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The History Hour
Chinese history
The History Hour
Mar 23, 2024

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC 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’s 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)

More Episodes
Jun 21, 2025
Jaws and the Charleston church shooting

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

This programme includes outdated and offensive language.

It’s 50 years since the original Jaws film was released in cinemas across America. The movie premiered on 20 June 1975. Our guest is Jenny He, senior exhibitions curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. She tells us about the history of this blockbuster movie. We also hear from Carl Gottlieb, who co-wrote the screenplay.

Also, the story of the women who were forcibly detained in sexual health clinics across East Germany, the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, and the 1964 civil rights swimming protest that ended when acid was poured into the pool.

Finally, the horrific account of Polly Sheppard who was a survivor of the Charleston church shooting in South Carolina, USA in 2015.

Contributors: Carl Gottlieb - Jaws co-writer. Jenny He - senior exhibitions curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Sabine - one of the women forcibly detained and abused in a sexual health clinic in East Germany. Archive of William Norman Ewer - journalist who attended the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Archive of JT Johnson and Mimi Jones -activists in a civil rights swimming protest . Polly Sheppard- survivor of the Charleston Church shooting.

This programme contains movie excerpts from the 1975 film which was a Universal Picture, a Zanuck/Brown production and directed by Steven Spielberg. (Photo: Steven Spielberg on the set of the film 'Jaws' in 1975. Credit: Archive Photos/Stringer)


51min 07sec




Chinese history

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