The Empress Dowager Cixi ruled China for 47 years until her death in 1908. But it wasn't until the 1970s that her story began to be properly documented. She'd been vilified as a murderous tyrant, but was that really true or was she a victim of a misogynistic version of history? Prof Sue Fawn Chung was the first academic to go back to study the original documents, and found many surprises. She tells Rebecca Kesby the story of "the much maligned Empress Dowager". This programme is a rebroadcast (Photo: Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi, portrait c1900. Credit: Ullstein bild/Getty Images)

Cixi: China's most powerful woman

History as told by the people who were there.

History

Society & Culture

When South African schoolchildren marched in protest against having to study Afrikaans in 1976, they were gunned down by the police. The killings sparked a cycle of protests across the country against the racist apartheid regime. In 2010, march organiser Bongi Mkhabela told Alan Johnston about her memories of the Soweto uprising. (Photo: Protestors on the march. Credit: Bongani Mnguni/CityPress/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Soweto uprising: Children who marched against apartheid

On 18 March 1992, white South Africans overwhelmingly backed a mandate for political reforms to end apartheid and create a power-sharing multi-racial government.  It was a high-stakes referendum coming on the back of three by-elections where the ruling National Party had lost to the right wing Conservative party.  In a speech after the polling victory, President FW de Klerk said: “Today we have closed the book on apartheid”. His communications adviser, David Steward speaks to Josephine McDermott. (Photo: President FW de Klerk with news of the referendum win. Credit: AP)

South Africa's referendum on apartheid

Major Charity Adams was the first African-American woman to lead a World War Two battalion. It was known as the Six-Triple-Eight (6888). The 6888 was a majority African-American women’s unit, the women sorted through mountains of post across Europe, using the motto: 'No Mail, Low Morale'. Charity went on to become lieutenant colonel, the highest possible rank for women in her unit. She died in 2002. Her son, Stanley Earley, speaks to Marverine Cole. This was a Soundtruism production for the BBC World Service. (Photo: American Women's Army Corps Captain Mary Kearney and American Commanding Officer Major Charity Adams inspect the first arrivals to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion   Credit. Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Major Charity Adams and the Six-Triple-Eight

On 18 April 2014, an avalanche on Mount Everest killed 16 men, who were carrying supplies for commercial expeditions to higher camps. The sherpas were on the Khumbu Icefall, just above Base Camp in Nepal, when the avalanche happened. It resulted in the climbing season being cancelled and sherpas demanding better working conditions on the mountain. Lakpa Rita Sherpa helped dig bodies of his dead colleagues out of the ice, before transporting them home to their families. He speaks to Laura Jones. (Photo: The south-west face of Mount Everest and the Khumbu icefall. Credit: Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Deadly Everest avalanche

The 2014 Ebola outbreak devastated West Africa, killing more than 11,000 people over a two year period. One country that suffered was Sierra Leone. The disease started in Guinea, but quickly spread to neighbouring countries.  Before May 2014, there had never been an outbreak of Ebola in Sierra Leone. By autumn that year, burial teams were struggling to keep up with the number of corpses that needed burying.  Dan Hardoon speaks to Yusuf Kabba, an Ebola survivor from Sierra Leone. (Photo: Headstones in the Waterloo Ebola Graveyard, Sierra Leone. Credit:  HUGH KINSELLA CUNNINGHAM/AFP via Getty Images)

Cixi: China's most powerful woman

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