Covers over 4 centuries of Chinese history, from the waning days of the once-glorious Ming Dynasty to Deng Xiao-Ping's bloody suppression of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Through the ideas and emotions of its reformist Confucian scholars, its poets, novelists, artists and its visionary students, we see a culture struggling to define itself as Chinese and modern. Through the actions of the great Qing emperors and the dominant figures of this century - Mao Zedong, Chiang Kai-Shek, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiao-Ping - we see a state struggling to establish harmony within, and its autonomy in the world. Through the daily work of survival and their collective bursts of rebellion and revolution - 1644, 1850, 1911, 1949, 1989 - we see the Chinese people struggling to remake their lives.