China: The Making of a Nation

Overview

China: The Making of a Nation is the story of the painful transformation of the vast Qing Empire into the Chinese nation after the 1911 revolution. Spanning more than a century up to the Xi Jinping era, the story pits the two pivotal leaders of this transformation against each other: Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Republic of China for 47 years, and Mao Zedong, who rose from ‘red bandit’ to master of the mainland in 1949. Sworn enemies, they fought a merciless battle: first military, then diplomatic, and finally, beyond their deaths, in the conflicting memories of the Taiwanese and the Chinese of the People's Republic. Beyond their fierce hatred, the two tyrants also had much in common: a certain vision of Chinese territory and the greatness of China, the desire to regain the country's sovereignty and the quest for a Chinese identity in a nation that also includes Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongols... and a certain ability to rewrite history.

Series details

First air date

2026

Last air date

2026

Status

Ended

Seasons

1

Episodes

2

Episode runtime

60 min

Genres

Documentary

Original language

FR

Origin country

FR

Networks

ARTE

Created by

Anne Loussouarn

Production

O2B Films, ARTE

Cast

Sarah-Jane Sauvegrain

Main narrator (voice)

Thierry Debrune

Narrator (voice)

Marie-Ève Dufresne

Narrator (voice)

Daniel Lafourcade

Narrator (voice)

Jean-François Pagès

Narrator (voice)

B

Benoît Rivillon