World's history in one place
Is it possible to put millions of years of the world's history into one building? The British Museum seems to think so. "A history of the World in 100 Objects", an exhibition about rare and ancient objects from the world, has made it a success.
The British Museum says it owns at least 8 million historical objects. But why choose these 100 objects to tell stories of our world's history?
It all started with a challenge（挑战）.
Neil MacGregor, who was once director of the British Museum, was asked by BBC to choose 100 objects from the museum's huge collection. The objects had to include things from the beginning of human history about 2 million years ago to the present day.
MacGregor accepted, and took four years to choose each object himself.
In 2010, MacGregor appeared on BBC radio, giving a detailed（详细的）explanation of each object. The show was a big hit and all these 100 objects were shown in the British Museum. A book with photos of each object soon followed.
"The objects had to cover the whole world, from a cooking pot to a golden galleon, from a Stone Age tool to a credit card." MacGregor wrote.
The collection includes many important objects from China. There is a banknote from the Ming Dynasty, showing China as the first country to use paper money.
But it's not just ancient things that are shown. Among them are some modern things like a solar-powered lamp and even a throne made of weapons created by an African artist.
"Of course,the collection could only be 'a' history of the world. But it is still a history that people in the present world need to know." MacGregor wrote.
