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Price of Harmony

Examines the technologies invented in 13th century China, including the world's first mechanical clock, the compass, paper and printing.
Series : Roads to Xanadu | Episode : 1 | Year : 1989 | Total Duration : 55.5 Minutes | Producer : John Merson, David Roberts, Tom Levenson (Assistant Producer WGBH Boston)
Director : David Roberts |
Men in traditional dress, leading prayers at the White Cloud temple in Beijing. People praying at the Islamic mosque, Quanzhou, China. Three men in traditional dress reading religious books as part of a religious ceremony, at the White Cloud Taoist temple, Beijing.
Tilt down traditional Chinese drilling rig made of timber and bamboo ropes with VS of ropes, turning wheels and Chinese men re-enacting a traditional rhythmic dance which lifts and drops a heavy iron bit into a hole in the mining of salt
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Access No. 123966 | 1 min 30 secs | 1980s | Central China | © NFSA | Colour |
CU then pull back to large statue of Li Bing, Governor of Sichuan in 250 BC, who established the salt mining industry in central China. Older Chinese man with white beard and black cap hits metal gong.
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Access No. 123967 | 21 secs | 1980s | Dujiangyan, Central China | © NFSA | Colour |
Sunset shots in silhouette of Chinese people walking and boat under arched bridge. Chinese people, some in traditional dress in temple, bowing in religious gathering. CU of fire in kiln and Chinese women feeding fire with dry grass. Chinese woman working on pottery teapots. CU on weaving on a loom and pan across woven cloth with dragon designs
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Access No. 123968 | 42 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Sampan traffic on river and under arched bridge. VS of temples in sunset light. Title graphic over temple shot
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Access No. 123969 | 30 secs | 1980s | Suzhou, China | © NFSA | Colour |
WS Shanghai city. VS city life - people on escalators, couple shopping, man trying on suit, quick shot of monitor with display of electronic frequencies, pan along workbench in electronics factory and CUs of people working on circuit boards. Presenter John Merson discusses Chinese inventions of books, compass, gunpowder. Tilt up length of European cannon
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Access No. 123972 | 2 mins 14 secs | 1980s | Shanghai, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Busy city scenes, policeman in white uniform directing traffic in Beijing, bicycles, large advertising sign for Marlboro cigarettes. Chinese women and child at a temple dedicated to Li Bing (Chinese Government Official) burning candles and bowing in workshop before a large mural.
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Access No. 123973 | 1 min 2 secs | 1980s | Dujiangyan, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Traditional Chinese drilling rig made of timber with VS of bamboo ropes, turning wheels in salt wells. Buffalo turning large wooden wheel in salt well. Good example of early mining methods. Salt brine brought to surface in tube made of bamboo. Woodblock depiction of methods used in producing salt. Chinese man shovelling salt. Presenter, John Merson describes history and importance of salt to survival in China.
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Access No. 123974 | 2 mins 39 secs | 1980s | Sichuan Province, China | © NFSA & Canton University Library | Colour |
LS of temple in silhouette. VS of boats on Grand Canal, junks, sampans, caravan of boats and barges. Pan to small stone building on canal edge.
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Access No. 123979 | 32 secs | 1980s | Grand Canal, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Su Song Scroll depicting the trade of salt, porcelain and silk in China
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Access No. 123981 | 16 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Tilt down facade of red pagoda, Emperor's summer retreat at Shantou (Xanadu) . LS of pagoda.
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Access No. 124001 | 24 secs | 1980s | Shantou, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Still of Emperor Kublai Khan and pan across painting on silk of Chinese merchant traders. Professor Wang Gungwu, Vice Chancellor of Hong Kong University about family clans and values. Filial Piety painting
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Access No. 124002 | 1 min 45 secs | 1980s | China | © National Palace Museum, Taipei & Musee de L'Air | Colour |
Working the land in China. People carrying water in baskets on their shoulders from the river to the rice paddy fields, Pull back to WS of valley with green rice crops.
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Access No. 124003 | 44 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Aerial pan over rugged mountains with brown river in valley leading into Dujianggyan. Presenter, John Merson on edge of river with suspension bridge in background. Talking about farming flood plains.
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Access No. 124004 | 46 secs | 1980s | Dujiangyan, China | © China Agricultural Film Unit, China Film Company | Colour |
Chinese feature film - Li Bing Feature - flooded Minjaing river, tree falls into river, man hits gong, CU Li Bing, panicked crowd in streets, animals washed away in flood. Etching of river canals.
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Access No. 124005 | 44 secs | 1980s | Minjaing River, China | © China Film Co. | Colour |
Weir , dam across Minjiang River at Dujiangyan with water being released. Pan of island built to divide Minjaing River in Chengdu Plains for irrigation and farming
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Access No. 124006 | 39 secs | 1980s | Minjiang River, Chengdu Plains, Dujiangyan, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Chinese feature film - Li Bing Feature - workforce building dam, Li Bing
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Access No. 124007 | 45 secs | 1980s | China | © China Film Co | Colour |
Aerial pan over rice paddy fields or wet rice agricultural fields.
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Access No. 124008 | 7 secs | 1980s | China | © China Agricultural Film Unit | Colour |
WS rice paddy fields with mountains in b/g. Pan across wet rice crops. CU of water wheel turning, pull back to show huge water wheel
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Access No. 124009 | 8 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Pan across wet rice paddy fields and crops.
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Access No. 124010 | 12 secs | 1980s | China | © Studio Hamburg | Colour |
CU of water wheel turning, pull back to show huge water wheel
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Access No. 124011 | 16 mins 7 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Chinese man and buffalo ploughing rice paddy fields
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Access No. 124012 | 21 secs | 1980s | China | © Studio Hamburg | Colour |
Chinese man carrying a wooden Ò Dragon's Backbone PumpÓ through rice paddy field. Used for lifting water from one level to another. Drawing of Dragon's Backbone Pump
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Access No. 124013 | 43 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Drawing of farming methods in rice paddy fields and development of new rice type from Vietnam.
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Access No. 124015 | 49 secs | 1980s | China | © Canton University Library, canton | Colour |
Aerials of rural China
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Access No. 124016 | 8 secs | 1980s | China | © China Agricultural Film Unit | Colour |
VS of two Chinese men operating a wooden Ò Dragon's Backbone PumpÓ . Used for lifting water from one level to another.
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Access No. 124017 | 23 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Chinese people in straw hats carrying cut rice on wooden rods across their backs. VS harvesting rice
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Access No. 124018 | 29 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Still : of Festival of the Plough by Castiglione
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Access No. 124019 | 26 secs | 1980s | China | © Reunion des Musees Nationaux | Colour |
High angle shot of single man ploughing with buffalo, pullback to WS of rugged peaked mountains in misty landscape
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Access No. 124020 | 20 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
VS of Chinese scroll calendar
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Access No. 124021 | 38 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Pan from wide river in sunset light to observatory near Nanjing. VS around the observatory and MS of instrument called celestial sphere. Professor Ho Peng Yoke of Griffith University gives historical account Chinese and astronomy
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Access No. 124022 | 2 mins 18 secs | 1980s | Nanjing, China | © NFSA | Colour |
CU of astronomer looking at sky using instrument. Full moon featured against black sky. Pan over astronomical instrument. Dr Joseph Needham of of Needham Institute in Cambridge shows mechanical clock modelled on similar invention in China - Su Song Clock of 1084.
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Access No. 124024 | 1 min 25 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Drawings of Su Song Clock - original plans
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Access No. 124026 | 35 secs | 1980s | China | © Beijing Historical Museum | Colour |
Chinese model of Su Song's mechanical clock on display at the History Museum in Beijing. CU on parts of clock driven by a water wheel
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Access No. 124027 | 1 min 26 secs | 1980s | Beijing, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Two men ploughing field with oxen moving in opposite directions with high peaked mountains in b/g
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Access No. 124028 | 21 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Drawing of Su Song clock and painting of mechanical clock from 15th Century Flemish manuscript
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Access No. 124029 | 25 secs | 1980s | China | © Beijing Historical Museum & Biblioteque Nationale, Paris | Colour |
Zoom in on pagoda shaped temple POV through a doorway or window. Red gates to Forbidden City temple open
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Access No. 124030 | 20 secs | 1980s | Beijing, China | © NFSA | Colour |
CU on brush in bowl of black ink then MS of Chinese men using ink and brushes in woodblock printing process. CU on old man with white beard and black head dress.
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Access No. 124031 | 51 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Tilt up black and white rubbing of 72 disciples around Confucius from Scholar Hierarchy
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Access No. 124033 | 40 secs | 1980s | China | © State Library of NSW | Colour |
Exam Feature Film - Li Shi Zhen - students greet Emperor, bell ringing, scholars in exam booths. Describes process of study in 15th Century in China and taking of examinations. Presenter John Menson describes the importance of these exams to the future of Chinese students.
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Access No. 124034 | 1 min 35 secs | 1980s | China | © China Film Co. | Colour |
Pan down black & white drawing of Chinese scholars. Colour scroll The K'ang-hsi Emperor's Second Tour of the South
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Access No. 124035 | 41 secs | 1980s | China | © State Library of NSW & Metropolitan M of Art Ourchasem The Dillon Fund Gift, 1979 - Handscroll : The | Colour |
Low angle shot of Yao Wang Mountain Medical Temple in Shaanxi. Statue of Su Simao, a physician of the Tang dynasty seen trough red doors. CU of man lighting incense sticks in worship. Pan along row of figurines of medical scholars and heroes. CU of B & W woodblock of medicinal plants and turning pages of Chinese encyclopaedia. Carvings of prescriptions on stone tablets at Confucian temple in Xi'an. CU man transcribing Chinese writing from stone wall to paper referred to as photocopiers of ancient China
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Access No. 124036 | 2 mins 24 secs | 1980s | Shaanxi & Xi'an China | © NFSA | Colour |
Exterior shots of temple - White Cloud Daoist Temple. Rows on monks walking through temple courtyard. Monks inside temple. CU lighting candle. Chanting and turning over pages in printed books. Tilt down statue. CU on clasped hands. Meditating monks.
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Access No. 124037 | 1 min 54 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Tilt up black & white drawing of the life forces flowing up the spinal column and feeding the heart - Chinese Daoist philosophy of 16th century
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Access No. 124038 | 20 secs | 1980s | China | © Joseph Needham | Colour |
Rows of monks kneeling in temple
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Access No. 124039 | 12 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Black & white Chinese drawing depicting alchemists at work.
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Access No. 124040 | 21 secs | 1980s | China | © Contact Film Australia Collection Library | Colour |
Professor Fu Wei Kang of Shanghai University stating modern chemistry has its origins in ancient Chinese alchemy. CU of immortality pills found in tomb of woman who died 1700 years ago. Demonstration of the alchemy processes using a crucible and urn
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Access No. 124041 | 55 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Colour drawing of Òimmortals high in the cloudsÓ - depicting Chinese emperor who died from an alchemy experiment. Colour drawing of Arab physicians on camels. Colour painting of Spanish chemist showing his products to Christians.
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Access No. 124042 | 44 secs | 1980s | China | © Mrs Mottaheden, German catalogue & Victoria & Albert Museum, London | Colour |
CU on salt petre being stirred in large wok shaped pan over an open fire. Mixture of salt petre and sulphur being ground under large stone blocks to make gunpowder. Men filling pipes with gunpowder. Various firecrackers explode.
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Access No. 124043 | 1 min 6 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Black & White woodblock of gunpowder weapons and battle
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Access No. 124044 | 35 secs | 1980s | © University of Canton, Canton | Colour |
Presenter, John Merson with examples of explosives used in China in 11th Century. CU of bomb exploding and examples of rockets and cannons.
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Access No. 124045 | 55 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Black & white drawing of weapons used by 11th Century China
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Access No. 124046 | 28 secs | 1980s | China | © The British Museum Library | Colour |
VS cannons exploding and destroying buildings, splash bomb lands in water
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Access No. 124047 | 8 secs | 1980s | © BBC | Colour |
Colour drawings. paintings of medieval warfare in Europe showing the cannon capable of blasting holes in castles
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Access No. 124048 | 49 secs | 1980s | Europe | © Bison Books & Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris | Colour |
Travelling shot over water to land in distance in silhouette, all in sunset light, fresco of Madonna on interior dome of Torcello, Venice buildings with ornate domes of San Marco Basilica, statue of man on horse in silhouette.
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Access No. 124049 | 4 secs | 1980s | Venice, Italy | © BBC | Colour |
Colour painting of Venetian merchants in the 14th century
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Access No. 124050 | 48 secs | 1980s | © Gallerie Dell' Accademia, Venice | Colour |
Professor Wang Gungwu of University of Hong Kong about merchants and state control in China in 14th Century. Black & white drawing
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Access No. 124051 | 32 secs | 1980s | China | © Tianjin Arts Museum, China | Colour |
LS of pagoda on edge of Yangtze, boat on river being rowed by several men, WS of Yangtze River flowing between gorge
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Access No. 124052 | 23 secs | 1980s | Yangtze River, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Black & white drawing of Chinese navy in 12th Century and paddle boat
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Access No. 124053 | 23 secs | 1980s | China | © Joseph Needham | Colour |
CU of junk on river, loading goods onto junks on river edge, village on opposite shore. River brown, green mountains in b/g
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Access No. 124054 | 31 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Dr. Joseph Needham of Needham University, Cambridge. Colour drawing of different classes of Chinese society. Black & White drawing of merchants
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Access No. 124055 | 1 min 11 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Man ( mullah ) calling from minaret (rooftop tower ) . Canton. Arab Muslims praying in mosque. Women in white head covers, kneeling on floor
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Access No. 124056 | 58 secs | 1980s | Canton, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Rotating porcelain jug in blue and white design.
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Access No. 124057 | 13 secs | 1980s | © Contact Film Australia Collection Library | Colour |
Caravan of camels on Silk Road, single line of camels
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Access No. 124058 | 26 secs | 1980s | China | © China Agricultural Film Unit | Colour |
CU on portrait of Henry the Navigator, brother of the King of Portugal ( circa 12th c)
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Access No. 124059 | 9 secs | 1980s | © Biblioteca Nationale, Lisboa | Colour |
Graphic of map of Africa around 12th century
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Access No. 124060 | 12 secs | 1980s | Africa | © Academia De Ciencias, Lisboa | Colour |
Tall ship sailing ship on ocean, aerial of same
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Access No. 124061 | 32 secs | 1980s | © Paramount Pictures, Hollywood | Colour |
Colour painting of Admiral Zheng (Jheng?) He's fleet of ships (1405) used for discovery and diplomacy. Navigational charts from voyages of Zheng He
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Access No. 124062 | 1 min 5 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Pan across bay and pull back to WS of Song light house, at port of Quanzhou on coast of Fujian. Tilt up ornate facade of pagoda like building. Presenter, John Merson gives historical account of shipping in early China.
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Access No. 124064 | 1 min 29 secs | 1980s | Quanzhou, Fujian, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Boat traffic on Grand Canal. Junk loaded with hay and other transport boats. High angle of junks filled with supplies. Professor Wang Gungwu of University of Hong Kong gives historical account of foreign trade
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Access No. 124065 | 2 mins 9 secs | 1980s | Grand Canal, China | © NFSA | Colour |
Open junk boat of people on river, junk under arched bridge in sunset light. Sunset on Grand Canal with lots of boat traffic
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Access No. 124066 | 1 min 4 secs | 1980s | China | © NFSA | Colour |
Black & white rubbing of 72 disciples around Confucius from Scholar Hierarchy and colour hand scroll : The K'ang-hsi Emperor's Second Tour of the South
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Access No. 124224 | 41 secs | 1980s | China | © State Library of NSW & Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | Colour |
Colour drawings. paintings of medieval warfare in Europe showing the cannon capable of blasting holes in castles
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Access No. 125994 | 49 secs | 1980s | Europe | © Bison Books & Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris | Colour |
National Film and Sound Archive - Australia