China [documentary]

China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. It originated in the valley of the Yellow River and then spread to the south (conquest of the territories south of the Yangtze River since the Han dynasty), to the west (first incursions in Central Asia under the Han, temporary extension until to the Caspian Sea under the Tang, conquest of Xinjiang and Tibet under the Qing) and north (the Qing dynasty, of Manchu origin brought Manchuria and Mongolia to China). During its history, China has been divided and reunited several times; it was twice completely conquered by foreigners (by the Mongols in the thirteenth century and by the Manchus in the seventeenth century), although they eventually adopted the customs and the Chinese administrative system to rule the empire. The last imperial dynasty, the Qing (the Manchu dynasty that ruled the country since 1644), experienced a period of decline during the colonial expansion phase of Western countries, leading the country from defeat to defeat from opium wars. It was only after the victory against the Japanese army in 1945 that China was able to free itself from foreign interventions. The People's Republic of China is proclaimed on October 1, 1949, following the Chinese Communist Party's military victory over the Kuomintang. Today it is a "socialist republic" and has control over twenty-two provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities (including Beijing) and two special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macao).