Chinese Garden (Episode 2) | The Emperor's Playground

On the vast plains of central Shaanxi, a centuries-old tradition of coursing with greyhounds continues to unfold across the landscape. Yet beneath these fields lies the memory of a forgotten world — the legendary Imperial Forest Park created more than two thousand years ago by Emperor Han Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty.

Once the largest hunting ground in Chinese history, the park covered nearly 600,000 acres and contained dozens of gardens, palaces, rivers, forests, and exotic plants and animals gathered from across Asia. Built to satisfy the emperor's passion for hunting and to impress foreign envoys, its construction transformed the lives of countless people as villages were demolished and entire communities relocated.

Through archaeological traces, local traditions, folk performances, and the work of artist Li Xiaochao, the film uncovers the hidden history of this vanished imperial landscape. Ancient stone carvings, village ruins, and surviving cultural practices reveal stories of court intrigue, military expansion, political ambition, and the grandeur of the Han Empire at its peak.

The documentary follows the rise and decline of Emperor Han Wudi's vision — from triumph and conquest to fear, paranoia, and eventual collapse. As the empire faded, the great park returned to the farmers whose ancestors had once been displaced by its creation.

Blending history, mythology, art, and contemporary rural life, the film explores the enduring relationship between the Chinese people and the land they inhabit. It reflects on memory, power, and the cyclical nature of history, where past and present continue to coexist beneath the soil of the Shaanxi plain.