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Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arndan.

And me, William Duremple.

Now, last time we left Mount Zedong in 1920, an angry school teacher from Changsha, who had made

his way to Beijing, where he was dabbling in the beginnings of anarchism and communism.

Today, we enter a period when his ideas turn towards violent revolution.

This episode covers the 15 years of chaos, civil war and survival that forged the great helmsman.

Once again, we are joined by the brilliant Rana Mita, leading expert on China.

His books include Forgotten Allied, China's World War II, and

...