A History of the World in 100 Objects

The Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor retells the history of human development from the first stone axe to the credit card, using 100 selected objects from the Museum. Three thousand years ago the world was in huge flux, with new powers creating sophisticated new societies - from the Middle East to South America - as older ones collapsed. Neil finds out what was happening in China during that period and describes how a group of outsiders, the Zhou, overthrew the long-established Shang dynasty. The story is told through a bronze bowl that was used both for feasting and also as an object to be buried alongside the dead for use in the afterlife. What does this beautiful bronze bowl tell us about the Zhou and life in China at this time? Dame Jessica Rawson and the Chinese scholar Wang Tao help paint the picture.