The Spiritual Characteristics of Chinese Civilization

By staff reporter ZHOU LIN

THE Story of China： A Portrait of a Civilization and Its People written by Michael Wood， the eminent British historian， filmmaker， broadcaster， and author of several bestsellers， was published last September. Being a wonderful storyteller， Wood uses a grand narrative to tell the sweeping history of China from ancient times to the present and captures the big picture without losing sight of the human detail.

In 2016， BBCs landmark documentary series The Story of China， which was co-produced with Wood after three years of preparation， shooting， and editing， was broadcast worldwide and received widespread attention and praise. Wood has also gained a good reputation among Chinese audiences. Since then， he has been working on the book with the same name， while taking trips around China.

According to Wood， the new book has very different functions compared to the documentary. In about 600 pages， much more contents are presented with richer contextual reasoning and subtle differences shown in historical facts. In his writing， Wood put more effort in telling the story of some characters， such as the female poet Li Qingzhao（1084-1155）， and Cao Xueqin （circa 1715-1763）， the author of A Dream of Red Mansions， as well as some little-known but legendary female writers， like Zheng Yunduan （1327-1356） and Fang Weiyi （1585-1668）. Rather than merely portraying the characters in the book like a film， the book presents more detailed descriptions. The stories are enriched with the latest archaeological and documented discoveries， including court cases going back to the Qin（221-207 BC） and Han （206 BC–AD 220） dynasties， family letters from soldiers in the army of the Qin Dynasty， and correspondence sent out from the post-houses and watchtowers on the ancient Silk Road. Common people are the major narrators of the history and form a very important part of the book.

“Writing on Chinas past is a daunting task， all the more so if one is not a sinologist，” noted Wood in the preface. “China is a huge and incredibly rich， indeed inexhaustible subject. With more than three millennia of written records， it has a vast history. ”

In the 19 chapters， Wood traced the rise and fall of the great dynasties， from the founder of the Xia Dynasty （circa 2100-1600 BC） to the Zhou， Qin， Han， Tang， Song， Ming， Qing， and the founding of the Peoples Republic of China.“China is the oldest living civilization on earth， but its history is still surprisingly little known in the wider world，” said Wood. Throughout the book， Wood masterfully extracted real stories from the grand history， making the book highly readable.

Though Wood concentrated on the main dynasties， he sometimes veered into exploring the intricate details of family stories to create a sense of immediacy amid the far-reaching historical currents. Like the ancient inhabitants of the Tigris-Euphrates river system， the earliest Chinese communities were tied closely to the Yellow River. These first civilizations were not near the sea but resided in the central plain， close to where the river emerges from the mountains.

Woods sparkling narrative mingles the grand sweep of Chinese history with personal stories， and weaves them together with his own travel journals. Whether on top of the Great Wall or inside the Forbidden City， readers are enabled to follow the steps of the author on an enthralling account of Chinas 5，000 years of history. The book thus tells a thrilling story of intense drama， fabulous creativity， and deep humanity， painting a portrait of a country that will be of great importance to the world in the 21st century.

Woods fascination with China and Chinese culture began when he was a student. Back when he was in school， Wood encountered Poems of the Late Tang edited and translated by A. C. Graham （1919-1991）. It opened a whole new world for him. Later， when he was a postgraduate at Oxford University， he read The Book of Songs and other books translated by Arthur Waley（1888-1966）， and became even more inspired.

In the early 1980s， Wood visited China for the first time， shooting the China-themed documentary series， which proved to be a smash hit among British and Chinese audiences. In 2018， he filmed The Story of Chinas Reform and Opening-up， which again made him think about that era and its colossal impact on China and the world. Then in the autumn of 2019， he did a film on Chinas greatest poet Du Fu. This time， the huge response he received from the China audience reinforced his sense of the continuing importance of traditional culture and values among so many people in China.

When discussing the continuity of Chinese civilization， Wood described China as the oldest living civilization in the world. As for people， the Chinese in many ways still think like Confucians， who have been profoundly influenced by the thoughts presented in The Analects， a collection of the words and deeds of Confucius. With so many ethnic groups and genres of cultures and languages， the written records， especially the values contained therein， constitute the spiritual characteristics and cultural core of the Chinese civilization.

Peter Frankopan， author of The Silk Roads： A New History of the World， acclaimed Woods book， describes it as “Masterful and engrossing， well-paced， eminently readable and well-timed. A must-read for those who want and need to know about the China of yesterday， today and tomorrow.”