China 2000 BC - Unearthing the Truth Behind a Myth : The Xia Dynasty

China has many different peoples with widely different cultural backgrounds. In fact its populace is comprised of 56 ethnic groups. Why could these peoples have united as One China? The key to this miracle was the Idea of Zhong-hua, what is often translated as Sinocentrism. The program explores how this idea was forged in ancient China and finally utilized by the First Emperor of Qin to bind many different people under one flag. Many years of civil strife came to end in 221 BC with the first unification of China by the First Emperor. New discoveries are making clearer his extraordinary ambition towards the supreme power, which gave China the last impetus to its unification. His famous terracotta warriors, a symbol of his power were proven to have originally been brightly colored. And these colors provide important clues to the First Emperor's firm determination to place himself at the center of China. In fact, Qing was one of remote tribes who were disdained as barbarians by the states in the Central Plains. Qing gained power through drastic military and political reforms and went on conquering other tribes, but they met tenacious rejections from the people in the conquered states. To conciliate them, the Qing started to claim that they were the Xia. By calling themselves the successor to the Xia they tried to legitimize their rule over China. The First Emperor, however, did not content with the earthly power. Archaeologists took clues from items and remnants excavated from Qin's old capital to prove what grandiose plan he introduced in construction of his capital city. What the First Emperor desired to build was in fact a Celestial Empire. The latest archeological evidence shed new light on the last step to the unified China, the foundations that made China, and Asia, what it is today.

Deep within the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala and extending into the limestone shelf of the Yucatan peninsula lie the fabled pyramids, temples and palaces of the Maya. While Europe still slumbered in the Dark Ages, these innovative people had charted the heavens, evolved the only true writing system native to the Americas and had made tremendous strides in mathematics and calendrics. Without metal tools, beasts of burden or even the wheel, the Maya were able to construct vast cities. Filmed at numerous sacred sites throughout Central America, Mystery of the Maya explores the culture, science and history of this fascinating people.

The story of Qin Shihuang, who conquered six powerful warring states to unify the vast territory of China. In 221 B.C., Qin declared himself emperor of all China. During his reign, he introduced sweeping reforms, built a vast network of roads and connected the Great Wall of China which to this day stretches over 2400 kilometers. Although Qin's empire survived his own death in 210 B.C. by only thirty-six months, his legacy did not perish. From the grandiose inner sanctum of Emperor Qin's royal palace, to fierce battles with feudal kings, this historical drama re-creates the glory and the terror of the Qin Dynasty. The film includes the first documentary footage of Qin's life-sized terra cotta army, constructed almost 2,200 years ago for his tomb. The imperial system he created has endured for thousand of years, proving to be the world's most durable political structure.