Main content

Chinese history

Discovering the Terracotta Army, the man who modernised the Chinese language and when British pop group Wham became the first western act to play in China.

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week鈥檚 Witness History episodes from the 麻豆社 World Service.

To mark 50 years since the discovery of the Terracotta Army, we're exploring modern Chinese history.

We hear from the man who helped to modernise the Chinese language by creating a new writing system. It's called Pinyin and it used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words.

Our expert guest is the writer, Mark O'Neill, whose book 'The Man Who Made China a Literate Nation' forms the basis of a great discussion about historical language changes throughout history.

Plus, a first hand experience of life in labour camps during Mao Zedong鈥檚 cultural revolution and the women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial army during the 1930s. This programme contains disturbing content.

Contributors:
Mark O'Neill - writer
Zhou Youguang - linguist
Jingyu Li - victim of Mao Zedong's labour camps
Peng Zhuying - survivor of sexual slavery
Yuan Zhongyi - archaeologist
Dr Li Xiuzhen - archaeologist
Simon Napier-Bell - manager of Wham

(Photo: Terracotta Army. Credit: Getty Images)

Available now

52 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Sat 23 Mar 2024 14:06GMT
  • Mon 25 Mar 2024 10:06GMT
  • Tue 26 Mar 2024 00:06GMT

Podcast