Understanding Imperial China: Dynasties, Life, and Culture
Course Overview
Course No. 3822
Journey through 2,000 years of Chinese imperial history, exploring daily life across social classes through 24 richly detailed lectures.
This course examines:
- Major dynasties from Qin to Qing
- Peasant life vs. courtly splendor
- Cultural achievements in poetry and art
- Trade networks and technological innovations
- The empire’s eventual collapse
Video Lectures
01: Opium, Trade, and War (31 min)
Explore how opium became intertwined with late imperial culture and international conflicts.
02: Terra-cotta Warriors (31 min)
Uncover Qin Shi Huangdi’s buried army and the technocratic Qin Dynasty.
03: Han Dynasty Golden Age (30 min)
Discover aristocratic life during China’s formative imperial era.
04: The Amazing Ban Clan (31 min)
Meet historian Ban Gu, soldier Ban Chao, and scholar Ban Zhao.
05: Buddhist Monks & Daoist Recluses (32 min)
Trace spiritual traditions through monk Faxian and poet Tao Yuanming.
06: Cosmopolitan Chang’an (30 min)
Tour the Tang capital’s grand boulevards and multicultural markets.
07: Grand Canal Lifeline (31 min)
Study the engineering marvel that fed the empire’s political economy.
08: Triumph in Tang Poetry (30 min)
Appreciate Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu’s literary masterpieces.
09: Song Dynasty Literati (31 min)
Compare official Su Shi’s joie de vivre with Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism.
10: Qingming Scroll Journey (30 min)
“Read” a 17-foot painted panorama of 12th-century urban life.
11: Yellow River Peasants (31 min)
Experience rural hardships through farming communities’ dwellings and diets.
12: Southern Agriculture (30 min)
Examine wet-rice cultivation, silk production, and women’s tea labor.
13: Genghis Khan Rises (32 min)
Chart Temujin’s transformation into the Mongol Empire’s fearsome founder.
14: Marco Polo in Xanadu (30 min)
Witness East-West exchange during the Pax Mongolica.
15: Zheng He’s Treasure Fleet (31 min)
Sail with Ming admiral’s nine-masted ships across the Indian Ocean.
16: Bound Feet & Widows (32 min)
Contrast bridal customs with courtesans’ luxurious subculture.
17: Ming Trade & Spanish Silver (34 min)
Track New World bullion’s impact through Manila’s bustling port.
18: Great Wall Soldiers (32 min)
Analyze Ming military culture from warlords to frontier garrisons.
19: Qing Soul Stealers (31 min)
Investigate sorcery panics and Emperor Qianlong’s justice system.
20: British Embassy Feast (31 min)
Peek inside imperial kitchens preparing a diplomatic banquet.
21: Taiping Rebellion (32 min)
Follow Hong Xiuquan’s bloody religious revolt against Qing rule.
22: Treaty Ports Era (31 min)
Map foreign concessions’ hybrid cultures after the Opium Wars.
23: Civil Service Exams (31 min)
Experience the grueling testing that shaped imperial bureaucracy.
24: Fall of the Manchus (37 min)
Analyze how military decline and rebellion ended 2,000 years of empire.

