ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE CHINA (History Channel program) Part1/3

For over 4000 years, the world's greatest empires have come and gone. Only one has survived the test of time: China.

Century after century, China's regal emperors mobilized immense peasant armies to accomplish engineering feats unparalleled in human history.

Among the groundbreaking innovations of the ancient Chinese were the world's longest canal, its most complex and effective irrigation system, and a naval fleet mightier than all those of Europe combined-but, none can compare to the colossal 4,000-mile wall that stands as the most ambitious construction project ever built.

From such heights came spectacular death spirals, as dynasty after dynasty-consumed by vanity and greed-was stripped of power by the people it had ruled.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• ENGINEERING
• AN
• EMPIRE
• CHINA
• History
• Channel
• program
• Part1/3

[dragondescendant1]

@LupaLuke Roman empire is long gone, Rome is definitely no better.

[imagesoflightable]

@a9fc8yt3kd1 Actually, I am proud of China; that men, women before me fought so that I may live; present and future generations be masters of their homes.

Actually, I am proud of China, to see children going to school, cheerful and bright; their parents proud and oldies too.

Actually, I am proud too of the progress despite all odds.

Look around. The water`s choppy and sky grey.

Nature has her way, it will be over and a new dawn for humanity.

[DragonOfQin]

@Hannibal953able Roman Emperors weren't better than Chinese Emperors I can tell you that.

[DragonOfQin]

@a9fc8yt3kd1 Wrong. If you say that China wasn't a single civilization than the Persian civilizations under Cyrus, Xerxes were not single civilizations either. Parthia wasn't Sassinid, etc. China WAS a single civilization. China had always kept the Middle Kingdom concept EVEN NOW they call themselves Zhong Guo(Middle Kingdom). Dynasty after dynasty had a similar social system not to mention Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, Buddhism all played a part in all Chinese dyansties.

[MrQianli]

@Hannibal953able "But still their goverment treats the people like animals." i really dont know how you guys get this and bilieve this...... you can just go to china and see.

[93pavlaka]

@ComradeMing how the hell did u get to youtube? :)

[Hannibal953able]

So many Chinese emperors were despotic monsters, who could'nt care less about the lives of their people. And also the Great Wall was in the end, a complete failure. The last ethnic "Han chinese" dynasty was the Ming dynasty. Two foreign dynastys came befor and after the Ming. The Yuan and the Qing, respectfully. China is an enigma. They have one of the greatest civilizations in history, unsurpassed in scale and glory. But still their goverment treats the people like animals. A shame really.

[a9fc8yt3kd1]

@imagesoflightable I never said that China wasn't a great civilization. I just said that the land which we now call "China" has not been a single civilization throughout all of its history. The USA and the UK both speak the same language, and historically used the same system of measurements, but that doesn't make them the same civilization. China is a great nation to be sure, but people still often accredit it with a more spectacular history than is appropriate.