estimates". 🎙️ Narration and character voices are synthetic (text-to-speech). Animation and characters are original to this channel. Music generated for this video. Watch next: Why Did South Korea Become Rich While North Korea Stayed Poor? 🔔 Subscribe to Pipo History for more big "why" questions from history. #China #History #PipoHistory