Terracotta Army in Xian, Shaanxi, China

China

Kublai Khan: ruler of the waves. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Michael Wood"The making of our new world began in China just over 40 years ago". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Catalan Atlas from 1375

North, south, east and west: how ancient civilisations found their bearings before the compass. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chinese workers tend a tea plantation in a mid-19th-century lithograph. Importing leaves from China was expensive – until Scottish botanist Robert Fortune introduced the plants to India. (Photo by Getty Images)

Eastern promises: the long and troubled history of Britain's relations with China. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Chinese tank nears the city of Lang Son in Vietnam, 1979 and (right) Chinese and Vietnamese ministers meet for talks, 1991. Rana Mitter highlights the role of diplomacy in bringing war between Vietnam and China to an end.

Historians debate: how do intractable conflicts come to an end?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kavita Puri's hidden histories: "We mustn’t overlook the toll of surfacing traumatic histories". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kublai Khan: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Venetian merchant Marco Polo travels along the Silk Road to Chin

General ancient history

Q&AWhat was traded on the Silk Road?

A 1971 propaganda poster extolling the power of China’s cultural revolution

The long history of Chinese intelligence-gathering. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Du Fu: China's greatest poet. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastDu Fu: China's greatest poet. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of Empress Wu Zetian

Empress Wu ZetianThe only woman to rule China

Anti-Chinese prejudice: from gold rushes to exclusion laws. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Clash of cultures: how interpreters bridged the gap between Britain and China. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

15 minutes of fameRana Mitter chooses Tsiang Tingfu. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tsiang Ting-fuChinese historian and diplomat. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Photo of Chinese Red Guards

The Gordons: Prisoners of the Cultural Revolution

Nixon in China: a week that changed the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nixon in China: the trip that changed the Cold War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Soldiers from Mao Zedong’s Red Army assemble in Yan’an, Shaanxi province, 1936 (Photo by Getty)

The Chinese Civil War: a guide to the conflict and the rise of Mao Zedong

Mao’s Cultural Revolution: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

History's greatest mysteriesWhy did Mao’s chosen successor flee China?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A modern fireworks display

General ancient history

Q&AHow were fireworks made in ancient China?

Illustration of the Red Dragon of China

Has China always been the world’s greatest superpower?

Mao Zedong applauds a parade of Red Guards in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. These young militants followed Mao’s call in early August 1966 to defend the party from a ‘white terror’. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Reign of the red terror: Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution

Voices of China. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chaos & communism: China’s 1949 revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Michael WoodThe story of China. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Qing dynasty emperor Kangxi

The voices of China: 5 perspectives on an extraordinary past

Chess players in the 14th century

Ancient board games: which ones did people play for fun in the past?