The World of the Chinese

China is playing an increasingly important role worldwide. Under President Xi Jinping, substantial investments are being made in communication and cooperation and industrious Chinese people are settling abroad in large numbers. Documentary maker and China expert Ruben Terlou visits them in the new VPRO travel series ‘The World of the Chinese’. Who are they, what do they want to achieve and what impact does their presence have on the local population?

The Mekong River with Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins embarks on a life-changing, 3,000-mile journey up the Mekong, South East Asia's greatest river, exploring lives and landscapes on the point of dramatic change.

China from the Inside

China is rapidly becoming a world power, but much of the country and its people remain hidden to those outside its borders. China from the Inside, provides a rare insider's view of China, her institutions and people. China is at a critical point in its history -- it is richer and stronger than ever, but the clash between economic policies and the Communist political agenda complicates the lives of many of its citizens. China from the Inside includes perspectives ranging from those of the powerful to the powerless, the scholars and the uneducated, and the supporters and detractors of today's China. It does not shy away from China's many contradictions, with scenes from some of the most breathtaking places on the planet as well as the most polluted. Across four extraordinary hours, the series explores a country of 1.3 billion people undergoing astonishing growth while facing prodigious obstacles.

天下一锅

Spycraft

The spy game is a serious business, and throughout history, the tools and technologies developed for it have mattered as much as the spies themselves.

Inside the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing was the home of the Chinese emperor and the seat of a vast bureaucracy ruling over what is now the world’s most populous state for 500 years. After falling into disrepair following World War II, the palace’s ancient wooden structures are undergoing extensive restoration works today. Inside the Forbidden City offers unprecedented access into the magnificent palace complex where access was once denied to all but the emperor, his family and his most senior retinue.

The 2000's: The Decade We Saw It All

With the 00s now firmly in our rear view mirror, the decade is ripe for re-evaluation. From 9/11 to the financial crisis, the decade shows not only a period of turmoil in the United States but its also a golden age when the Internet hadnt been colonized by corporations, when social media was still young and fresh and when it was easy to make money.

River Elegy

A formal critique of historical Chinese culture, arguing that developing a so-called "yellow civilization" based on the land and rivers has led to conservatism, ignorance and backwardness, and that China should develop a "blue civilization" based on the sea, while establishing a system based on the market economy.

Planet Earth

David Attenborough celebrates the amazing variety of the natural world in this epic documentary series, filmed over four years across 64 different countries.

The Man with 1000 Kids

A group of families learn the charismatic man they had trusted is sperm donor to hundreds — or perhaps thousands — of other children across the world.

OceanXplorers

Traveling aboard the OceanXplorer, OceanX's state-of-the-art scientific research and exploration vessel, to investigate the farthest frontiers of the world's oceans, 80% of which are entirely unknown. Armed with advanced technology, a hand-picked team of intrepid explorers and scientists, National Geographic Explorers and other ocean experts embark on a global odyssey to solve some of the ocean's greatest mysteries through the lives of its animals and their ecosystems.

The Crime of the Century

A searing indictment of Big Pharma and the political operatives and government regulations that enable over-production, reckless distribution and abuse of synthetic opiates.

Earth Moods

The series takes viewers on the ultimate retreat—transporting them to a vast array of colorful and calming corners of the world. Viewers travel to blue glaciers, arid deserts, lush rainforests and pulsating metropolises to escape from the cacophony of everyday life.

UFO Europe: The Untold Stories

Are we finally a step closer to understanding the great unknown and what it may – or may not – hold? Man has always been curious about what is really out there in the vastness of space, and UFO sightings have been reported for years. Now, with video footage of sightings, radar evidence and eyewitness accounts from around the world, UFOs: The Untold Stories (Tuesdays at 8pm from 13th November) provides an in-depth look at the fascinating and disturbing aspects of encounters with the unexplained.

Vorsicht Verführung

Legend of Martial Arts

Wushu is one of the most representative symbols of Chinese culture. Today, hundreds of millions of people around the world are practicing martial arts, experiencing eastern wisdom and the true meaning of martial arts. So how did martial arts spread abroad? What opportunities and challenges do generations of martial artists face in their overseas promotion?

Rubio in Search of the Lost Taste

Chef Rubio's journey in search of the real ones flavors of the Far East will affect Thailand, China and Vietnam. As always, the chef will alternate stages in large cities with stages in small country villages, in order to show the public what the real local gastronomy is.

Merveilles de la nature

Sacred Paths

In emblematic places around the world, Frédéric Lenoir, philosopher, sociologist and writer, goes to meet those who experience a spiritual quest, both religious and secular. A pilgrimage that mixes the voices of anonymous witnesses and personalities such as the Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, the apneist Guillaume Néry and the astrophysicist Hubert Reeves.

Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure

Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure is a four-part British documentary television series that aired on BBC Two. Chefs Ken Hom and Ching He Huang, both Chinese food specialists, describing their travels through China and the recipes and personal stories they find there.Hom and Huang will travel to Beijing, learning about Peking Duck, and on to the Silk Road, Kashgar, and the Sichuan Province,together bringing a unique and authoritative perspective on Chinese food that will surprise and inform.Ken and Ching undertake an epic 3000-mile culinary adventure across China - not only to reveal its food, but its people, history, culture and soul.BBC Books has acquired and published the title to accompany the BBC Two series of four hour-long episodes.