Welcome to this new BBC Podcast. The first episode will be available within seven days.
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Chinese Characters
Wu Zetian: The Female Emperor
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
Rana Mitter tells the story of Empress Wu Zetian, who grew up a humble lady of the court, but became the only woman in 2,000 years to rule China in her own right. Show more
Chinese Characters
Chiang Kai-Shek and Soong Meiling: Asian Power Couple
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
Asia's first power couple dominated politics in China and were two of the most prominent non-westerners on the world scene for much of the early 20th century. Show more
Chinese Characters
Kumarajiva: Translator Monk
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
Millions of Chinese speak the words of Kumarajiva every day. Far fewer have any idea that he is the man who translated key Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese. Show more
Chinese Characters
Matteo Ricci: Jesuit and Geometrist
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
The story of the Italian Jesuit priest who used geometry to bring together the intellectual worlds of Renaissance Europe and Ming dynasty China. Show more
Chinese Characters
Ding Ling: Sophie, Sensation and Sex
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
China's greatest woman writer. Purged as a right-wing deviator in Mao's China with her fiction and essays banned, she was rehabilitated in later life. Show more
Chinese Characters
Sima Qian: Grand Historian
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
The historian whose objectivity got him into big trouble at court. When he confronted the emperor, he was subjected to a horrific and humiliating punishment. Show more
Chinese Characters
Kublai Khan: Cosmopolitan Conqueror
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
The Mongol head of a dynasty that both occupied China and connected it to a wider world. Show more
Chinese Characters
Confucius: Becoming the Sage
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
Perhaps the most famous Chinese person in history, Confucius was the philosopher and ethicist who advocated a path of calmness in the midst of social turmoil. Show more
Chinese Characters
Li Qingzhao: Patriotic Poet
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
A passionate writer who destroyed her reputation by divorcing her husband, only to be recognised as one of the greatest poets in Chinese history. Show more
Chinese Characters
River Elegy: River and Ocean
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
In 1988, one of the most important TV shows in history was shown. It started a national debate about modernisation and democracy, then was banned after Tiananmen Square in 1989. Show more
Chinese Characters
Zheng He: The Admiral Goes to Africa
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
The Muslim sailor who commanded a fleet of vessels larger than anything that Europe could manage, and whose maritime voyages created new routes for trade and influence. Show more
Chinese Characters
Robert Hart: Chinese Customs
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
A man who helped develop the relationship between China and the outside world. He did not grow up in Shanghai or Beijing - but the windswept Irish town of Portadown. Show more
Chinese Characters
Lu Xun: Compassionate Cynic
14 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
The writer who is still read by every Chinese schoolchild - and has the reputation of being the country's greatest modern author. Show more
Chinese Characters
Wang Jingwei: Revolutionary Renegade
15 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
He is condemned as China's worst traitor. Yet in his early life, he had been one of the great figures of the Chinese revolution, second only to the legendary Sun Yat-sen. Show more
Chinese Characters
Hong Xiuquan v Zeng Guofan: The Duellists
15 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
The rebel leader of the Taiping and his nemesis. One defended the Qing dynasty against the other - a man who declared that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Show more
Chinese Characters
Cixi: Ambivalent Empress
15 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
The empress dowager Cixi demanded loyalty from her subjects but changed her mind over time about what the right path for her country really was. Show more
Chinese Characters
Factory Girls: Modern Girls, Modern Dreams
1 minute
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
The women who made modern China, but whose names are scarcely remembered - the hard-working, hard-living factory girls behind China's industrial revolution. Show more
Chinese Characters
Mao Zedong: The Man Who Made Modern China
1 minute
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
In the 1920s, he was just a library assistant. Yet by the end of his life, he would rule a fifth of all humanity. Mao Zedong was the man, above all others, who made modern China. Show more
Chinese Characters
Bruce Lee: Screen Warrior
15 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FM
Available for over a year
Lee was the first global Chinese film star, with an influence that spread across the globe. Not through ideology or revolution, but thanks to the fastest fists in East Asia. Show more