Michael Wood embarks on a great historical adventure, exploring the stories, people and landscapes that have helped create China's distinctive character and genius over four thousand years. Episode Two: Silk Roads and China Ships Michael tells the tale of China's first great international age under the Tang Dynasty. He travels along the Silk Road to the bazaars of Central Asia and into India on the track of the Chinese monk who brought Buddhism back to China. Then in the backstreets and markets of Xi'an, Michael meets descendants of the traders from Central Asia and Persia who came into China on the Silk Road. Moving south, he tracks the rise of the silk industry, and the world's favourite drink: tea. Finally, he explores the intense drama of the fall of the Tang. Among the eyewitnesses were China's greatest poets including the Chinese Shakespeare, Du Fu. During a visit to his burial ground, the pupils take Michael through one famous poem about loss and longing as the dynasty falls, and in that ordinary classroom, a sense of the amazing drama and the deep-rooted continuities of Chinese culture.