Description
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)
We hear about the half-clay, half-grass exhibition match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Argentinean creative entrepreneur and tennis fan Pablo del Campo tells Uma Doraiswamy how he made the iconic court possible in May 2000. Fiona Skille, professor of Sports History at Glasgow...
Published 11/16/24
We hear about Polish war hero Irena Sendler who saved thousands of Jewish children during the World War Two.
Expert Kathryn Atwood explains why women’s stories of bravery from that time are not as prominent as men’s.
Plus, the invention of ‘Baby’ – one of the first programmable computers. It was...
Published 11/09/24