Starring partners

China's Greatest Treasures is a six-part series, with each 25-minute episode covering different aspects of modern Chinese life, such as family, art, manufacturing, technology and food. Alastair Sooke, a British art presenter, guides the audience on their voyage of discovery.

In this adventure, he meets Chinese people from all walks of lives, and listens to their stories. Being fascinated by Chinese history, Sooke says he is "amazed by her beauty and the depth of thousands of years of civilization. … You can't understand the country today without learning first about its past".

The presenter notes this has been the most amazing filming experience of his career. "China is never short of great artifacts. It is unusual to enjoy a production of such breadth and depth in your professional career."

China's Greatest Treasures started to air daily on CCTV-9 at 8 pm from Friday, presenting both traditional and modern China to audiences.

At its launch ceremony, Zhuang Dianjun, head of China Media Group's Center of Film, TV Drama and Documentary said CCTV and the BBC were natural partners to work together as two of the world's leading broadcasters, and the product of their mutual cooperation had created content and programming that would appeal to audiences the world over.