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)
Arabian Peninsula
Racist raids, protests and a political assassination
The best Championship Manager player ever
Women taking a stand
Cuban boxing and the brink of nuclear war
Global strikes and industrial action
Caribbean carnivals and a racially inclusive nightclub
Dassler brothers' rift
Queen Elizabeth II and broadcasting
Queen Elizabeth II
Brazil
Gorbachev's legacy
Inflation and the cost of living
Seventy-five years since India's Partition
The nightclub that changed Ibiza
Fifty years since Asians were kicked out of Uganda
The Revolution on Granite
Stories from iconic TV shows from around the world
Stories from the abortion fight frontline
America’s first gay election candidate
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It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
The Infinite Monkey Cage
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins