Secret History (1991)

Season 15: Episode 7

A look at the relics found in the tombs of China's Han Dynasty - an era that is generally considered the golden age of ancient China. It's up there with the Roman Empire in terms of international power at the time and has been a defining influence on the country's cultural identity ever since, with China's majority ethnic group referring to itself as the "Han people" and the Chinese scripts referred to as "Han characters". This programme examines how the emperors arranged to have their dead bodies mummified in the search for immortality and looks at a newly discovered version of the famous terracotta army - sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China.