100 five-minute episodes. China's museum artifacts, one breath at a time.
Every Treasure Tells a Story is a CCTV documentary that gives 100 Chinese museum artifacts — bronze vessels, jade, lacquerware, calligraphy — a 5-minute monologue in their own voice. We picked 3 scenes that connect directly to places you can visit in Beijing, Xi'an, and Changsha.
Houmuwu Ding — Shang Dynasty, ~1300 BCE. The world's largest ancient bronze vessel, 832 kg. Two tigers on the rim devour human heads: a warning to enemies. See it at the National Museum of China, Beijing (free, but book a slot online).
Li Gui — early Western Zhou (~1046 BCE). 32 characters inside confirm the date of the fall of the Shang: a Jiazi day. The day China entered written history. Shaanxi History Museum, Xi'an.
Liye Qin slips — 38,000 bamboo slips from a Qin-dynasty well in Hunan. The Qin dynasty lasted only 15 years (221–206 BCE), yet these slips are the closest we get to seeing everyday life under the first emperor. Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha.