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.