Thank you for downloading this episode of a history of the world in a hundred objects

from BBC Radio 4.

If in the course of today you use a mobile phone, drive a car or watch TV, or if you find your children playing with their robot pet, the chances are that at least one of these

objects will have been made in Korea. As we all know, Korea is one of Asia's tiger

economies, provider of high technology to the world. We tend to think of it as a new player on the global

stage, but that of course is not how Koreans see themselves, for Korea has always

been pivotal in relations between China and Japan and it is a long tradition of technological

inventions. It was Korea, for example, that pioneered movable metal type and it did so well

before it was invented in Europe.

Besides its technology,

the other thing that we all know about Korea today

is that since the end of the Second World War in 1945,

it has been bitterly and dangerously divided between a communist north and a capitalist south.

Today's object takes us to Korea around the year 700, to a state newly unified that was enjoying great prosperity, to a moment in its history

that is inevitably now read differently by north and south, but is still central to any

modern definition of Korean identity.

By 700, Korea was already a rich urbanized country, a major trade player at the end of the famous

Silk Road. But this program's object isn't made of precious silk. It's earthy clay, but clay that tells

us a great deal about Korea's golden age. Looking at this Korean roof tile, I think is

looking at this Korean roof tile I think it's great that it represents Korean culture The culture of Sheila is the best well preserved.

It was the first time when all aspects of Korean culture merged together.

A history of the world in a hundred objects. ceramic roof tile

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