BBC historian delves into China's ancient past

A new six-part documentary series that focuses on ancient Chinese history has started on BBC 2 in the United Kingdom.

Written and presented by British historian Michael Wood, The Story of China explores the development of Chinese civilization over more than 4,000 years.

"China is the country we all want to know about today, and if you want to understand China you have to know about its history," Wood says.

"People have such set ideas about China, all you see on the news are high-rises, mass industry, Gucci and Armani, and yet what you don't realize is the amazing vitality, energy and diversity of the culture. Our job is to try and unfold that."

The six-hour series, which took two years to make, takes Wood through some of China's most historic sites, including ruined cities along the ancient Silk Road, desert oases and former capitals.

In the first episode, which aired on Jan 21, Wood meets with the Qin family in the eastern city of Wuxi, who can trace their ancestors back to at least 1049.

"The TV audience in the West gets this privilege of being welcomed into a Chinese family before they even start to think about the history," Wood says. "Then, when you start looking at the history, things start coming up that you realize are still alive, like family, the rituals and the food."

During the series, Wood visits temple festivals and ancestral celebrations, meets with traditional storytellers and Buddhist musicians, and uncovers some remarkable stories about what makes China what it is today.

"One theme is how the Chinese, who invented so many things, tease a Western audience with the idea that they invented football," the historian says. "We have a bit of fun with that, and we go to a crunch Chinese Super League match in Beijing."

The Story of China debuted just six months after a three-part BBC documentary on Chinese education that sparked much debate in China and the UK.

Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School, which was broadcast in August, saw 50 students from Bohunt School in Hampshire, southern England, put through their paces in a Chinese-style class for a month.

Students were required to wear a Chinese school uniform, start school at 7 am, clean their own classroom and focus on note-taking and repetition, a stark contrast to what they were used to.

The first episode was watched by 1.8 million viewers in the UK, almost 10 percent of that evening's TV audience.

It also sparked a three-week discussion on social media about modifying the education systems in the UK and China.

Tina Li, associate producer on The Story of China, says while Wood's documentary has already created a buzz on the Chinese Internet, the reaction will be somewhat different to Chinese School. "It's very spontaneous, there's no staging, and it's very real. It's done with a lot of heart, not for shock value, and it's not sensationalized."

The producer and director, Rebecca Dobbs, adds that they have tried to see things from the Chinese perspective. "There's no point in our giving the history of China from the perspective of the West."

Wood, who made 12 trips to China for the series, is also a member of the faculty of humanities at the University of Manchester. In episodes four and five, the historian is joined by a colleague from Manchester, professor Yangwen Zheng, as they trace the birth of modern China from the 1700s. Zheng, an expert in Chinese history, was one of many academics from various universities interviewed for the show.

The Story of China has been produced in cooperation between BBC 2 and PBS, a network in the United States. There are no plans for it to be aired in China yet, although it can be accessed online.

For China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/29/2016 page20)