[
    {
        "start": 0.0,
        "end": 1.8,
        "text": " This is the BBC."
    },
    {
        "start": 17.48,
        "end": 19.84,
        "text": " Hello and welcome to Podcasting House."
    },
    {
        "start": 19.84,
        "end": 22.1,
        "text": " If you've never listened to this podcast before,"
    },
    {
        "start": 22.1,
        "end": 23.44,
        "text": " here's what we do."
    },
    {
        "start": 23.44,
        "end": 26.44,
        "text": " We bring you an episode of a different BBC podcast"
    },
    {
        "start": 26.44,
        "end": 27.8,
        "text": " a couple of times a week."
    },
    {
        "start": 27.8,
        "end": 28.8,
        "text": " If you like what you hear,"
    },
    {
        "start": 28.8,
        "end": 32.92,
        "text": " you can search for that podcast using whatever app or service"
    },
    {
        "start": 32.92,
        "end": 36.6,
        "text": " or web page you're using now and subscribe for more episodes."
    },
    {
        "start": 36.6,
        "end": 40.4,
        "text": " My name is Eli and I'm joined as always by Rian."
    },
    {
        "start": 40.4,
        "end": 41.92,
        "text": " What have you brought with you today, Rian?"
    },
    {
        "start": 41.92,
        "end": 46.0,
        "text": " I have brought you 20 Chinese characters"
    },
    {
        "start": 46.0,
        "end": 48.28,
        "text": " in a pot like what you want to share with the first one."
    },
    {
        "start": 48.28,
        "end": 48.78,
        "text": " OK."
    },
    {
        "start": 48.78,
        "end": 49.8,
        "text": " But this is the first."
    },
    {
        "start": 49.8,
        "end": 51.92,
        "text": " You mean the writing Chinese character, like, Cher."
    },
    {
        "start": 51.92,
        "end": 52.44,
        "text": " No."
    },
    {
        "start": 52.44,
        "end": 56.040000000000006,
        "text": " I mean Chinese people who will help you understand"
    },
    {
        "start": 56.04,
        "end": 60.36,
        "text": " who are 2000 years of Chinese history in 20 people."
    },
    {
        "start": 60.36,
        "end": 63.92,
        "text": " So I've heard the first one, haven't heard the others yet."
    },
    {
        "start": 63.92,
        "end": 66.36,
        "text": " She is called Wu Zitan."
    },
    {
        "start": 66.36,
        "end": 69.12,
        "text": " Wu Zitan."
    },
    {
        "start": 69.12,
        "end": 69.88,
        "text": " Ron Amitabh?"
    },
    {
        "start": 69.88,
        "end": 72.44,
        "text": " I want to take your word for it."
    },
    {
        "start": 72.44,
        "end": 73.6,
        "text": " Yeah, it's out."
    },
    {
        "start": 73.6,
        "end": 74.08,
        "text": " Yeah."
    },
    {
        "start": 74.08,
        "end": 76.72,
        "text": " Ron Amitabh who presents it, obviously, he gets it right."
    },
    {
        "start": 76.72,
        "end": 77.52,
        "text": " Me not so much."
    },
    {
        "start": 77.52,
        "end": 78.36,
        "text": " But I'm going to practice."
    },
    {
        "start": 78.36,
        "end": 80.68,
        "text": " I've got 20 apps to practice it."
    },
    {
        "start": 80.68,
        "end": 82.92,
        "text": " So who is this Wu Zitan?"
    },
    {
        "start": 82.92,
        "end": 84.48,
        "text": " She is the first."
    },
    {
        "start": 84.48,
        "end": 85.24,
        "text": " She."
    },
    {
        "start": 85.24,
        "end": 86.44,
        "text": " Yeah, exactly."
    },
    {
        "start": 86.44,
        "end": 88.96,
        "text": " She, you know Cersei and Game of Thrones?"
    },
    {
        "start": 88.96,
        "end": 89.72,
        "text": " No."
    },
    {
        "start": 89.72,
        "end": 92.08,
        "text": " OK."
    },
    {
        "start": 92.08,
        "end": 98.83999999999999,
        "text": " That woman could murder her way through a whole family line"
    },
    {
        "start": 98.83999999999999,
        "end": 99.91999999999999,
        "text": " very inventively."
    },
    {
        "start": 99.91999999999999,
        "end": 102.96,
        "text": " And Wu Zitan had the same reputation."
    },
    {
        "start": 102.96,
        "end": 106.11999999999999,
        "text": " But as Ron Amitabh explains, I won't say any more."
    },
    {
        "start": 106.11999999999999,
        "end": 108.28,
        "text": " As he, he explains that this is what"
    },
    {
        "start": 108.28,
        "end": 109.91999999999999,
        "text": " people who were running China did."
    },
    {
        "start": 109.91999999999999,
        "end": 112.16,
        "text": " So the fact she's a woman is neither here nor there."
    },
    {
        "start": 112.16,
        "end": 114.47999999999999,
        "text": " It was par for the course."
    },
    {
        "start": 114.48,
        "end": 115.56,
        "text": " Now have a listen."
    },
    {
        "start": 115.56,
        "end": 117.80000000000001,
        "text": " And I'm going to have a chat off the back of it."
    },
    {
        "start": 117.80000000000001,
        "end": 118.32000000000001,
        "text": " OK."
    },
    {
        "start": 118.32000000000001,
        "end": 119.32000000000001,
        "text": " Chinese characters."
    },
    {
        "start": 123.84,
        "end": 126.44,
        "text": " Chinese characters."
    },
    {
        "start": 126.44,
        "end": 129.64000000000001,
        "text": " Historian Ron Amitabh tells the story of China"
    },
    {
        "start": 129.64000000000001,
        "end": 133.32,
        "text": " in 20 remarkable lives."
    },
    {
        "start": 133.32,
        "end": 136.32,
        "text": " Part one, the female emperor."
    },
    {
        "start": 145.44,
        "end": 157.76,
        "text": " Nothing like a bit of soap opera skull duggery to really"
    },
    {
        "start": 157.76,
        "end": 159.16,
        "text": " get things going."
    },
    {
        "start": 159.16,
        "end": 164.39999999999998,
        "text": " You want to do it, you want to kill me, I can understand."
    },
    {
        "start": 164.39999999999998,
        "end": 166.28,
        "text": " But Hong'er doesn't have any regrets."
    },
    {
        "start": 166.28,
        "end": 171.39999999999998,
        "text": " Episode 74, no kidding, of a Chinese drama series telling"
    },
    {
        "start": 171.39999999999998,
        "end": 174.07999999999998,
        "text": " the history of Wuzhatian."
    },
    {
        "start": 174.08,
        "end": 178.76000000000002,
        "text": " Emperor of China between 690 and 705 AD."
    },
    {
        "start": 178.76000000000002,
        "end": 181.08,
        "text": " Jiang Si Chi."
    },
    {
        "start": 181.08,
        "end": 182.96,
        "text": " What do we do?"
    },
    {
        "start": 182.96,
        "end": 187.52,
        "text": " She was the only woman in 2000 years of imperial history ever"
    },
    {
        "start": 187.52,
        "end": 191.24,
        "text": " to sit on China's throne as ruler in her own right."
    },
    {
        "start": 194.28,
        "end": 196.84,
        "text": " Hers is not just the tale of one woman's rise,"
    },
    {
        "start": 196.84,
        "end": 199.0,
        "text": " the top of her own society."
    },
    {
        "start": 199.0,
        "end": 202.28,
        "text": " It touches so many themes that are central to understanding"
    },
    {
        "start": 202.28,
        "end": 205.72,
        "text": " the long sweep of Chinese history."
    },
    {
        "start": 205.72,
        "end": 209.04,
        "text": " Wuzhatian is our first Chinese character."
    },
    {
        "start": 209.04,
        "end": 210.68,
        "text": " Over the course of this series, we'll"
    },
    {
        "start": 210.68,
        "end": 212.92000000000002,
        "text": " hear the stories of women and men"
    },
    {
        "start": 212.92000000000002,
        "end": 216.08,
        "text": " who shaped the most populous country on earth,"
    },
    {
        "start": 216.08,
        "end": 218.92000000000002,
        "text": " scenes that range from a far off time parallel"
    },
    {
        "start": 218.92000000000002,
        "end": 222.12,
        "text": " to the ancient Greek philosophers to the rise of China"
    },
    {
        "start": 222.12,
        "end": 225.12,
        "text": " in the past three decades as the world's second biggest"
    },
    {
        "start": 225.12,
        "end": 226.76,
        "text": " economy."
    },
    {
        "start": 226.76,
        "end": 230.88,
        "text": " Not all of our characters are famous or elite powerholders."
    },
    {
        "start": 230.88,
        "end": 233.76,
        "text": " We'll hear about the poor, sometimes nameless men"
    },
    {
        "start": 233.76,
        "end": 236.64,
        "text": " and women who shaped China too."
    },
    {
        "start": 236.64,
        "end": 239.88,
        "text": " And we won't always go in chronological order."
    },
    {
        "start": 239.88,
        "end": 243.24,
        "text": " I would have mixed up viewpoints and ideas across time"
    },
    {
        "start": 243.24,
        "end": 247.12,
        "text": " that tell us what has held China together over the centuries,"
    },
    {
        "start": 247.12,
        "end": 250.48,
        "text": " continuity as well as change, often violent,"
    },
    {
        "start": 250.48,
        "end": 252.84,
        "text": " and disruptive change."
    },
    {
        "start": 252.84,
        "end": 255.51999999999998,
        "text": " So that's why we're starting off bang in the middle"
    },
    {
        "start": 255.51999999999998,
        "end": 260.48,
        "text": " of the Tang dynasty, which lasted from 618 to 906."
    },
    {
        "start": 260.48,
        "end": 263.32,
        "text": " China's Haimetival period, and a time when"
    },
    {
        "start": 263.32,
        "end": 266.52000000000004,
        "text": " it's capital at Chang'an, the modern city of Xi'an"
    },
    {
        "start": 266.52000000000004,
        "end": 270.20000000000005,
        "text": " in West Central China, was at the heart of a powerful"
    },
    {
        "start": 270.20000000000005,
        "end": 273.68,
        "text": " and sophisticated Asian crossroads, from Arabia"
    },
    {
        "start": 273.68,
        "end": 278.64000000000004,
        "text": " and Central Asia in the West to Japan and Korea in the East."
    },
    {
        "start": 278.64000000000004,
        "end": 282.16,
        "text": " Even today, the Tang dynasty is known as one of the empires"
    },
    {
        "start": 282.16,
        "end": 285.36,
        "text": " most cosmopolitan eras."
    },
    {
        "start": 285.36,
        "end": 288.88,
        "text": " So where better to start our tour of its past?"
    },
    {
        "start": 288.88,
        "end": 290.84,
        "text": " And we begin with someone who embodies"
    },
    {
        "start": 290.84,
        "end": 294.2,
        "text": " a whole variety of themes that say something important"
    },
    {
        "start": 294.2,
        "end": 295.4,
        "text": " about Chinese history."
    },
    {
        "start": 300.76,
        "end": 304.4,
        "text": " Wuzetian is immensely famous in China even today."
    },
    {
        "start": 304.4,
        "end": 306.76,
        "text": " But in the West, she's hardly known."
    },
    {
        "start": 306.76,
        "end": 309.88,
        "text": " And that's a shame, because she was quite a character."
    },
    {
        "start": 309.88,
        "end": 312.64,
        "text": " Well, they don't make prime time soap operas like this"
    },
    {
        "start": 312.64,
        "end": 314.44,
        "text": " about just anyone."
    },
    {
        "start": 314.44,
        "end": 318.28,
        "text": " And even Queen Victoria didn't get one made in 74 parts."
    },
    {
        "start": 319.23999999999995,
        "end": 326.79999999999995,
        "text": " Wuzetian's story tells us about how people rose to power in China."
    },
    {
        "start": 326.79999999999995,
        "end": 329.2,
        "text": " It also tells us about the values and the ideas"
    },
    {
        "start": 329.2,
        "end": 331.15999999999997,
        "text": " that shaped them as they did so."
    },
    {
        "start": 331.15999999999997,
        "end": 333.84,
        "text": " And it opens a window into a picture of a country"
    },
    {
        "start": 333.84,
        "end": 337.76,
        "text": " not as it's sometimes caricatured, a closed inward looking"
    },
    {
        "start": 337.76,
        "end": 341.79999999999995,
        "text": " cut-off society, but rather as a society open to ideas"
    },
    {
        "start": 341.79999999999995,
        "end": 345.79999999999995,
        "text": " from outside, as well as its own traditions."
    },
    {
        "start": 345.8,
        "end": 347.64,
        "text": " So who was Wuzetian?"
    },
    {
        "start": 351.64,
        "end": 353.56,
        "text": " She was beautiful."
    },
    {
        "start": 353.56,
        "end": 356.04,
        "text": " We can be pretty certain of this."
    },
    {
        "start": 356.04,
        "end": 359.56,
        "text": " Now this might sound like a bold historical claim,"
    },
    {
        "start": 359.56,
        "end": 361.64,
        "text": " particularly when there's no contemporary portrait"
    },
    {
        "start": 361.64,
        "end": 363.36,
        "text": " of her whatsoever."
    },
    {
        "start": 363.36,
        "end": 365.6,
        "text": " But she was taken on as a young woman who"
    },
    {
        "start": 365.6,
        "end": 369.04,
        "text": " would live and serve in the royal household."
    },
    {
        "start": 369.04,
        "end": 370.96000000000004,
        "text": " And you didn't get to do that unless you"
    },
    {
        "start": 370.96000000000004,
        "end": 373.32,
        "text": " were considered attractive."
    },
    {
        "start": 373.32,
        "end": 375.88,
        "text": " For an elite woman in medieval China,"
    },
    {
        "start": 375.88,
        "end": 379.59999999999997,
        "text": " rising through service at court as an attendant, a concubine,"
    },
    {
        "start": 379.59999999999997,
        "end": 383.76,
        "text": " or a wife, was one of the more potentially plausible ways"
    },
    {
        "start": 383.76,
        "end": 388.0,
        "text": " to access power, even if it was by proxy."
    },
    {
        "start": 388.0,
        "end": 390.36,
        "text": " But beauty wasn't enough."
    },
    {
        "start": 390.36,
        "end": 394.12,
        "text": " You had to be strategic and ruthless."
    },
    {
        "start": 394.12,
        "end": 396.56,
        "text": " The traditional ethic shaped by the thinking"
    },
    {
        "start": 396.56,
        "end": 398.96,
        "text": " of the philosopher Confucius, whose story"
    },
    {
        "start": 398.96,
        "end": 400.96,
        "text": " will hear later in the series,"
    },
    {
        "start": 400.96,
        "end": 404.84,
        "text": " abhorred the idea of women having genuine power."
    },
    {
        "start": 404.84,
        "end": 407.32,
        "text": " So for any woman to gain power at court"
    },
    {
        "start": 407.32,
        "end": 409.88,
        "text": " was not just a hard job of work."
    },
    {
        "start": 409.88,
        "end": 413.79999999999995,
        "text": " It was going against nothing less than the entire natural order"
    },
    {
        "start": 413.79999999999995,
        "end": 416.12,
        "text": " of the universe."
    },
    {
        "start": 416.12,
        "end": 418.12,
        "text": " Some challenge."
    },
    {
        "start": 418.12,
        "end": 420.64,
        "text": " It turned out to be a challenge that Wuzetian was"
    },
    {
        "start": 420.64,
        "end": 422.24,
        "text": " eminently capable of meeting."
    },
    {
        "start": 431.44,
        "end": 433.4,
        "text": " She didn't start right at the bottom."
    },
    {
        "start": 433.4,
        "end": 435.44,
        "text": " She was the daughter of a Duke."
    },
    {
        "start": 435.44,
        "end": 437.96,
        "text": " But when she was sent into the Imperial household,"
    },
    {
        "start": 437.96,
        "end": 440.79999999999995,
        "text": " as part of the group of palace concubines in the year 636,"
    },
    {
        "start": 440.79999999999995,
        "end": 443.68,
        "text": " she had to cope with the fact that many other senior ladies"
    },
    {
        "start": 443.68,
        "end": 447.96,
        "text": " in waiting were closer to the emperor than she was."
    },
    {
        "start": 447.96,
        "end": 449.88,
        "text": " Her rule was not at first much better"
    },
    {
        "start": 449.88,
        "end": 452.24,
        "text": " than that of a classy serving woman."
    },
    {
        "start": 452.24,
        "end": 454.59999999999997,
        "text": " And her chances of rising in the Imperial household"
    },
    {
        "start": 454.59999999999997,
        "end": 456.96,
        "text": " were pretty minimal."
    },
    {
        "start": 456.96,
        "end": 460.88,
        "text": " She managed to get closer to the imperial household"
    },
    {
        "start": 460.88,
        "end": 464.32,
        "text": " to the emperor, Tidesong, by taking on the duty"
    },
    {
        "start": 464.32,
        "end": 466.71999999999997,
        "text": " of changing his bedsheets."
    },
    {
        "start": 466.71999999999997,
        "end": 469.8,
        "text": " When he died, she was sent to a Buddhist nunnery"
    },
    {
        "start": 469.8,
        "end": 471.68,
        "text": " that was the custom with the concubines"
    },
    {
        "start": 471.68,
        "end": 473.6,
        "text": " of a deceased monarch."
    },
    {
        "start": 473.6,
        "end": 477.52,
        "text": " Somehow she escaped, not only returned to court,"
    },
    {
        "start": 477.52,
        "end": 481.0,
        "text": " but also got rid of the new Empress."
    },
    {
        "start": 481.0,
        "end": 483.84,
        "text": " You may be wondering how she managed this."
    },
    {
        "start": 483.84,
        "end": 486.56,
        "text": " Well, this was one of the most horrific stories"
    },
    {
        "start": 486.56,
        "end": 488.12,
        "text": " told about her."
    },
    {
        "start": 488.12,
        "end": 491.32,
        "text": " She killed her own newborn child, the Emperor's child,"
    },
    {
        "start": 491.32,
        "end": 495.6,
        "text": " too, of course, and then framed the Empress for the murder."
    },
    {
        "start": 495.6,
        "end": 499.68,
        "text": " She was then exiled along with another senior concubine."
    },
    {
        "start": 499.68,
        "end": 503.2,
        "text": " Woodz Zatien took up her position next to the new Emperor,"
    },
    {
        "start": 503.2,
        "end": 504.48,
        "text": " Gaudzong."
    },
    {
        "start": 504.48,
        "end": 507.04,
        "text": " But not before she'd ordered the limbs of her rivals"
    },
    {
        "start": 507.04,
        "end": 513.12,
        "text": " to be cut off and then left them to drown in a vat of wine."
    },
    {
        "start": 513.12,
        "end": 516.28,
        "text": " By the 660s, Woodz Zatien's influence at court"
    },
    {
        "start": 516.28,
        "end": 518.64,
        "text": " was indisputable, as she wielded power"
    },
    {
        "start": 518.64,
        "end": 521.0799999999999,
        "text": " from very close to the throne."
    },
    {
        "start": 521.0799999999999,
        "end": 525.1999999999999,
        "text": " When Gaudzong died in 683, she ruled through her sons."
    },
    {
        "start": 525.1999999999999,
        "end": 528.4,
        "text": " And then in 690, she took the ultimate step"
    },
    {
        "start": 528.4,
        "end": 532.0799999999999,
        "text": " and made herself the Emperor, an unprecedented act"
    },
    {
        "start": 532.0799999999999,
        "end": 535.56,
        "text": " for a woman, and one never repeated in the millennium"
    },
    {
        "start": 535.56,
        "end": 539.48,
        "text": " and a half that the Imperial system lasted."
    },
    {
        "start": 539.48,
        "end": 543.3199999999999,
        "text": " This didn't go down well with observers at the time."
    },
    {
        "start": 543.32,
        "end": 547.1600000000001,
        "text": " The heart of a serpent and the nature of a wolf."
    },
    {
        "start": 550.2,
        "end": 552.88,
        "text": " Her hit list was pretty impressive, if true."
    },
    {
        "start": 552.88,
        "end": 555.96,
        "text": " Her sister, brothers, the Emperor, and her mother"
    },
    {
        "start": 555.96,
        "end": 558.5600000000001,
        "text": " were all supposed to have been her victims,"
    },
    {
        "start": 558.5600000000001,
        "end": 562.9200000000001,
        "text": " and they shaped views of her as a murderous megalomaniac."
    },
    {
        "start": 562.9200000000001,
        "end": 566.08,
        "text": " Why did she get such a terrible reputation?"
    },
    {
        "start": 566.08,
        "end": 570.1600000000001,
        "text": " Being a woman was part of it, a large part of it."
    },
    {
        "start": 570.1600000000001,
        "end": 572.84,
        "text": " It was unusual in Western Europe to be a ruling queen"
    },
    {
        "start": 572.84,
        "end": 575.52,
        "text": " in your own right, but it did happen,"
    },
    {
        "start": 575.52,
        "end": 579.0400000000001,
        "text": " Mary and Elizabeth being English examples."
    },
    {
        "start": 579.0400000000001,
        "end": 581.88,
        "text": " In China, it really didn't."
    },
    {
        "start": 581.88,
        "end": 584.88,
        "text": " As I mentioned, in the philosophy of Confucius,"
    },
    {
        "start": 584.88,
        "end": 586.9200000000001,
        "text": " the thinker who did more than any other"
    },
    {
        "start": 586.9200000000001,
        "end": 591.2,
        "text": " to shape China's cultural DNA, having a woman in power"
    },
    {
        "start": 591.2,
        "end": 594.08,
        "text": " was one of the most unnatural circumstances"
    },
    {
        "start": 594.08,
        "end": 596.12,
        "text": " that could possibly be imagined."
    },
    {
        "start": 597.12,
        "end": 599.5600000000001,
        "text": " I'm not questioning that Woodz Zatien killed off"
    },
    {
        "start": 599.5600000000001,
        "end": 602.6,
        "text": " worryingly large numbers of her fellow courtiers."
    },
    {
        "start": 602.6,
        "end": 605.5600000000001,
        "text": " She almost certainly did, nor would I deny"
    },
    {
        "start": 605.5600000000001,
        "end": 608.48,
        "text": " that she was something of a tyrant."
    },
    {
        "start": 608.48,
        "end": 611.48,
        "text": " The point is that these attributes were also true"
    },
    {
        "start": 611.48,
        "end": 614.9200000000001,
        "text": " of huge numbers of male emperors who had come before her"
    },
    {
        "start": 614.9200000000001,
        "end": 616.96,
        "text": " and would come afterward."
    },
    {
        "start": 616.96,
        "end": 619.76,
        "text": " Yet her contemporaries and the men who wrote the histories"
    },
    {
        "start": 619.76,
        "end": 623.36,
        "text": " later had to portray her as a ghastly anomaly."
    },
    {
        "start": 629.96,
        "end": 632.2,
        "text": " But if we step away from her reputation,"
    },
    {
        "start": 632.2,
        "end": 636.36,
        "text": " and instead look at what she achieved, the story changes."
    },
    {
        "start": 636.36,
        "end": 639.2,
        "text": " A map of the Tang Empire under Woodz Zatien"
    },
    {
        "start": 639.2,
        "end": 642.36,
        "text": " covers a very impressive stretch of real estate,"
    },
    {
        "start": 642.36,
        "end": 646.0,
        "text": " from Central Asia in the West, to the borders of the Himalayas,"
    },
    {
        "start": 646.0,
        "end": 650.12,
        "text": " to the fertile fields of Central and Eastern China."
    },
    {
        "start": 650.12,
        "end": 653.9200000000001,
        "text": " Historians argue that her rule helped to stabilize the Tang,"
    },
    {
        "start": 653.9200000000001,
        "end": 656.0400000000001,
        "text": " giving it a lease of life when it was under threat"
    },
    {
        "start": 656.0400000000001,
        "end": 658.88,
        "text": " from ethnic groups from the North and West."
    },
    {
        "start": 658.88,
        "end": 661.0400000000001,
        "text": " And this story of foreign invasion"
    },
    {
        "start": 661.04,
        "end": 664.4399999999999,
        "text": " is one that we'll hear over and over again."
    },
    {
        "start": 664.4399999999999,
        "end": 668.24,
        "text": " They also agree that it was a time when the Empire was well run"
    },
    {
        "start": 668.24,
        "end": 671.4,
        "text": " and its people well-fared and relatively content."
    },
    {
        "start": 677.4,
        "end": 680.5999999999999,
        "text": " So Woodz Zatien tells us a story that's unique."
    },
    {
        "start": 680.5999999999999,
        "end": 684.12,
        "text": " The only woman to take the throne, but also one"
    },
    {
        "start": 684.12,
        "end": 686.36,
        "text": " that was found frequently at the height of China's"
    },
    {
        "start": 686.36,
        "end": 690.64,
        "text": " greatest dynasties, the Tang, the Song, the Ming,"
    },
    {
        "start": 690.64,
        "end": 692.4399999999999,
        "text": " and the Qing."
    },
    {
        "start": 692.4399999999999,
        "end": 695.24,
        "text": " When these rulers were at their most successful,"
    },
    {
        "start": 695.24,
        "end": 698.12,
        "text": " they had to find ways to manage and use the rivalries"
    },
    {
        "start": 698.12,
        "end": 700.76,
        "text": " at court, which were always part of the intrigue"
    },
    {
        "start": 700.76,
        "end": 703.16,
        "text": " that underpinned the imperial system,"
    },
    {
        "start": 703.16,
        "end": 707.24,
        "text": " just as it was in European monarchies of the time."
    },
    {
        "start": 707.24,
        "end": 710.4399999999999,
        "text": " But those successful rulers also managed to control"
    },
    {
        "start": 710.4399999999999,
        "end": 714.36,
        "text": " a large and widespread bureaucracy that was governing"
    },
    {
        "start": 714.36,
        "end": 719.0,
        "text": " not a small kingdom, but a vast empire of perhaps 50 million"
    },
    {
        "start": 719.0,
        "end": 722.96,
        "text": " people that covered everything from lush river-ine land"
    },
    {
        "start": 722.96,
        "end": 725.24,
        "text": " to mountainous wastelands."
    },
    {
        "start": 725.24,
        "end": 728.36,
        "text": " They also instituted social and economic changes"
    },
    {
        "start": 728.36,
        "end": 731.8,
        "text": " that aimed at keeping China prosperous, fertile,"
    },
    {
        "start": 731.8,
        "end": 734.68,
        "text": " and under the government's control."
    },
    {
        "start": 734.68,
        "end": 736.8,
        "text": " Some succeeded better than others."
    },
    {
        "start": 736.8,
        "end": 739.48,
        "text": " Woodz Zatien did pretty well."
    },
    {
        "start": 739.48,
        "end": 742.0,
        "text": " Her status as a unique female emperor"
    },
    {
        "start": 742.0,
        "end": 745.76,
        "text": " shouldn't distract from her status as a very competent emperor,"
    },
    {
        "start": 745.76,
        "end": 746.52,
        "text": " full stop."
    },
    {
        "start": 750.0,
        "end": 752.0,
        "text": " But there were things she did that do seem"
    },
    {
        "start": 752.0,
        "end": 754.56,
        "text": " like a woman poking her finger into the eye"
    },
    {
        "start": 754.56,
        "end": 759.32,
        "text": " of the Confucian patriarchy, whose ideas underpin Chinese thinking."
    },
    {
        "start": 759.32,
        "end": 761.84,
        "text": " And she did that by drawing on a faith"
    },
    {
        "start": 761.84,
        "end": 766.76,
        "text": " that came from somewhere much farther away."
    },
    {
        "start": 766.76,
        "end": 769.08,
        "text": " There are plenty of signs of India here"
    },
    {
        "start": 769.08,
        "end": 773.36,
        "text": " at the Jingan Temple in central Shanghai."
    },
    {
        "start": 773.36,
        "end": 777.4,
        "text": " There's a golden elephant up on the roof-eaves."
    },
    {
        "start": 777.4,
        "end": 779.76,
        "text": " There are the lions of Ashoka over there."
    },
    {
        "start": 779.76,
        "end": 782.88,
        "text": " And of course, the Sanskrit text that underpin Buddhism,"
    },
    {
        "start": 782.88,
        "end": 785.12,
        "text": " which is central to this temple."
    },
    {
        "start": 785.12,
        "end": 787.56,
        "text": " And of course, Buddhism itself was one of the things"
    },
    {
        "start": 787.56,
        "end": 792.1999999999999,
        "text": " that fascinated the Empress Woodz Zatien in the Tang Dynasty."
    },
    {
        "start": 792.1999999999999,
        "end": 794.36,
        "text": " And in some ways, her fascination with Buddhism,"
    },
    {
        "start": 794.36,
        "end": 797.04,
        "text": " which her critics complained, she favored"
    },
    {
        "start": 797.04,
        "end": 799.68,
        "text": " over the other religious traditions of China,"
    },
    {
        "start": 799.68,
        "end": 803.76,
        "text": " said something quite central about that period of Chinese history."
    },
    {
        "start": 803.76,
        "end": 806.1999999999999,
        "text": " It was a time when people looked to Central Asia,"
    },
    {
        "start": 806.2,
        "end": 810.6,
        "text": " to India, to Tibet, to other parts of the whole Eurasian region,"
    },
    {
        "start": 810.6,
        "end": 812.72,
        "text": " to influence Chinese culture."
    },
    {
        "start": 812.72,
        "end": 814.44,
        "text": " And Chinese culture loved it."
    },
    {
        "start": 814.44,
        "end": 816.0,
        "text": " It absorbed these ideas."
    },
    {
        "start": 816.0,
        "end": 819.2,
        "text": " It brought them into something that was a combination"
    },
    {
        "start": 819.2,
        "end": 822.72,
        "text": " of these different influences and yet more than the whole."
    },
    {
        "start": 822.72,
        "end": 824.72,
        "text": " It was one of the reasons that Chang'an,"
    },
    {
        "start": 824.72,
        "end": 826.88,
        "text": " the Tang Dynasty's capital at the time,"
    },
    {
        "start": 826.88,
        "end": 829.1600000000001,
        "text": " was one of the greatest cities in the world."
    },
    {
        "start": 829.1600000000001,
        "end": 831.72,
        "text": " And why Buddhism thrived at this time."
    },
    {
        "start": 832.6,
        "end": 836.48,
        "text": " Perhaps it's not all that surprising that"
    },
    {
        "start": 836.48,
        "end": 841.9200000000001,
        "text": " Woodz Zatien promoted Buddhism above the indigenous Chinese religions."
    },
    {
        "start": 841.9200000000001,
        "end": 846.24,
        "text": " After all, Buddhism gave more space to women than Confucian thinking."
    },
    {
        "start": 846.24,
        "end": 850.44,
        "text": " And its popularity in China is also a sign of how much the country"
    },
    {
        "start": 850.44,
        "end": 855.0,
        "text": " has always been willing to absorb and adapt to ideas from outside"
    },
    {
        "start": 855.0,
        "end": 857.8000000000001,
        "text": " that it finds useful and attractive."
    },
    {
        "start": 862.72,
        "end": 865.72,
        "text": " Woodz Zatien died in 705."
    },
    {
        "start": 865.72,
        "end": 870.72,
        "text": " What's left behind is a blank stone monument for her tomb."
    },
    {
        "start": 870.72,
        "end": 875.72,
        "text": " All other emperors had Mason's cover record of their lives into the stone."
    },
    {
        "start": 875.72,
        "end": 878.72,
        "text": " But not a word was written on her memorial."
    },
    {
        "start": 878.72,
        "end": 882.72,
        "text": " That blank assessment was the final insult"
    },
    {
        "start": 882.72,
        "end": 885.72,
        "text": " from the Confucian hierarchy to the anomalous emperor."
    },
    {
        "start": 885.72,
        "end": 888.72,
        "text": " The site is located in the Chenling,"
    },
    {
        "start": 889.72,
        "end": 893.72,
        "text": " about 50 miles northwest of Xi'an, deep inside a mountain."
    },
    {
        "start": 895.72,
        "end": 898.72,
        "text": " Woodz Zatien is our first Chinese character."
    },
    {
        "start": 898.72,
        "end": 901.72,
        "text": " In some ways, as China's only woman emperor,"
    },
    {
        "start": 901.72,
        "end": 903.72,
        "text": " she was entirely exceptional."
    },
    {
        "start": 903.72,
        "end": 907.72,
        "text": " In another, she is part of some important stories,"
    },
    {
        "start": 907.72,
        "end": 909.72,
        "text": " the gaining and using of power,"
    },
    {
        "start": 909.72,
        "end": 912.72,
        "text": " the nurturing of a cosmopolitan culture,"
    },
    {
        "start": 912.72,
        "end": 917.72,
        "text": " and the use of faith to shape personal identity as well as society."
    },
    {
        "start": 919.72,
        "end": 923.72,
        "text": " The story of China's first Chinese character"
    },
    {
        "start": 923.72,
        "end": 926.72,
        "text": " is the story of China's first Chinese character"
    },
    {
        "start": 926.72,
        "end": 929.72,
        "text": " in the next episode."
    },
    {
        "start": 929.72,
        "end": 932.72,
        "text": " We'll jump forward a millennium and a half"
    },
    {
        "start": 932.72,
        "end": 937.72,
        "text": " to a story of China in a conflict for its very life and soul."
    },
    {
        "start": 937.72,
        "end": 943.72,
        "text": " And meet two more characters who we could call the Asian Power Couple."
    },
    {
        "start": 949.72,
        "end": 951.72,
        "text": " That was Chinese character."
    },
    {
        "start": 951.72,
        "end": 953.72,
        "text": " So all that was just delightful."
    },
    {
        "start": 953.72,
        "end": 954.72,
        "text": " It's cool, isn't it?"
    },
    {
        "start": 954.72,
        "end": 957.72,
        "text": " Yeah, and I can tell it's going to be like one long story."
    },
    {
        "start": 957.72,
        "end": 959.72,
        "text": " We learn a bit about Woodz Zatien,"
    },
    {
        "start": 959.72,
        "end": 962.72,
        "text": " but it's really just the beginning of laying out some themes"
    },
    {
        "start": 962.72,
        "end": 966.72,
        "text": " and that future episodes are going to more fully explore."
    },
    {
        "start": 966.72,
        "end": 968.72,
        "text": " Confucius pops up later in the series."
    },
    {
        "start": 968.72,
        "end": 971.72,
        "text": " And when you download this wonderful podcast,"
    },
    {
        "start": 971.72,
        "end": 975.72,
        "text": " the character who illustrates it is Confucius."
    },
    {
        "start": 975.72,
        "end": 976.72,
        "text": " Oh, right."
    },
    {
        "start": 976.72,
        "end": 979.72,
        "text": " Okay, so if you want to hear the rest of those episodes,"
    },
    {
        "start": 979.72,
        "end": 981.72,
        "text": " just search for Chinese characters."
    },
    {
        "start": 981.72,
        "end": 984.72,
        "text": " You'll probably want to tag BBC onto the end of that search,"
    },
    {
        "start": 984.72,
        "end": 986.72,
        "text": " so you don't come up with a bunch of other stuff."
    },
    {
        "start": 986.72,
        "end": 988.72,
        "text": " And subscribe."
    },
    {
        "start": 988.72,
        "end": 989.72,
        "text": " That's all from us."
    },
    {
        "start": 989.72,
        "end": 990.72,
        "text": " See you next time."
    }
]