Films about the objects of China, told in seasons. Each season takes one subject and follows it in pairs of films – the object itself, and the culture that grew around it. Films without narration, with English and Simplified Chinese caption cards and instrumental music.
Season One: The Art of Chinese Tea
Fourteen films on tea: the six kinds made from one leaf, the vessels that hold it, and the rituals built around them. Earlier films about Chinese objects remain in the archive.
Watch the films of Season One · Start with Tea
Prelude — The Silk Road
Twelve films along the old route between China and the west: the envoy who went out in 138 BC, the Jade Gate, the caravans, Chang’an and the Mogao caves, silk itself, paper and powder, and the road’s afterlife as a railway.