Admonitions of the Imperial Instructress to Court Ladies

Gu Kaizhi

JIN DYNASTY

Congs with Jaotila

Liamgzhu Culture

Colossal Buddha from Cave 20 at Yungang

Northern Wei Dynasty

Fengxiansi Cave, Luoyang

Tang Dynasty

Great Wall

Ming Dynasty

*Fortified border to the north (MILITARY USE)

Qin Dynasty made Great Wall out of dirt and it was over 1,000 miles long.

Han Burial Suit of a Princess

Han Dynasty

Bells from the Tomb of Marquis

Eastern Chou

Lacquered Coffin of Marquis Yi

Eastern Chou

Tang Camel

Tang Dynasty

Teracotta Army

Qin Dynasty

Gu

Shang Dynasty

Fang Ding

Shang Dynasty

Yu

Shang Dynasty

Mawang Banner

Hang Dynasty

Island of the Immortals Incense Burner

Han Dynasty

Flying Horse from Gansu

Han Dynasty

Traveling in the Streams and Mountains

Fan Kuan

Song Dynasty

Early Spring

Guo Xi

Song Dynasty

Fishing in a Mountain Spring

Xu Daoning

Song Dynasty

Five Coloured Paakeet on the Branch of a Blossoming Apricot Tree

Huizong

Northern Song Dynasty

CHINESE ZHOU RITUAL VESSEL

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.

CHINESE BRONZE BELL

Neil MacGregor continues to explore the emergence of sophisticated new powers across the world 2,500 years ago, from the Parthenon in Greece to the great empire of Cyrus in Persia and the forgotten people of the Olmec in Mexico.

In this programme he arrives in China at the time of Confucius. He explores the Confucian view of the world with reference to a large bronze bell, and with help from the writer Isabel Hilton and the percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Confucius believed in a society that worked in harmony.

CHINESE HAN LACQUER CUP

In a week of programmes exploring the nature of power and the emergence of new rulers around the world 2000 years ago, Neil MacGregor takes us to Han Dynasty China. He tells the story of how the Chinese maintained loyalty and control by dispensing luxury gifts. He describes the world of the imperial Han through an exquisite lacquer wine cup that was probably given by the emperor to one of his military commanders in North Korea. The historian Roel Sterckx underlines the importance of lacquer for the period while writer Isabel Hilton looks at how the production of goods under state control has remained a consistent interest of the Chinese

ADMONITIONS SCROLL

Throughout this week, Neil MacGregor has been exploring pleasure and recreation across the world of 200 years ago. Today he arrives in China to explore a painting based on a poem that attempts to define the proper behaviour for women during the tumultuous time that followed the collapse of the Han Empire. This eleven foot long scroll offers a guide to manners along well established Confucian principles. Neil MacGregor tells the story of the scroll and finds out what it is was about women's behaviour that was so worrying men of the period. The historian Shane McCausland, the politician Charles Powell, and the Chinese art expert Jan Stuart help paint the picture.

KOREAN ROOF TILE

The face on this roof tile glares at the viewer. It was intended to scare away evil spirits from a building in the magnificent ancient capital city of Kyongju. Similar tiles were used earlier in China, but once introduced into the Korean peninsula, they reached a new height in popularity and artistry. This face most closely resembles that of a dragon, animals associated with water and hence appropriate as guardians to place on a wooden building always in danger of fire.
What was Korea's grandest city in ancient times?
This tile is from Kyongju, the capital of the Unified Silla dynasty of Korea. The city was famous for its wide streets laid out in a grid. All the houses, palaces and Buddhist temples had tiled roofs, a sign of wealth and sophistication. Decorated roof tiles started to become widespread around AD 688, when the small Korean kingdom of Silla, with help from China, conquered two other Korean kingdoms. This ushered in an age of prosperity and cultural unity in the Korean peninsula.

SILK PRINCESS PAINTING

This painting on a wooden panel shows scenes from the Central Asian story of the Silk Princess. According to this legend, a Chinese princess smuggled the secret of how to make silk out of China and into the country of her new husband, the king of Khotan. As she was a princess the border guards did not dare search her. In this painting her elaborate headdress conceals the cocoons of the silk moth and the seeds of the mulberry tree.
What was the Silk Road?
The painting comes from a Buddhist shrine in Khotan in Central Asia. This was just one of many oasis cities along the Silk Road. Silk and other goods were traded along this route from China to India, western Asia and the Mediterranean. Monks, merchants and other Silk Road travellers, stimulated the spread of Buddhism from India to China, Korea and Japan and many Buddhist monasteries and shrines were created along the route.

CHINESE TANG TOMB FIGURES

These 12 figures were buried in the tomb of the Tang general Liu Tingxun. He died in AD 728 at the advanced age of 72. The figurines are among the tallest known to have survived from this era. Then Chinese people believed that you needed to furnish your tomb with all the things which were essential to your status in life. The human and animal figures were created to serve and protect Liu Tingxun in the afterlife. The supernatural guardian figures warded off evil spirits. 
Who were the Tang?
The Tang dynasty (AD 618-906) represents a golden age of achievement in Chinese history. Under Tang rule, China became the richest and most powerful political unit in the world. China's success lay in its control of the oasis towns along the Silk Route, sending silk westwards and receiving luxury goods and animals such as horses. Camels were used as beasts of burden because of their ability to travel long distances on small rations of water

JAPANESE BRONZE MIRROR

These 12 figures were buried in the tomb of the Tang general Liu Tingxun. He died in AD 728 at the advanced age of 72. The figurines are among the tallest known to have survived from this era. Then Chinese people believed that you needed to furnish your tomb with all the things which were essential to your status in life. The human and animal figures were created to serve and protect Liu Tingxun in the afterlife. The supernatural guardian figures warded off evil spirits. 
Who were the Tang?
The Tang dynasty (AD 618-906) represents a golden age of achievement in Chinese history. Under Tang rule, China became the richest and most powerful political unit in the world. China's success lay in its control of the oasis towns along the Silk Route, sending silk westwards and receiving luxury goods and animals such as horses. Camels were used as beasts of burden because of their ability to travel long distances on small rations of water

DAVID VASES

The David Vases are the best-known porcelain vases in the world because of the rare inscriptions around their necks, dating them to precisely AD 1351. When first discovered they were believed to be the oldest dated example of blue-and-white porcelain in the world. They are named after their most famous owner, Sir Percival David (1892-1964), who built-up one of the world's greatest Chinese ceramic collections. They were originally altar vases, commissioned by a man called Zhang Wenjin, and presented as an offering to a Daoist temple.
Who created the first blue-and-white porcelain?
The David Vases were made during the reign of the foreign Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), when China was at the heart of a vast Mongol Empire. Trade flourished between China and the Middle East and cobalt, used to create the blue effect, came from the other side of the empire in Iran. Archaeologists have unearthed materials which now show that Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain was made for several different markets, rather than solely for export as was once thought. Different consumers demanded specific forms, sizes and designs

JADE DRAGON CUP

This jade cup from Central Asia would have been valued for its beauty and its protective powers. When this cup was made it was believed that jade would crack if it came into contact with poison. The cup's inscription indicates it was owned by Ulugh Beg, ruler of the Timurid Empire from 1447 to 1449. Ulugh Beg would have owned such a cup to protect himself from assassination by his rivals. However, the cup could not save him from his own son who seized power in 1449 and had Ulugh beheaded. 
Who were the Timurids?
Ulugh Beg was the grandson of Timur, known in the west as Tamerlane, or 'Timur the Lame', due to a leg injury sustained in battle. Originally the ruler of a small Turkish tribe, Timur conquered the whole of Iran and Central Asia to create the Timurid Empire. After Timur's death in 1405, the empire began to disintegrate. Ulugh ruled the empire for only two years but despite the political instability it was a golden age for Iranian art. The dragon on this cup reflects Ulugh Beg's taste for Chinese decoration.

MING BANKNOTE

This Chinese Ming dynasty banknote is inscribed with the title Great Ming circulating treasure note and a warning that counterfeiting is punishable by death. Paper currency was first used in China as early as AD 1000. However, the Ming were the first Chinese dynasty to try to totally replace coins with paper money. The state issued too much paper money, however, causing hyper-inflation. By 1425 paper money was worth only a seventieth of its original value and the use of paper currency in China was suspended.
Who were the Ming dynasty?
This banknote was commissioned by, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming emperor. In 1368 he took part in the rebellion to overthrow the Mongol Yuan dynasty that ruled China. China enjoyed a long period of stability under the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644). Many of China's ancient traditions were restored but China also pursued an expansionist foreign policy. Expeditions were sent across the Indian Ocean to India, the Middle East and East Africa. The introduction of yams, maize and potatoes by the Spanish and Portuguese allowed Ming China's population to double to at least 100 million.

KAKIEMON ELEPHANTS

Elephants are not native to Japan and these two examples would have been based on depictions in imported prints. For centuries only the Chinese knew how to make porcelain but by the 1300s the knowledge had also spread to the Korean peninsula. When Japan's powerful ruler, the Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi, launched two attacks on Korea in the 1590s, his armies brought many Korean captives back to Japan. They shared their skills with local potters and helped to build a new porcelain industry in Japan.
How did these elephants arrive in Europe?\
After the collapse of the Chinese Ming dynasty in 1644, Japan briefly became the world's largest global exporter of porcelain. Kakiemon-style porcelain, with its distinctive red enamel, was in great demand in Europe. These elephants would have been specifically made for the European market and transported from Japan by the Dutch East India Company - the world's first multinational company. After Japan tightened control of its borders in the late 1630s, the Dutch were the only Europeans permitted to maintain direct contact through the port of Nagasaki

Giupseppe Castiglione

LA SHI'NING

Qing Dynasty

Portrait of Madame Li

MING DYNASTY

Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk

Shang Xuan

TANG DYNASTY

Suzhou Garden (Lion Grove Garden)

MING DYNASTY

Dwelling in the Qingbian Mountains

Dong Qichano

MING DYNASTY

Hundreds of Birds Admiring the Peacock

Yin Hong

MING DYNASTY

Meridian Gate

Be Jing

On a Mountain Path in Springp

Ma Yuan

SONG DYNASTY

Poet On A Cliff "Mountain" Top

Shen Zhou

MING DYNASTY

Porcelain Flask with Dragon

MING DYNASTY

Pure and Remote Views of Hills and Streams

Xia Gui

NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY

Six Persimmons

Mu Qi

SONG DYNASTY

Rongxi Studio

Ni Zan

Yuan Dynasty

Qingming Festival

Shang Zenduan

SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY

5,000 M

Extends from China to Rome