China: The First Emperor

Misha Glenny and Miles Warde travel east to tell the story of China - what it is and where it came from.

"The empire long united must divide, long divided must unite. Thus it has ever been." The opening lines of a fourteenth century novel about the rise and fall of China's multiple dynasties, history explained in a couple of brilliant lines. But what is China and where did it come from?

This is episode 55 of How to Invent a Country on BBC Sounds, recorded on location and opening in Taiwan. "The reunification of the historical motherland is an inevitability," said the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on New Year's day. China is an empire, and this is a president asserting central control - in Xinjiang, in Hong Kong, and now Taiwan appears to be in his sights. Control has been the ambition since the rule of the First Emperor in 221 BCE, but areas on the periphery continue to resist.

With contributions from Frances Wood, author of The First Emperor; Steve Tsang, The Political Thought of Xi Jinping; Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst for the Crisis Group; Nathan Law, exiled activist, Hong Kong Umbrella Movement; Chris Buckley, Chief China correspondent of the New York Times now based in Taiwan; plus Paul French, Linda Jaivin, Tania Branigan and Ian Johnson, author of Sparks.

"What we do is explain where countries come from, and then unpick the stories governments use to stay in charge. They weren't always there, those lines on the map - everything keeps changing. And China has surged and collapsed, expanded and shrunk, as much as anywhere we've been." Misha Glenny

Presenter Misha Glenny is the author of McMafia and a former Central Europe correspondent for the BBC. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

Further reading:

Frances Wood, the First Emperor of China and No Dogs and Not Many Chinese Tania Branigan, Red Memory Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung, The Political Thought of Xi Jinping Linda Jaivin, The Shortest History of China Ian Johnson, Sparks - China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future Paul French, Midnight in Peking and City of Devils