HISTORY ANCIENT CHINA
An epic life
The First Emperor: The Man Who Made China" traces the rise and fall of China's first emperor and unlock secrets of his tomb. — KATHARINA HESSE |
The world's largest unopened tomb will be revealed on-screen for the first time. "The First Emperor: The Man Who Made China" follows the first emperor of China's legendary rise, reign and fall, and employs cutting-edge science to unlock the secrets of his tomb.
Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, has been compared to Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar for commanding millions, uniting China and building the Great Wall.
Though revered in the East, most westerners have had little knowledge of the great warrior, until now. The Discovery Channel transports viewers to ancient China, bringing the emperor's story to life on December 24 at 8pm. The programme encores December 25 at 2am and 1pm, December 30 at 1pm, and December 31 at 7am on UBC 25.
Filmed on location in China, the documentary reveals unprecedented access to a Western film crew to Emperor Qin's legendary seven-square-mile underground and marks unprecedented burial complex.
Filled with more than 8,000 figures, including the terracotta army, the emperor designed it to celebrate his power, and to achieve continued glory in the afterlife.
Two thousand years after his death, ground-penetrating radar, combined with CGI, illustrate the shape, layout and design of the largest unopened tomb in the world. The special also proves true the legend that Emperor Qin was buried amid a map of his empire flowing with rivers of liquid mercury, which at the time was believed to prolong life.
Emperor Qin's achievements are astounding - he was the first to unite China, gave the country its name, and commanded 10 times as many subjects as the pharaohs of Egypt.
He created a single written language, was architect of the Great Wall, commanded the creation of the first road system, and planned and built the world's biggest and most extravagant resting place.
"The First Emperor: The Man Who Made China" reveals that the warrior king was also a a person who achieved his brutal tyrant overwhelming power by destroying all opposition, both on the battlefield and in his own palace, where he survived repeated assassination attempts.
As he became more and more powerful, he was said to have consumed mercury in increasingly-large doses, hoping to extend his life.
But could the substance have had the opposite effect and driven him mad, or worse, killed him? Could his obsession with immortality have ultimately proven his downfall?
The production team along with Dr Jeffrey Riegel, Professor of Chinese at the University of California, Berkeley, investigates how the tomb itself can reveal the facts behind the legend.
tomb
a place where a corpse is buried, usually with a monument (= stone structure)
revealed
allowed something to be seen that, until then, had been hidden
reign
to be the king or queen of a country
cutting-edge
very modern and with all the newest developments
commanding
controlling someone or something and telling them what to do
ancient
from a long time ago
encore
the ending of a show
marks
if an event marks the beginning, end, etc., of something, it causes it, or happens at the same time as it
unprecedented
never having happened before
|
burial complex
the place where a dead body is put into the ground
terracotta
hard, baked reddish-brown clay
glory
when people praise and respect you for achieving something important
amid
while something else is happening
prolong
to make something last longer
achievements
when you succeed in doing something good, usually by working hard
astounding
very surprising
subjects
people who are from a particular country, especially a country with a king or queen
extravagant
something extreme and that has probably cost a lot of money to make
|
brutal
very violent or cruel
tyrant
someone who has total power and uses it in a cruel and unfair way
overwhelming
very strong in effect or large in amount
assassination
to kill someone important or famous
consumed
eaten or drunk something
extend
to make something bigger or longer
obsession
someone or something that you think about all the time
immortality
living or lasting forever
|
|
