⁣In 1911, an unplanned and poorly executed military uprising toppled the last imperial dynasty of China. Over the next 38 years, China would be united under a military dictatorship, disintegrate into warlord domains, be nominally united under another military dictatorship, be invaded multiple times by two different foreign powers, ally itself at various times with Fascists, Communists, and Capitalists, and face a destructive civil war amongst the post-WW2 ruins.

Yet, very few in the West have ever heard of most of the goings-on in China at this time. This series takes various sources and puts them together to form a cohesive narrative not only of the years from 1911-49, but also goes over the Qing Dynasty in the 19th century so the viewer has the necessary historical context to understand the national and international situation China was faced with in 1911.

In this episode, we introduce China's diverse cultural and linguistic landscape, see how the Qing ruled their realm, and watch as a clash of worldviews kept China and the West from being able to understand one another.