The Red Emperor

Japan's Emperor Akihito is the head of the oldest continuous hereditary monarchy in the world. He's the first to succeed the role of "symbolic emperor" under the post-World War II constitution. Emperor Akihito stunned Japan and the world in 2016 by suggesting he wanted to "abdicate while still alive". Since assuming the throne from his father Emperor Hirohito, how has Emperor Akihito embodied the constitutional role? And why has he decided now that he wants to abdicate?

The years following the end of the Qing dynasty were some of the most turbulent in Chinese history. With the abdication in 1912 of Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, history saw the end of 2,000 of Imperial rule in China and the start of a new era which would prove to be more dramatic and uncertain than anything that had preceded it.

The First Emperor In 1974, Chinese peasants made the discovery of the century… Thousands of terracotta soldiers guarding the tomb of a tyrant. Ying Zheng was born to rule the world, claiming descent from gods, crowned king while still a child.