Wild China (Blu-ray)

Journey to the mystical, mysterious land of splendor and romance! Filmed entirely in stunning high-definition, Wild China lifts the veil on the world's most enigmatic and magnificent country, delving into its vibrant habitats to reveal a land of unbelievable natural complexit ─ beyond the Great Wall and Beijing's Olympic Stadium. Get an amazingly personal look at China - before the world sets its sights on the host country of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Travel across one of the oldest civilizations on Earth - from the glittering peaks of the Himalayas to the barren steppe, the sub-Arctic to the tropical islands, through deserts both searingly hot and mind-numbingly cold and marvel at a dazzling array of mysterious, beautiful, wild and rare pandas, monkeys, snakes and elephants, while tribal minorities such as the Dai keep ancient Buddhist ceremonies alive. This landmark series provides unprecedented access to a land of astonishing natural complexity, breathtaking landscapes, rare and surprising wildlife and colorful people.

China is the third-largest country on Earth with one of the oldest civilisations and the most turbulent of modern histories. After almost a century of closed borders, it has recently opened its doors to the outside world.

The BBC has gained unprecedented access into this most enigmatic of countries, to film a land of astonishing natural complexity - fabulous landscapes, diverse vibrant habitats, rare and surprising wildlife, colourful people - and the impact of traditional culture and recent modernisation.

With splendour, scale and romance, Wild China journeys through China from the Himalayas to the Steppe, the sub-Arctic to the tropical islands. Pioneering images, including the latest aerial filming technology and high definition cameras will capture the dazzling array of mysterious and wonderful creatures that live in China's most beautiful landscapes. Over six episodes, we will travel the length and breadth of China to reveal the full extent and fabulous diversity of its natural wonders.

The glittering peaks of the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, loom over the desolate Tibetan plateau. Rivers snake through plains, roar through echoing limestone gorges and cascade down forested waterfalls. Deserts range from searing hot to mind-numbingly cold. Steaming jungles teem with tropical creatures some of which are still being discovered. Birds of prey circle over rolling grass steppe lands while some forests appear as familiar as any European garden where rhododendrons, camellias and buddleias thrive in their natural habitat.

As China covers such a vast area, we will move from place to place with the help of spectacular aerials and maps in a filmic style. We will create images that exude an artistic feel - playing with time to create ghost-like visions of flocking birds, migrating herds and dancing cranes. Movement within scenes will be highlighted by altering the speed of filming, from high-speed footage which reveals every rain drop splashing from a golden pheasant's back, to panoramic time-lapses which reveal the emergence of flowers in an alpine meadow or autumnal colour in a forest. Waterfalls will become bubbling white brushstrokes and the lights of fishermen at sea at night will leave lines of light as they bob up and down.

From pandas to the probable origin of the dragon myths, Wild China is just teeming with mysterious, beautiful, rare and wonderful creatures.

The Great Rice Bowl - Eight times the size of the UK and bathed in a humid sub-tropical climate, southern China is a vast land of endless hills and glistening emerald rice paddies. In the far south-western province of Yunnan, the hillsides have been carved over many centuries into a spectacular array of rice terraces spanning two thousand metres vertically from the mountain tops to the floor of the Red River valley. This is quintessential rural China - a landscape where pyjama-clad peasants still follow wooden ploughs pulled by steaming water buffaloes on the hillsides, while in the lowlands noisy combine harvesters reap fields cultivated with the aid of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Further east in Guangxi province, men in conical bamboo hats dance for their tame cormorants, urging them to dive for fishes in the limpid waters of the Li River. In China, every aspect of rural life is closely bound up with nature. For the colourful Miao community of hilly Guizhou Province, the arrival of swallows in the spring is used to determine the start of the rice-planting season. The paddies provide not just rice, but also fishes and frogs which breed in the flooded fields. However, this is no wildlife paradise. In the Chinese countryside wildlife is seen as a resource to be used by people and the south has a long tradition of eating wild animals of all kinds. Nature, however, is tenacious and resourceful. In the more rugged hills where agriculture is impractical, monkeys still patrol the forested hillsides, beautifully-patterned venomous snakes hide in the undergrowth and bizarre giant salamanders lurk in the rocky stream beds. Almost half of southern China is occupied by limestone hills which have the peculiar property that the rock is dissolved by rainwater, creating the spectacular egg-carton landform known as karst. In Yunnan, the karst forms a spectacular maze of eroded pinnacles known as the Stone Forest - a famous tourist attraction. Beneath the surface of the karst lie vast caverns traversed by mysterious subterranean rivers which are home to blind cave fishes. China contains thousands of kilometres of subterranean passageways, often of vast dimensions and filled with glittering arrays of stalactites and stalagmites. Much of this spectacular underworld is only now beginning to be explored by adventure-seeking cavers. The caves shelter huge colonies of nesting swifts as well as bats, including one remarkable species which specializes in catching fishes from the local rivers, while rare black leaf monkeys clamber along tiny ledges in the darkness in search of safe sleeping-places. East of the karst lies a vast lowland area known as 'the land of fish and rice', bordered by the spectacular sandstone pinnacles of Zhangjiajie and the soaring granite mountains of the Huang Shan, festooned with thousand-year old pine trees. Recently, nature reserves have been established in this area to protect endangered creatures such as the dwarf Chinese alligator and to safeguard vast flocks of water birds, such as tundra swans and rare Siberian cranes, which find a winter haven in the relatively warm southern lakes.

The Forests of Shangri La - Hidden beneath billowing clouds, in China's remote south west, are perhaps the richest natural treasures in all China. The snow-capped Hengduan Mountains - an easterly extension of the Himalaya - sweep down across the Tibet border into northern Yunnan Province as a series of towering north-south aligned ridges. They were formed as part of the massive uplifting of rock strata along the length of the Himalayan chain when the Indian subcontinent crashed northwards into Asia as a result of continental drift. Between the Hengduan Mountain ridges run three great parallel valleys which channel the three great rivers of tropical south-east Asia: the Salween, the Mekong and the Yangtze. Between them, the mountains and rivers form effective barriers to the east-west movements of animals and plants, providing perfect conditions for animals and plants to evolve into unique and distinctive forms, each confined within its own valley. However, the valleys have had an even more profound effect on the local ecology. They act as funnels drawing the warm moisture-laden winds of the South Asian monsoon northwards, deep into the heart of the mountains. As a result, valleys way to the north of the tropics are cloaked in luxuriant vegetation - a unique mix of tropical jungle trees, typical mountain species such as rhododendrons and camellias and vast stands of fast-growing bamboos which are attacked by peculiar burrowing bamboo rats. This unexpected jungle paradise is home to dazzling birds, such as golden pheasants; jewel-like sunbirds and the extraordinarily colourful Temminck's tragopan with its peculiar peek-a-boo courtship display. In the treetops Gibbons sing their haunting songs to the dawn and monkeys compete for fruit with giant tree squirrels. In their upper reaches, where the altitude produces more pronounced seasonal changes, the valleys take on a very different character. Here are deciduous woodlands filled with colourful flowers: azaleas, forsythias, clematis, dogwoods and polyanthus. Many of these are now well-known to gardeners in the West, thanks to the efforts of pioneering botanists in the late 19th and early 20th Century who braved the river torrents to collect specimens of Chinese plants for sale in Europe and whose reports of paradise-like valleys lost among the mountains gave rise to legends of Shangri-La. Best known of these was Joseph Rock - a swashbuckling Indiana Jones like character who made a remarkable record of his travels including some of the earliest known botanical photographs in colour. Rock also filmed his party crossing river torrents on rope 'death-slides'. Local tribal people still cross the rivers in this way, carrying livestock and other produce between their home village and the local markets, although these days wire-hawsers have supplanted the old hemp ropes. Higher still on the mountain slopes, coniferous forests are home to richly-furred red pandas and yeti-like Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys which subsist almost entirely on an unlikely diet of feathery tree lichens. But the richest forests of all are those which lie to the south of the mountains, where the Salween and Mekong rivers finally escape the mountains. This is the real tropical jungle, home to China's last wild elephants - a popular tourist attraction - and colourful tribal minorities such as the Dai, who protect sacred forests surrounding their villages and celebrate their culture in an annual water-splashing ceremony when they anoint statues of the Buddha with river water.

Tibet - The size of Western Europe, the Tibetan plateau covers a quarter of China. This vast windswept wilderness is one of the world's most remote places, bounded by the glacier-strewn Himalayas. At 9km high and 2900km long, the Himalayas are the real Great Wall of China. Up on the Tibetan plateau the Himalayas dictate the nature and rhythms of life, creating a world where the air is thin, snow falls in summer, and persistent winds and storms rip across the hauntingly beautiful landscape. This is a land of superlatives - with the world's loftiest mountains and monasteries, its highest-dwelling creatures and its deepest gorges. But this brutal region is home to incredible wildlife, such as the rare chiru. When discovered by travellers in the Middle Ages, the dazzling horns of these antelopes prompted tales of unicorns. Hunted for their fine fur, known as 'shahtoosh', in the last century chiru were driven to near extinction. Today there is a ban on poaching but they are still difficult to find since the area where they live, the Chang Tang, is so vast and remote. But we were able to film their spectacular rut, where the males joust like fencers in temperatures that plummet to minus 40oC, and where the air is so thin that just breathing is a challenge. Here brown bear and the crafty Tibetan fox can be seen hunting the rabbit-like pikas, and herds of formidable wild yak migrate endlessly across the vast open spaces, sure footed and totally at home in the ice and snow. Meanwhile the argali sheep, the world's largest with its dramatic spiralling horns, gather together in winter to endure the worst weather on the planet. There are more large creatures here than anywhere else in China, but also some remarkable miniature ones that have managed to survive in this uniquely inhospitable environment. Up on the slopes of Everest the highest predators on earth - jumping spiders - hunt for springtails. The Chinese call these gymnastic predators 'fly tigers'. The plateau is littered with hot springs that bubble and belch clouds of sulphurous steam. Downstream the springs turn into warm-flowing rivers which are patrolled by cold blooded snakes that wait patiently in the water, their heads bobbing like fishing floats, for an unsuspecting fish. Thanks to the hot springs these are the highest dwelling snakes in the world. Tibet not only has unique and extraordinary creatures, it also has a unique culture, defined by a union of ancient shamanic beliefs and over one thousand years of Buddhism. This hybrid religion has nurtured remarkable beliefs: life is respected, and good deeds to living creatures are reckoned to assure a better rebirth, and eventual enlightenment. The monasteries are the engines that drive this extraordinary culture. The land is imbued with magic, and there are even secret kingdoms that have been rendered invisible. We were able to film the Yarlung Gorge, 3 times as deep as the Grand Canyon and rarely seen by outsiders. Tibetan Buddhism and the beliefs of millions are focused on Mount Kailash - a remote mountain in the far west of Tibet where culture and landscape converge. Buddha achieved enlightenment here, and four major rivers flow from this region. Tibet's many glaciers and rivers and its impact on the weather systems of Asia and the Indian subcontinent means this landscape and ancient culture provides a crucial life support system for much of the planet.

Beyond the Great Wall - The Great Wall of China was built by the ancient Chinese emperors to keep out the fierce warrior tribes that live to the north. Their lands were considered to be hostile and uninhabitable. Conditions in northern China can be severe, with terrible Siberian winters and searing, hot, stormy deserts. These conditions have shaped the characters of some of China's most rugged and fascinating people and wildlife. North-east China still has dense forests with Wild Boar and just a few Siberian tigers, the world's largest cat. Ethnic minorities like the Hezhe people fish through holes in the ice, and surprisingly, a handful of people still herd reindeer. The frozen forests give way to great grasslands, home to over 5 million Mongolians. Their ancestor, Genghis Kahn, left a legacy of horsemanship which is unrivalled anywhere in the world. We travel through the ancient capital of Xanadu and join the annual summer horse-racing festival of Nadam before continuing on to the beginning of China's vast deserts. Here, the Great Wall finally comes to an end after 5000 winding kilometres at the fortress of Jiayuguan. Beyond this place are deserts for hundreds of miles, including the world's largest shifting sand desert - the Taklamakan, whose name means 'You go in and you never come out'. People risked their lives to cross these deserts to get their hands on valuable Chinese silk, and the routes the traders took became known as the Silk Road. Great fortunes and mighty kingdoms were built on trade in silk, and incredibly, it all comes from the woven cocoon of a humble little insect: the Silk worm. To get the silk across the desert and out of China along this famous trade route was only possible with the aide of a desert specialist animal: the camel. Because they can carry heavy loads across sandy deserts, and need to drink only every few weeks, they were the perfect ally. Great towns were built as trading posts and some, like Turpan, survive today. Turpan is famous as an oasis town that brings water from distant mountains, through underground tunnels that were built thousands of years ago. The water allows the growth of grapes, which this region is famous for. But not all Silk Road towns endured as well as Turpan - many are just ghost towns, swallowed back up by the desert. The last town on the trade routes before leaving China for central Asia is Kashgar which is still a thriving market town. The people here hardly look Chinese, and many live in China's remotest corners. Nomadic Kazakhs herd their livestock in the Heavenly Mountains, but when winter comes, they pack up their tents and move down into the desert regions of the Junggar Basin, the westernmost part of the Great Gobi desert. Snow blankets the desert in winter, and the Kazakhs' livestock must compete with wild animals for the sparse grass that they eat. This is home to some of the world's last wild horses, as well as gazelles and even wild hamsters! The Kazakhs here continue 6000 years of tradition of hunting with Golden Eagles, but their lives are beginning to change is this rapidly modernising country. Enormous cities, like Harbin, now protect modern Chinese from the harshness of China's northern climates. Each year, the Harbin Ice Festival is a chance to celebrate the beauty of the north. The Chinese do it in their own special style: giant ice-carving competitions covered in neon lights turn the city into a Technicolor wonderland.

Land of the Dragon - While much of western China is mountainous and relatively thinly populated, the eastern side, between the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, is a place of great cities, of heavy industrialization and intensive agriculture. China's heartland with its predominantly Han ethnic population is the centre of a five thousand year old civilization which has created landmarks such as the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, and Beijing's Olympic Stadium. But this densely populated area is also home to some of China's most charismatic creatures. The elusive giant panda has always been considered incredibly tricky to film in the wild. It's so secretive and sensitive to noise that researchers have barely caught a glimpse of one as it moves swiftly through the dense bamboo. However we were able to film not only pandas foraging for frozen bamboo leaves in the snow covered mountains of the Qinling Mountains, but also the entire courtship and mating rituals of these wonderful creatures, never filmed before. The sounds were like Chewbacca in a pub brawl! We were also able to film the rare golden snub-nosed monkey and the formidable and aggressive golden takin - a fabulous creature said to be the original owner of the Golden Fleece. When male takin clash horns during their rut, the sound reverberates around the mountains like a gunshot. Since the 1950s, China has undergone massive development and change, bringing many environmental problems. Following a century of aggression from outside forces, Chairman Mao sought to re-build China's dignity. Faced with massive logistical problems, Mao's first concern was to feed the Chinese population. His policies replaced the ancient wisdom of 'harmony between man and nature' with a new dictum: 'man must conquer nature'. Making China self reliant in steel production resulted in 10% of China's forest being felled, causing long term ecological damage. But behind the politics, the relationship of the Chinese to their environment and its creatures is in fact deep, complex, and full of surprises. A visit to a Chinese medicine shop reveals the extraordinary means they will use in an attempt to balance the 'ying and yang' forces within the body and achieve a harmonious balance in the universe. Other natural forces are more tangible, such as the Yellow and Yangtze rivers which helped to shape and nurture Chinese civilisation. The raging torrent of the Yellow River's Hukuo falls are evidence of the massive forces that, once they had been tamed, brought fertility to their fields. The Chinese believed the rivers were carved by dragons, and respect for the dragon may have contributed to protecting the rare Chinese alligator, which still survives around the Yangtze. And there are further success stories. In 1982 there were just seven crested ibis left in the world, but following a conservation programme there are now 500. Such conservation successes are signs of a gradual turnaround in attitudes towards wildlife and the environment which suggest a return to the ancient concept of harmony with nature - offering a glimmer of hope for the future of wild China.

Crowded Coasts - From the eastern end of the Great Wall, China's coast spans 14,500 kilometres and more than five thousand years of history. This is a place of huge contrasts: futuristic modern cities jostling traditional seaweed-thatched villages, ancient tea terraces and wild wetlands where rare animals still survive. Each year, endangered red-crowned cranes make an epic journey along the coast between their northern breeding grounds and their winter refuge close to Shanghai. Along their route they skirt the shallow Bohai Gulf where traditional seaside communities collect shellfish from the fertile mud and cultivate vast seaweed farms which they share with wild swans, known as 'winter angels'. Out in the gulf, rocky Shedao Island is infested with venomous snakes lying ambush for the twice-yearly influx of migrating birds, which use the island as a resting point. The gulf waters are enriched by fertile sediment from the Yellow River, boosted by agricultural fertilizers which stimulate the growth of plankton, in turn providing food for plagues of jellyfish. Each summer, armadas of fishing boats set nets to trap the jellyfish, which in China are eaten as a delicacy. Heading south along the coast, the Dafeng salt marsh reserve is home to the remarkable water-loving Milu deer, rescued from the brink of extinction in the 19th Century when a small herd was established in England's Woburn Abbey. Returned to the wild in China they now flourish under strict government protection. Beyond the Yangtze River estuary lies the vast city of Shanghai - China's financial capital. On nearby Chongming Island, traditional bird hunters use their skills to lure migrant wading birds into their traps - allowing them to be weighed, measured and fitted with identification tags as part of an ambitious conservation project. South of Shanghai, the cloud-wreathed granite mountains of Fujian Province are home to one of China's oldest tea-growing cultures, that of the Kejia people. The Kejia live in circular communal houses where they produce fine oolong, or 'black dragon' teas. Ancient tea-trading routes follow the coast to ports from which junk-rigged sailing ships once plied the world's oceans. These are treacherous waters, battered by tropical cyclones. Lying at the outer margins of the Pearl River estuary, Hong Kong's sheltered deep-water harbour provides the best-protected anchorage in southern China, boosting its fortunes as a trading centre. Surprisingly, it is also China's foremost bird sanctuary - sheltering vast numbers of tropical migrants, including a quarter of the world's black-faced spoonbills. The outer estuary is also home to China's last remaining - and highly protected - White Dolphins. South of Hong Kong lies the glittering turquoise expanse of the South China sea, studded with islands and remote coral reefs. Closer to the mainland, most of the coral has been damaged and the reefs severely over fished, though there are now efforts being made to replant coastal mangroves and protect remaining fish stocks. At the southern limit of China's coast lies the tropical paradise island of Hainan - a favourite with Chinese holidaymakers. Here macaque monkeys are protected for the amusement of tourists, and ancient calligraphy carved into the rocks announces the 'end of the world' - China's final frontier. The issues that face China today, increasing pressures on resources, quality of environment and living space, are those that face us all. If there is any country in the world equipped to solve environmental problems on a vast scale it has to be China, with its tremendous human resources and powerful political control. The path it chooses will affect not just its own people and its natural environment, but the rest of the world too.

About one fifth of the world's population lives in China.

The Great Wall of China was started over 2,500 years ago, and is more than 5,000 km long.

Thousands of years ago the Chinese had developed a calendar, writing, the wheel and a thriving silk industry - and were advanced in astronomy and mathematics.

China was the first nation to invent gunpowder, which was used for fireworks.