LEGACY: CHINA: THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN (TV)
Summary
One in this series of historical documentaries that
chronicles the breadth and diversity of Earth's
civilizations, explores the fundamental cultural
differences among them, and examines the unique ways
that people perceive the world. In this program, host
Michael Wood explores the historical roots of China.
The program concerns themes recurring throughout
Chinese history, including the value of the wisdom of
ancestry, and the belief that those who control history
and writing have the "mandate of heaven" to rule. Other
topics addressed include the ideas of Confucius; Taoist
mysticism; the imported wisdom of the Buddha; the "silk
road" in the Gobi Desert, which led to China's first
international age in second century A.D.; the marvels of
the Sung dynasty of the eleventh century, which some
consider to be the peak of civilization; the shocked
reaction of thirteenth-century European visitors upon
encountering China's wealth; China's transient
fifteenth-century interest in exploring the world; the
diametric opposition between China's preservation of
history and Western civilization's use of history for
controlling the future; the Europeans' intrusion on
China's south coast in the eighteenth century; the
nineteenth-century opium war; the European colonization
of the middle kingdoms; the indignities of the Chinese
people at the hands of their oppressors; and the
twentieth-century Chinese Revolution under Chinese
Communist leader Mao Zedong, in the wake of years of
civil war, famine, and foreign rule. Wood also covers
vital clues about Ancient China that were uncovered in
the twentieth-century excavation of Anyang, and he
discusses the defeated revolution in Tianenman Square
and the possible political future of China. (This
program is closed-captioned.)
Acquisition and cataloging of this program was made
possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: February 3, 1992 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:26
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:26904
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: China - Civilization; China - History - Civil War, 1945-1949; Civilization, Oriental; Communism - 1949; Confucianism; Gobi Desert; Imperialism; International trade; Opium War, 1840-1842; Taoism; Tienanmen Square Incident, 1989
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1992
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Leo Eaton … Executive Producer
- Roger James … Executive Producer
- Peter Spry-Leverton … Producer, Director
- Chris Ledger … Associate Producer, Researcher
- Donna R. Hunt … Associate Producer, For Maryland Public Television
- Michael Wood … Writer, Host, Presenter
- Hal Lindes … Music by
- Confucius
- Gautama Buddha
- Mao Zedong (See also: Mao Tse-tung)