[C-East] The Land Where China Was Born, Shone, Broken, and Reborn

Henan 河南 is where Chinese writing, Chinese bronze, and the first Chinese dynasty came out of the ground — and it is also where the Yellow River drowned hundreds of thousands of people, more than once. This is the story of one province that contains the whole shape of Chinese history: born, shone, broken, and rebuilt. In this episode, we travel through Henan — the Central Plain 中原, the geographic and historical centre of the Middle Kingdom. From the Neolithic pottery of Yangshao and the oracle bones of Anyang, through the Buddhist cliffs of Longmen and the monastery of Shaolin, to Kaifeng — the largest city in the world in the 11th century — and then to the floods, the famine, and the recovery. 1:26 The Centre of All Under Heaven 3:36 Where China Was Born 6:45 The Buddha Comes East 9:21 The Greatest City on Earth 12:13 Broken 15:17 Holding the River 16:58 The Foolish Old Man