Introduction

Neil MacGregor's history of humanity told through one hundred objects from the British Museum. Three thousand years ago, the world was in huge flux, with new powers creating sophisticated new societies - from the Middle East to South America - as older ones collapsed. In today's programme, Neil MacGregor finds out what was happening in China of that period and describes how a group of outsiders, the Zhou, overthrew the long established Shang dynasty. The story is told through a bronze bowl that was used for feasting. What does this beautiful bronze bowl tell us about the Zhou and life in China at this time? Dame Jessica Rawson and the Chinese scholar Wang Tao help paint the picture