One of the world's oldest civilisations and the longest lasting state, China's story is extraordinarily rich and dramatic, stretching back thousands of years. After a century and a half of foreign invasion, civil war and revolution, China has once more returned to centre stage in the world, a global superpower and as of 2016, the world's second largest economy. But in order to understand the great significance of China today, we must begin with its history.
A portrait of a civilisation and its people.