When China was first united some 2,250 years ago, it was already a country rich in skills and tradition, where farmers grew rice in flooded fields, women wove beautiful silk cloth, and philosophers wrote important guides to life. This great civilisation bloomed for almost 5,000 years - China's imperial age of dynasties and emperors lasted to the 20th century. Here you will meet young people like Chao, a papermaker's son and Baozhai, a talented poet. You will spend time with a hardworking student, a soldier stationed on the Great Wall, a silk maker's daughter and boys travelling the Silk Road.