China

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

In this lecture, Michael Wood uses the stories of five individuals from across the centuries to cast light on China’s rich and varied history

General ancient history

Voices of China

Graham Hutchings discusses how China was convulsed by the communist revolution of 1949. (Image by Getty Images)

Chaos & communism: China’s 1949 revolution

An Athenian red-figure kylix (cup) dating from around 510–500 BC depicts a young pentathlete pulling his older lover towards him for a kiss. In many of the city-states of ancient Greece, sex between a man and a youth was an accepted – even idealised – form of love, its virtues extolled in works by writers including Plato. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

General ancient history

Pride and prejudice: same-sex relations through history

Elizabeth I preferred thoughtful new year gifts suited to her own tastes such as cloth, personal jewellery and trinkets. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Sobriety, royal presents and Victorian-era musings on failure: an unexpected history of New Year

Qing dynasty emperor Kangxi

General ancient history

The voices of China: 5 perspectives on an extraordinary past

BBC History Magazine's Books Of The Year 2020. (Illustration by Evonne Summers)

34 best books for history lovers: BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2020

Chess players in the 14th century

General ancient history

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

Queen In New Zealand, 1970

In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II on tour

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan: the Mongol warlord who almost conquered the world

Illustration of Venetian merchant Marco Polo travels along the Silk Road to China

General ancient history

Your guide to... the Silk Road

A thin section of the Great Wall of China near Beijing

General ancient history

10 facts about the Great Wall of China

The battle of First Bar, 1841

Your guide to... the Opium Wars

A view of Mount Everest

Mystery on Everest: did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit in 1924?

Swastika on a lotus background

Second World War

Why did Hitler choose the swastika, and how did a Sanskrit symbol become a Nazi emblem?