0:00:08 > 0:00:13A country the size of a continent. Population 1.3 billion and counting.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18How to understand such a place and the energies that have shaped it?
0:00:21 > 0:00:25There's no better way than to explore the art of China.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29For 4,000 years it's expressed the spirit of the Chinese people -
0:00:29 > 0:00:31their struggles and their hopes.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Red mists of revolution and long years of brutal tyranny.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Splendours and marvels of the imperial court.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48The spiritual serenity of the Chinese landscape,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50ancient refuge of poets and painters.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59The art of ancient China has revealed the country's very origins,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03thanks to a century of astonishing archaeological discoveries,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06which have revealed some of the most compelling images
0:01:06 > 0:01:08ever shaped by human hands.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12The story begins here, in a remote corner
0:01:12 > 0:01:16of Sichuan province, where, in 1986,
0:01:16 > 0:01:21a group of workers, digging in this very network of fields,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23made a truly startling discovery.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42These are the rural suburbs of Guanghan city,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45deep in the plains of the vast Sichuan Basin.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Encircled by mountains,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54throughout history this land was barely accessible.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57The region was known to have been the home of a primitive
0:01:57 > 0:02:02and mysterious people called the Shu, or the people of the eye,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05as they were tantalisingly described in early chronicles.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09But why they were called that, no-one knew,
0:02:09 > 0:02:11until a discovery was made
0:02:11 > 0:02:14by workers in the grounds of a brick factory.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19TOOL SCRAPES
0:02:20 > 0:02:23They stumbled upon two pits containing the broken pieces
0:02:23 > 0:02:26of hundreds of bronze, jade and gold artefacts.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31What they had discovered
0:02:31 > 0:02:36were the treasures of a lost and ancient city called Sanxingdui.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44It took the archaeologists all of eight years to piece together
0:02:44 > 0:02:46the fragments of their remarkable find.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49When they had finished, what they revealed was this.
0:02:51 > 0:02:57A whole series of images from ancient China, over 3,000 years,
0:02:57 > 0:02:59the like of which had never been seen before.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Grotesque masks, enormous,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12made of cast bronze with protruding eyes
0:03:12 > 0:03:15and enigmatic smiles on their faces.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17And that was just the beginning.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Nearly 2,000 objects were recovered,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28revealing the Shu's surprising mastery
0:03:28 > 0:03:32of bronze-working technology and their strong sense of the uncanny.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Huge faces with bulging eyes were found
0:03:37 > 0:03:41alongside more than 50 smaller, staring heads.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Looking at the bases of them,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48they're hollow and they've got clamp-like attachments,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50so it seems they were meant to be attached to poles,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52perhaps placed within the precincts of a temple.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58Imagine a forest of these staring heads, erected all around you.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Even just standing here in this gallery,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03the overwhelming impression is of being stared at.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12Eyes have always been a source of power in images.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15When the Prophet Muhammad, in the Islam world,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17wanted to destroy images,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20he ordered those doing the destroying to attack the eyes first.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23The same was true in England during the Protestant Reformation -
0:04:23 > 0:04:25they scratched the eyes out.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Here, the eyes have been given immense significance.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34This was the people of the eye. But it's very frustrating.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39You're being stared at by these enigmatic faces.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42What do your eyes mean? Tell me, tell me, tell me!
0:04:43 > 0:04:44No.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46They're not saying a word.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58These treasures were found without texts or inscriptions.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01We know they lay buried for three millennia,
0:05:01 > 0:05:03but can only guess at their meaning.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Might they be evidence of the Shu's spiritual belief system?
0:05:13 > 0:05:16A great tree of bronze fruit-bearing branches
0:05:16 > 0:05:19on which nine beady-eyed birds perch.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29A tree of life linking sky and earth - finely wrought prayer
0:05:29 > 0:05:33to gods of heaven and harvest, whose names we'll never know.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50They save the most...
0:05:50 > 0:05:53extraordinary discovery of all till last.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00I can't quite believe - I'm very pleased -
0:06:00 > 0:06:03they're actually letting me in...
0:06:03 > 0:06:06to the case with this remarkable object.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17It was always thought that there was no tradition whatsoever
0:06:17 > 0:06:21in ancient Chinese art for some 1,500 years,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25no tradition of large-scale, figurative, freestanding sculpture
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and yet here he is, towering above me.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34The only known freestanding bronze sculpture in all of
0:06:34 > 0:06:38early Chinese art, discovered less than 30 years ago.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40What a figure it is.
0:06:50 > 0:06:51He's got bare feet...
0:06:53 > 0:06:57..perhaps to suggest that he's in touch with the ground, the earth,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01and he's got this headdress in the shape of flames
0:07:01 > 0:07:04with the eyes of power embedded within it.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08So he is a figure who connects the ground to the heavens.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18His hands are in the shape of these great circles,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22which implies the holding of some kind of vessel.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Perhaps a hollowed-out elephant tusk.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Elephant tusks were also found in the burial pit.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Not a single object found in Sanxingdui
0:07:36 > 0:07:38is for common or everyday use.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Everything is ritual.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46It seems to be the entire paraphernalia of an ancient temple.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51You've got those huge masks, which were probably attached
0:07:51 > 0:07:52to great posts of wood.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56You've got the smaller heads attached to poles.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Imagine a temple,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02a people whose worship had something to do with the tree of life,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06a tree that reaches up to a god that may be associated with the sun,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09that nourishes birds, that nourishes the soil.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14With this figure in the middle presiding over the ritual.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Sanxingdui is China's Atlantis, but real rather than mythical.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45A civilisation buried underground rather than lost at sea.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49But why would they have broken up their principal images
0:08:49 > 0:08:54and objects of worship and buried them in two deep pits?
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Were they sacrificing these images of their gods TO their gods
0:08:59 > 0:09:05to save themselves from plague, invasion or some other catastrophe?
0:09:10 > 0:09:14Whatever the disaster was, it must have done for them.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16If they had survived,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19they would surely have retrieved their treasures.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21And they never did.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Chinese history is often told as a succession of great dynasties,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44but the find at Sanxingdui proves this is a myth.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Early China was a patchwork of competing tribes.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55The Shu may have fallen simply because they were too peaceful.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58No weapons have been found with their remains.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04But their lack of a written language was an equally severe disadvantage.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12At the very same time, another tribe was setting out to conquer
0:10:12 > 0:10:14and unify this land.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18They had swords and spears.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22But their most important weapon, it seems, was the word.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33The earliest origins of written Chinese,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35like much of its ancient civilisation,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38can be found along the banks of the Yellow River.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45100 years ago, here in Henan province, local pharmacists
0:10:45 > 0:10:49were dispensing ground-up ancient animal remains called dragon bones.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53The relics were covered with archaic inscriptions,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56arousing the interest of archaeologists.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Further investigation revealed documentary evidence
0:11:01 > 0:11:04of China's first great dynasty.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10What, you may ask yourself, are these curious objects?
0:11:10 > 0:11:13They are, in fact, among the most significant artefacts
0:11:13 > 0:11:15in the entire history of Chinese civilisation.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20They are the oracle bones of the Shang.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26Each one is the carapace of a turtle.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29How it worked was this.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33The king would ask himself,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36"Is there trouble coming in the next ten days?"
0:11:36 > 0:11:41He would ask his diviner to help him find out if there was.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46The diviner would take a turtle shell,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48apply heat to it until it cracked
0:11:48 > 0:11:50and then read in the pattern of cracks
0:11:50 > 0:11:52the answer to the king's question.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57King's question, priest's prediction
0:11:57 > 0:12:00and actual outcome were all then inscribed on the shell.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08As well as being a record of Shang superstitions,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12these are also the bare bones of Shang history,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16recounting conflicts, crop failures and affairs of the court alike.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19But why are they so significant?
0:12:19 > 0:12:24Because they amount to the first surviving example of an invention
0:12:24 > 0:12:26that would change the world -
0:12:26 > 0:12:29the Chinese written language.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37So, the famous oracle bones.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43- These are 1200 BC?- Yes.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Some of the very earliest surviving Chinese writing.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51This part mentions a famous lady of the Shang dynasty,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54- Lady Fu Hao.- Ah, yes.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Know her well. Well, I know here reasonably well.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01The king goes to see Fu Hao.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06The Shang oracle bones refer more than 100 times to Lady Fu Hao,
0:13:06 > 0:13:08a name worth remembering.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12A warrior princess who led troops into battle,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15took captives and expanded Shang territory.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21- What's this? Is there an eye there? - Yes. It means see.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26People kneeled down with a big eye on her head.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30- So to go and see is kneeling down with a great big eye?- Yes.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32- Very visual.- Very visual, yeah.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37It's a sort of painting language, which becomes Chinese.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38This is the beginning, yes?
0:13:38 > 0:13:43It's not the beginning, but the...childhood of Chinese writing.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45- The childhood, OK. Not the birth. - Not the birth.
0:13:47 > 0:13:48Look at this character.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53I got this character from the oracle bone.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57This is an example of what you call associative,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01which means you have two images together in one pictogram.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Actually, there are three...images here.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09The left side is a little boy. He's counting. It means five.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11He's thinking five by five.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15- Oh, he's doing his times tables? - I'm sure.- Ah! I've got it.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17What's going on over here?
0:14:17 > 0:14:21This means a father. It's a hand holding something.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- It looks like a stick. - Yes, he's a father holding a stick.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26- The father is waiting with a stick! - Standing by the side.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29- What's the meaning of the whole... - It means teaching.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Teaching!
0:14:31 > 0:14:36That seems to me to be somehow very, very, very Chinese. Yes.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39And it all starts here.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:14:45 > 0:14:47THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Of the three great pictographic languages, including cuneiform
0:14:53 > 0:14:56from Syria and hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58Chinese alone has survived.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04- Hello.- Hello.- Hello.- Hello.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06And, in the process,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10it has become the foundation of continuity in Chinese civilisation.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19The most basic form of Chinese art is Chinese written language.
0:15:19 > 0:15:25Here's Mr Tang's teaching or education.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30Slightly altered from the oracle bones over the millennia
0:15:30 > 0:15:33but it's still essentially recognisable.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36The little boy doing his five-times table while his father
0:15:36 > 0:15:39stands over him rather forbiddingly with a stick.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42The Chinese form of language, because it's picture making,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46contains within it values, beliefs, attitudes, systems -
0:15:46 > 0:15:50this isn't just teaching, this is teaching "get it right or else!"
0:15:51 > 0:15:52Through a series of images,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56it freezes ancient moments in history.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58If you look at the symbol for wife.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05Wife is woman, large hips, cross-legged
0:16:05 > 0:16:09and she's got a stick through her hair because in ancient times,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12in Asia, when a woman became married,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14she lost the right to wear her hair free
0:16:14 > 0:16:17and she had to put a stick through it.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Wife, again, it's a...
0:16:20 > 0:16:24so to speak, it freezes a moment in ancient history.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33The Chinese written language stayed fixed precisely because it was
0:16:33 > 0:16:38a set of pictures, and therefore immune to changes in pronunciation.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43What do you think?
0:16:43 > 0:16:44It's not good, is it?
0:16:44 > 0:16:46No.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48No!
0:16:58 > 0:17:02The written language has always been the bedrock of Chinese civilisation.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05THEY CHANT
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Its creation was the key to controlling a vast population.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13And, thanks to its earliest incarnation,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15the characters on the oracle bones,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19we know that the Shang dynasty used language to govern,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21to educate and to write the laws
0:17:21 > 0:17:24by which they imposed their fierce rule.
0:17:26 > 0:17:27THEY CHANT
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Thanks to their written laws,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40the Shang were able to take control of and organise
0:17:40 > 0:17:44huge swathes of territory around the Yellow River Valley.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Not quite China, but the beginnings of the nation it would become.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53The ground below the city of Anyang,
0:17:53 > 0:17:58where 3,000 years ago the Shang capital stood,
0:17:58 > 0:18:00produces so many historical artefacts,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03the archaeologists can't keep up,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07stockpiling whole chunks of relic-rich soil outside their labs.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13When they extract these cubes of compacted burial mound earth,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16they know that they contain something, but they don't know what,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20so it could be a chariot, it could be a bronze drinking vessel.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23It's sort of like an archaeologist's lucky dip.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Excavations here unearthed the palace of a powerful Shang king,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38Wu Ding, who ruled over the Shang kingdom in 1250 BC.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Nearby, the archaeologists found the tomb of his consort,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48a very warrior princess whose name I'd seen on the oracle bones,
0:18:48 > 0:18:49Lady Fu Hao.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54Now...
0:19:01 > 0:19:02Ah...
0:19:02 > 0:19:04I'm amazed they've allowed me in, but they have.
0:19:08 > 0:19:09Here we are.
0:19:09 > 0:19:15So who was Lady Fu Hao? We know she was a princess.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18She was one of the favourite consorts of King Wu Ding,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21who obviously thought a lot of her because he had her buried
0:19:21 > 0:19:26not in the royal burial complex, but here, in his own palace complex,
0:19:26 > 0:19:31which suggests that he wanted to remain close to her after she died.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35She was a general as well as a princess,
0:19:35 > 0:19:40the first recorded female general in Chinese history.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43This tomb gives us a remarkable insight
0:19:43 > 0:19:48into the beliefs of the Shang concerning the afterlife.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52It would appear that they believed, rather as the Egyptians did,
0:19:52 > 0:19:56that we continue to live in the tomb after we've gone.
0:19:56 > 0:20:02King Wu Ding had her buried with a huge array of bronze objects,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05mostly to do with food and wine.
0:20:05 > 0:20:12We see two of these ding, which are containers for food.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17We see cooking utensils on a stove.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21And everywhere else, containers for wine.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24She also - this is rather a grisly detail -
0:20:24 > 0:20:30she was also supplied with human attendants.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34They have uncovered 16 human skeletons.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38They were executed and buried along with her
0:20:38 > 0:20:41so that they could attend her in the afterlife.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47The only person missing is Lady Fu Hao herself,
0:20:47 > 0:20:53but that is because this area of the tomb where her coffin was
0:20:53 > 0:20:56was below the water table so it's all rotted away,
0:20:56 > 0:21:03leaving just the red paint that probably decorated a lacquer coffin.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06If you're wondering why the authorities allowed me in here,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09that's because this place is partly authentic -
0:21:09 > 0:21:13yes, this really is the site of her tomb -
0:21:13 > 0:21:15but it's also partly theme park,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19in the sense that all of these objects are actually replicas.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21They don't tell you that, by the way,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24when you walk into the museum, but you need to know it for yourself.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27And if you want to actually experience
0:21:27 > 0:21:30some of the richness and sophistication
0:21:30 > 0:21:33of Shang material culture, you need to go up the road
0:21:33 > 0:21:35to the local museum.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:21:46 > 0:21:48OK.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55ALL TALK AT ONCE
0:21:57 > 0:22:00Xiexie. Thank you.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02So here it is.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Shang dynasty bronze.
0:22:05 > 0:22:093,500 years ago this object was made.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14It's a very heavy thing and yet it's a vessel for drinking wine.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21What you can see very clearly is one of the principal motifs
0:22:21 > 0:22:26of these grave goods, the taotie, which is
0:22:26 > 0:22:32a kind of abstracted, grotesque, demonic, grinning, staring face,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36formed from the shapes of two dragons.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Perhaps designed to ward off evil spirits
0:22:38 > 0:22:41from Lady Fu Hao's afterlife.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46And on the handle, you've got the most hostile face of all.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48To me, because it's a handle, it suggests a snake
0:22:48 > 0:22:52so it might almost be a cobra, coiled to strike,
0:22:52 > 0:22:57and yet it's got the ears perhaps of a wolf, a dog?
0:22:58 > 0:23:04This is an object that speaks of their ability to master technology.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07They also had the first chariots in China.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11It was a kind of revolution in warfare that enabled them
0:23:11 > 0:23:14to spread their culture across the north.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Absolutely fantastic.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Faith in the ancestors' life after death
0:23:33 > 0:23:36was the dominant belief system in ancient China.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40It was used by the Shang and later dynasties
0:23:40 > 0:23:43to affirm a rigid social hierarchy.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47While finely crafted grave goods for nobles like Fu Hao
0:23:47 > 0:23:50would allow them to live nobly after death,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52the vast majority of Chinese
0:23:52 > 0:23:58living on the land were kept firmly in their place in THEIR afterlives.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01They were taught only to expect more ploughing and cropping.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07As late as the Han period, around the birth of Christ,
0:24:07 > 0:24:12they too were being buried with art, but not crafted bronze ware.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16Crude earthenware tablets showing scenes of harvest.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Low art for low expectation.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31And the afterlife now? Well, it just won't die.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38To this day the Chinese still make offerings to their ancestors.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40Plates of fly-blown food are involved,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43but if you want something more elaborate,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47there is a modern solution woven from bamboo and paper.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01This is Mr Yang's emporium of the dead.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03It's where you come to buy everything you need
0:25:03 > 0:25:08if you want to make a sacrifice in the modern day for your ancestors.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12How do you do? Hello. Very good to see you.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17What an extraordinary setup.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19You've got everything you need! You've got a computer over here.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25In case you need to check your e-mails in the afterlife!
0:25:26 > 0:25:28You can log in.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31Dead. Password...
0:25:33 > 0:25:34Totally dead.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37That'll do it. Oh, it doesn't seem to be working.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40The internet is a bit dodgy in this part of China.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43There's a car!
0:25:43 > 0:25:44There's a car.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Mr Yang. Mr Yang. It's a Mercedes? Mercedes?
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Why isn't it a Chinese car?
0:25:52 > 0:25:55HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:25:55 > 0:25:59People love Mercedes even when they're dead? Good quality.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01Hi. Hello. Good to meet you.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Show me... What is this thing here?
0:26:06 > 0:26:08SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:26:08 > 0:26:10These are the attendants.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Ah, so, like Lady Fu Hao, she had human sacrifice skeletons
0:26:15 > 0:26:19to look after her in the land of the dead, but they actually have...
0:26:20 > 0:26:22What's back here?
0:26:22 > 0:26:23Oh, wow!
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Fantastic!
0:26:28 > 0:26:30SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Is this for a dead farmer?
0:26:32 > 0:26:36So that you can do a bit of milking in the afterlife, make yourself...
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Oh. What's that? It's got an udder!
0:26:41 > 0:26:44It's got a bamboo udder. Let's not go there. Let's not go there.
0:26:44 > 0:26:45That's animal abuse.
0:26:49 > 0:26:50It's a dog!
0:26:50 > 0:26:55Do you know how they sacrifice all this stuff TO the ancestor?
0:26:56 > 0:27:01They pile it all up - sorry, Fido - and they set fire to it.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17The Zhou dynasty, which followed the Shang,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20lasted from 1000 to about 250 BC.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26It wasn't a golden age for art. Very much a bronze age.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28But it was intellectually vibrant.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35Writing was no longer the preserve of priests with their oracle bones,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38but done on split bamboo staves by secular authors,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40poets, philosophers.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47Most famous was Confucius,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51still venerated today in temples such as this.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58He developed a benevolent philosophy of statecraft as opposed to
0:27:58 > 0:28:00the violent rule so commonplace before.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05He believed a ruler was to be like a father to his subjects.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11The Confucians stood for family values, personal morality.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19This was the period that also saw the birth of Laozi
0:28:19 > 0:28:23and his writings, which later came to be crystallised as Taoism.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28He preached the exact opposite. A retreat to nature.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33He preferred silence over words, inaction to action.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36It's been remembered in Chinese history as the time when
0:28:36 > 0:28:41100 schools of thought contended, but 100 armies also contended
0:28:41 > 0:28:45and it was a period of increasing fragmentation and division,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49at the end of which, China was split into several warring states.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54Then one man came along who decided to change all that.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58He set out to replace confusion with order.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01To replace debate with his absolute rule.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06He changed China and he changed Chinese art for ever.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14In 221 BC, the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang,
0:29:14 > 0:29:17quelled all opposing armies and kings
0:29:17 > 0:29:21and, for the first time, created a single, unified country.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25This was the moment China was born.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37He standardised everything.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Weights, measures, currency...
0:29:40 > 0:29:43road dimensions, language.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52Like Hitler, Stalin and Mao,
0:29:52 > 0:29:54who modelled himself on the First Emperor,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57he understood that ruthless organisation
0:29:57 > 0:30:00was by far the best way to run a tyranny.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02And he was a true tyrant -
0:30:02 > 0:30:06brutal, cruel, sadistic and paranoid.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12To truly know the First Emperor,
0:30:12 > 0:30:17you only have to look at his burial site - 22 square miles.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Home to the most perfectly totalitarian artistic vision
0:30:21 > 0:30:23the world has ever seen.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26An army of terracotta warriors.
0:30:29 > 0:30:34Over there is Pit 2, which they haven't yet fully excavated.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38Behind that is Pit 3 where you've got the headquarters.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41A small group of leaders of the army.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43And in here...
0:30:43 > 0:30:45Pit 1.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49The thousands and thousands and thousands of soldiers
0:30:49 > 0:30:51who stand guard over the emperor's tomb.
0:30:53 > 0:30:59Remember Lady Fu Hao's little tomb?
0:30:59 > 0:31:01With her objects for the afterlife.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03Now, just look at this.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06And remember, this is just a tiny part
0:31:06 > 0:31:10of 56 square kilometres of the first emperor's tomb - look...
0:31:10 > 0:31:12it's like King's Cross!
0:31:12 > 0:31:15It's like King's Cross and there they are!
0:31:15 > 0:31:19There they are, the emperor's imperial guard.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22The Terracotta Army lined up...
0:31:22 > 0:31:26for all time, like commuters waiting to travel into eternity.
0:31:33 > 0:31:388,000 men of clay face east, where he believed the souls
0:31:38 > 0:31:40of his enemies lay in wait.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43He'd subdued the eastern lands during his lifetime,
0:31:43 > 0:31:45massacred populations
0:31:45 > 0:31:50and intended to do it all again from beyond the grave.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52He didn't just want to LIVE the afterlife,
0:31:52 > 0:31:54but to conquer it.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06There were ancient legends detailing this dark creation -
0:32:06 > 0:32:08an underground city and an immortal army
0:32:08 > 0:32:12but it was only in 1974 that the soldiers were uncovered.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22Few are allowed to walk within the restoration area
0:32:22 > 0:32:24and amongst the ranks of troops.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27But, up close and personal, it becomes apparent
0:32:27 > 0:32:29that each soldier is an individual.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37The faces of the emperor's soldiers
0:32:37 > 0:32:41express the breadth of his realm. Take these two.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44This chap is, almost certainly, a local, a Qin,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46he's got the right face, the right eyes,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49the right hairstyle, but...
0:32:49 > 0:32:51this bloke...
0:32:51 > 0:32:55well, high Asiatic cheekbones. He's got the beard
0:32:55 > 0:32:59of what the Chinese at that point were still calling "a barbarian"
0:32:59 > 0:33:03and yet he's in the emperor's army. He's almost certainly
0:33:03 > 0:33:04from central Asia.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07No-one's doing their own thing any more.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Everyone's marching to the First Emperor's tune.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17The creation of the Terracotta Army required its own army -
0:33:17 > 0:33:19700,000 strong.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24It took them 38 years to finish the job.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27This wasn't an artist's workshop - it was a production line.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35I like this part because they've, um...
0:33:35 > 0:33:38They've laid the sculpture out so that you can actually see
0:33:38 > 0:33:42some of the evidence of its bureaucratic making -
0:33:42 > 0:33:47here, you've got the name of the craftsman responsible.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51A poor slave labourer, he was called Duo...
0:33:51 > 0:33:56and here, here and here you've got the seal
0:33:56 > 0:34:00of the supervisor of the department
0:34:00 > 0:34:02that was bureaucratically responsible for the creation
0:34:02 > 0:34:05of the Terracotta Army, so...
0:34:05 > 0:34:09Duo did it and "Boom, boom... that's good to go."
0:34:09 > 0:34:11Good to go to the tomb. And look over here...
0:34:15 > 0:34:18Looking down into the legs of a terracotta soldier...
0:34:18 > 0:34:21you're not just looking down into that, you're looking down
0:34:21 > 0:34:25into the traces of how these objects were made.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28Very simply, using, essentially, child's modelling clay
0:34:28 > 0:34:32that's then baked. And you can still see, if you look inside,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34you can still see...
0:34:34 > 0:34:37the imprint of the craftsman's hand. His fingers.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41The way that they've dragged the clay into the shape required
0:34:41 > 0:34:44to model the torso and the legs.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52The Terracotta Army may yet prove to be just the beginning
0:34:52 > 0:34:54of the discoveries here.
0:34:54 > 0:34:55Such is the scale of the site,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59the archaeologists say that it may be more than a century
0:34:59 > 0:35:01before they finish their excavation.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06The pits and soldiers lie a full mile to the east
0:35:06 > 0:35:09of the emperor's final resting place.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13According to a Chinese historian who was writing less than a century
0:35:13 > 0:35:15after the First Emperor's death -
0:35:15 > 0:35:20The emperor had himself buried within that great mound
0:35:20 > 0:35:24in a stone sarcophagus placed inside a bronze surround
0:35:24 > 0:35:27within an entire underground palace filled,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30the historian writes tantalisingly, "with treasure".
0:35:30 > 0:35:34The palace was surrounded by a moat of poisonous mercury
0:35:34 > 0:35:38and if that weren't enough to deter would-be tomb robbers,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41there were ingeniously-rigged archers
0:35:41 > 0:35:43armed with deadly crossbows.
0:35:43 > 0:35:49Now that once might have all seemed like historical fancy, legend,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52but now that they've discovered the terracotta soldiers
0:35:52 > 0:35:53anything seems possible.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57What secrets lie buried beneath that great hill?
0:36:11 > 0:36:15Of all the objects uncovered during the excavations so far,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19these two bronze chariots have to be the most remarkable.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Found close to the emperor's burial mound, they were designed
0:36:25 > 0:36:28to transport his spirit through his realm in the afterlife.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35Now, the terracotta soldiers are relatively crudely made -
0:36:35 > 0:36:40this object is very different. It's made out of bronze,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43the craftsmanship is utterly remarkable,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46it's a fully-functioning chariot.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49If you detached it from its horses and its stand,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53it would roll along the ground - it works.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05Look at the umbrella under which he rides.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08It's got a mechanism, still-functioning mechanism,
0:37:08 > 0:37:13that enables its angle to be moved, its elevation to be altered.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21This may well be the most complicated bronze object
0:37:21 > 0:37:23ever created by man.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26Formed from more than 3,000 separate pieces.
0:37:32 > 0:37:38The charioteer - what a piece of work he is.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43He's got a sword in his belt, he's got arrows by his side.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46And look at these horses -
0:37:46 > 0:37:50these are the horses of the Mongolian steppe
0:37:50 > 0:37:53with their pronounced haunches,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56their startled eyes, the flare of their nostrils,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01the folds of their skin - all rendered in cast bronze.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23So what are these objects?
0:38:23 > 0:38:29What do they represent? What do they stand for as works of art?
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Well... it used to be heresy to say so
0:38:33 > 0:38:35in Communist China...
0:38:35 > 0:38:38but now it's a commonly-held opinion
0:38:38 > 0:38:42that what they represent in terms of art history is actually...
0:38:42 > 0:38:47(the first great influence of the West on the art of China.)
0:38:48 > 0:38:51Previously there had been no Chinese tradition
0:38:51 > 0:38:56of realistic figurative sculpture, images of man that looked like man.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00This is Western realism applied to Chinese beliefs.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06In the Ancient World, only the Greeks had created such art.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09And how might the First Emperor have seen Greek sculpture...?
0:39:09 > 0:39:13100 years earlier, in the time of Alexander the Great,
0:39:13 > 0:39:16Greeks had settled as far east as Afghanistan
0:39:16 > 0:39:21and may well have been trading with the Chinese along the Silk Road.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26This was the harshest corner of this land, the far north-west,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30the corridor between the Mongolian steppes and the mountains of Tibet.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37Through this windswept desert came not only foreign styles of art,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41but foreign beliefs that would transform Chinese civilisation.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03The Silk Road is a modern name for the ancient network
0:40:03 > 0:40:06of trade routes that formed cross-continent,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08linking Europe and Asia.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11Through this perilous and epic path,
0:40:11 > 0:40:15merchants, soldiers and monks arrived.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Now, you could read about it in a book,
0:40:25 > 0:40:28you can look at it on a map
0:40:28 > 0:40:33but nothing quite prepares you for the experience
0:40:33 > 0:40:36of actually walking along the Silk Road -
0:40:36 > 0:40:42thousands of miles of unendingly hostile terrain...
0:40:42 > 0:40:47and yet...this was the route, the only route,
0:40:47 > 0:40:51for merchants carrying silk and spices
0:40:51 > 0:40:55from China to the outside world
0:40:55 > 0:40:59and carrying Western or Indian goods back into China.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05Travelling the Silk Road wasn't just arduous,
0:41:05 > 0:41:07it was extremely dangerous.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11On the one hand there were roving groups of bandits
0:41:11 > 0:41:15ready to steal your treasure and kill you.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17On the other hand there was nature.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21The sand dunes and their ever-shifting configurations.
0:41:21 > 0:41:22Sand storms blowing in.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25Sometimes the only way you'd know you were on the right path
0:41:25 > 0:41:29was because you'd come across a little heap
0:41:29 > 0:41:31of bleached-white human bones.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02In 206 BC, just five years after the First Emperor's death
0:42:02 > 0:42:06the Qin Dynasty gave way to the outward-looking Han.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11The new rulers expanded, defeating the nomads,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13who'd dominated these desert lands.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Frontier towns were created to control
0:42:18 > 0:42:22both the newly-extended borders and the growing trade.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30One of the biggest, built on an oasis, was Dunhuang.
0:42:33 > 0:42:372,000 years ago, travellers and merchants grew rich here
0:42:37 > 0:42:40from the blossoming trade of the Silk Road.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53But the travellers from the West brought more than goods.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56They brought their ideas and their gods.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01None had greater impact on China than Buddhism.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09From the 3rd century, Buddhism spread rapidly among the Chinese
0:43:09 > 0:43:12offering them a joyful alternative
0:43:12 > 0:43:15to their own grimly-limiting visions of the afterlife.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Suddenly, even the poorest person could hope to be reincarnated
0:43:21 > 0:43:24into a better life and eventually achieve nirvana,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27the Buddhist state of transcendent peace.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29BELLS RING
0:43:29 > 0:43:32The religion's beginnings in China were humble.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36Simple monks' caves cut into the rocks by the side of the Silk Road,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40where travellers would give thanks or pray for safe passage.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42Soon, the prayers were accompanied by art.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50At the beginning of the 20th century, just outside Dunhuang,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53the most remarkable examples of this early Buddhist art
0:43:53 > 0:43:57were rediscovered, concealed beneath 1,000 years of sand.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13The Magao cave complex is a labyrinth of hundreds of temples
0:44:13 > 0:44:14hewn into the rock face.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23The earliest date back to 336AD.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35Within them, 45,000 square metres of extraordinary Buddhist painting.
0:44:46 > 0:44:502,000 sculptures of Buddhas, bodhisattvas,
0:44:50 > 0:44:52guardians and devotees.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54All document the evolution of Chinese life
0:44:54 > 0:44:57over the best part of a millennium.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16This...this is a treat.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19All of the paintings and sculptures in this space
0:45:19 > 0:45:23were created more than 1,500 years ago.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26This is one of the most spectacular sequences
0:45:26 > 0:45:29of early painting anywhere in the world,
0:45:29 > 0:45:31not just in Dunhuang.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33What do we see...?
0:45:33 > 0:45:37The principal image of the Buddha and all around us...
0:45:37 > 0:45:42what must have seemed to Chinese people, in the 6th century,
0:45:42 > 0:45:48astonishingly exotic, foreign, alien faces.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58Look at this fantastically-Indian Buddha,
0:45:58 > 0:46:00this is Indian art and Indian religion
0:46:00 > 0:46:03transplanted to Chinese soil.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Remember, the Chinese, up to this point, really,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14they were used to their sacred spaces being underground.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16Now they're 100 feet up in the air,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20contemplating a theatre of Buddhist imagery. Now, look...
0:46:22 > 0:46:24..the sculptures force you to your knees.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29Because only when you go to your knees
0:46:29 > 0:46:31do you meet their eyes.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43And then, when you do look up...
0:46:43 > 0:46:46you see these processions of figures going around the walls
0:46:46 > 0:46:48and what you see are these...
0:46:49 > 0:46:53..wonderfully stark, very quickly-painted, impulsive,
0:46:53 > 0:46:56expressionistic images of the Buddha teaching,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59the Buddha meditating. Here he is...
0:46:59 > 0:47:02during that time when he set out to meditate for 49 days
0:47:02 > 0:47:05and demons and devils and poisonous snakes came
0:47:05 > 0:47:07to tempt and distract him.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Perhaps they were meant to be the demons of the mind?
0:47:15 > 0:47:19One of the messages of this space is that there are many Buddhas.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24That any individual can rise to Buddha-hood.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27You see that in the lower register of the paintings, where you have
0:47:27 > 0:47:32these wonderfully vivid depictions of the roughly 1,200 people
0:47:32 > 0:47:36who've paid communally to have this chapel created,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38and those figures are matched by -
0:47:38 > 0:47:43you see up there? - these sort of plaques that decorate the wall,
0:47:43 > 0:47:47they are 1,200 Buddhas, so the idea being that each person
0:47:47 > 0:47:50who paid for the creation of this
0:47:50 > 0:47:53might themselves rise to become a Buddha.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10And I think the principal impact of this space might have been...
0:48:10 > 0:48:13this great, seemingly endless frieze of figures,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17especially when you think how it would have been experienced
0:48:17 > 0:48:20by many worshippers through procession.
0:48:21 > 0:48:26You process around the space and you don't just do it once,
0:48:26 > 0:48:31you do it many, many times, perhaps as many as 100 times.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35You say your prayers to the Buddha, you prostrate yourself
0:48:35 > 0:48:41before the Buddha, you continue to pray, perhaps to chant,
0:48:41 > 0:48:43there might be music...
0:48:45 > 0:48:49The whole purpose of this space was to help those who worshipped here
0:48:51 > 0:48:54take themselves to another space.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57The space that, perhaps, isn't even in this world at all.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28The Magao Caves reached their heyday some 300 years later
0:49:28 > 0:49:30at the turn of the 7th century
0:49:30 > 0:49:35with the arrival of the enlightened and the tolerant Tang Dynasty.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Under their rule, Buddhism surged in popularity -
0:49:41 > 0:49:44the impact can still be felt in modern China
0:49:44 > 0:49:47where a third of the population is Buddhist.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59One Tang ruler even elevated the importance
0:49:59 > 0:50:03of this new faith from India above Chinese Daoism.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Which is perhaps why, at the heart of the Magao Caves,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10that ruler was immortalised on a monumental scale.
0:50:10 > 0:50:11Ha.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24The statue that we're trying to get a peek of, well...
0:50:24 > 0:50:27is fully 35 metres tall.
0:50:28 > 0:50:33- HE PANTS - Come on, hurry up, I know you're tired.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38We've risen so far above the madding crowds
0:50:38 > 0:50:41we've actually come level with the mountains, but...
0:50:41 > 0:50:43this is what we're here to see.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46The central cult image.
0:50:47 > 0:50:48Look at that...
0:50:50 > 0:50:52The great image of the Buddha.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Look at those staring, tranquil eyes.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11But...what's the great surprise?
0:51:11 > 0:51:15The great surprise is that this Buddha...
0:51:15 > 0:51:17(this Buddha is a woman!)
0:51:17 > 0:51:19And not just any woman.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24It's a portrait of Empress Wu!
0:51:24 > 0:51:28The only female emperor in all of China's history.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31A deeply controversial figure.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35Much maligned after her death by Confucian scholars.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38More objective historical record tells us
0:51:38 > 0:51:42that China was hugely prosperous under her rule.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44She expanded its territories,
0:51:44 > 0:51:46she laid out vast areas
0:51:46 > 0:51:49of previously royal land for agriculture.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51She promoted business,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55she promoted female rights, she was one of the great one-offs
0:51:55 > 0:51:58in all of Chinese history and I really like the fact
0:51:58 > 0:52:02that SHE is the tutelary deity
0:52:02 > 0:52:06of this great labyrinth of Chinese creativity.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18Professor Ning Qiang spent seven years living at Dunhuang,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21decoding the life and rituals depicted in the art
0:52:21 > 0:52:24of just one extraordinary cave.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Perhaps because his specialist subject
0:52:28 > 0:52:30is the life-affirming art of Buddhism
0:52:30 > 0:52:32he's that rare creature,
0:52:32 > 0:52:36a Chinese art historian with a truly infectious sense of humour.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40So, you spent many years here writing and working
0:52:40 > 0:52:43- on your dissertation.- Indeed!
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Does it bring back memories for you to come...?
0:52:45 > 0:52:46Oh, indeed.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50And my favourite moment is sitting near the tree,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53enjoying my tea and "Look, it's a Buddha."
0:52:53 > 0:52:56- Although I can't see the Buddha's face because of the building.- Yeah.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00But it's in my mind, you know, you just feel it.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The Buddha, the tree and you.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07You are sitting with history and you ARE history, see.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09I like that.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12Didn't the Buddha reach enlightenment sitting under a tree?
0:53:12 > 0:53:15Indeed, yes it's the same thing! Indeed!
0:53:20 > 0:53:24The professor's cave contains the first known Chinese image
0:53:24 > 0:53:27of the Buddhist western paradise - The Pure Land.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34A painting that looks like a faded but richly-embroidered piece of silk
0:53:34 > 0:53:39and which shows the blessed healed of all illness or deformity,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42listening to music among scented trees
0:53:42 > 0:53:45in a garden where magical waters flow.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49Stark contrast with the barren deserts outside.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55On the opposite wall
0:53:55 > 0:53:59there's a picture of an actual Buddhist healing ritual.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Apt, since Buddhism helped to heal the Chinese soul,
0:54:03 > 0:54:05bruised by conflict and tyranny.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Tell me a little bit about these figures.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15When I saw this, I was absolutely struck by, well,
0:54:15 > 0:54:20particularly this dancer which is so delicately, beautifully depicted.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26You know, the healing ritual requires a kind of celebrative environment
0:54:26 > 0:54:33for the Buddha, right? So you have dance and you have music.
0:54:35 > 0:54:37Dance are called...
0:54:37 > 0:54:38HE SPEAKS CHINESE
0:54:38 > 0:54:42..or foreign whirly dance
0:54:42 > 0:54:45and you just turn around and very fast
0:54:45 > 0:54:47you wave your scarves.
0:54:47 > 0:54:53But you never leave the small carpet so it is called "whirly dance".
0:54:53 > 0:54:57And look at these musicians.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59I love this scene.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02They are just a combination of musicians
0:55:02 > 0:55:06from different regions, you see, probably from India.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08- I was going to say, she is from India.- Yes.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13So here, what you are looking at, is actually
0:55:13 > 0:55:18the dance and the music culture of the Silk Road.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31Having been on this journey through Chinese art...
0:55:31 > 0:55:33for a long stretch of history...
0:55:33 > 0:55:34one is looking at bronze vessels
0:55:34 > 0:55:37and then suddenly there's the terracotta soldiers
0:55:37 > 0:55:40but you don't really have a sense of people's lives from the art,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43- when suddenly... - Yes.- ..you come here and it...
0:55:43 > 0:55:44it all explodes.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47That's the excitement of Dunhuang art.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55The past is another country,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58but at Dunhuang you can still travel through it
0:55:58 > 0:56:00with your eyes and your imagination.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03Here, at last, are the people of ancient China,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05fully revealed in art.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08Falling in love.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14Falling into prison and being released.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30Liberty or containment?
0:56:32 > 0:56:35The Chinese have always been striving for freedom
0:56:35 > 0:56:38while contending with those who would control them.
0:56:41 > 0:56:46That's the great revelation of the recent archaeological finds.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48We knew it was true of Communist China
0:56:48 > 0:56:51but now, it seems, it's always been so.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57Ever since the people of Sanxingdui, with their idiosyncrasies,
0:56:57 > 0:57:01were succeeded by the fiercely controlling Shang Dynasty,
0:57:01 > 0:57:05with its mastery of the written word.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09Followed by the chillingly bureaucratic First Emperor.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17Dunhuang is exhilarating
0:57:17 > 0:57:21because it's such a triumphant assertion of Chinese freedom.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Freedom of belief.
0:57:27 > 0:57:28Freedom of expression.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34This is life itself, body and soul.
0:57:36 > 0:57:40Even the startled donkey - ears pricked up,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43trembles with the sense of individual consciousness.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48I think it's also a discovery that's changed
0:57:48 > 0:57:53the Western stereotypical view of the Chinese cultural identity.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58Often, we in the West tend to think of the Chinese as a people who have
0:57:58 > 0:58:01too much regard, perhaps, for their own traditions.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04A people who are still teaching their children,
0:58:04 > 0:58:082,500 years after Confucius died! Teaching their children
0:58:08 > 0:58:10to recite his sayings by rote.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14A people who leave... too little space in their lives
0:58:14 > 0:58:16for creativity, imagination, free will,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19the eccentricity of the individual.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22But Dunhuang disproves all that. Dunhuang proves that
0:58:22 > 0:58:26once upon a time, the Chinese had 1,000 Picassos in their midst.
0:58:26 > 0:58:31And I think THAT'S why this place really does belong
0:58:31 > 0:58:34at the centre of any story of Chinese art.