Stuff the British Stole: Nov 22

In a mystery binding together China, UK & Australia, British colonial forces took a golden warrior statue following an epic rebellion by Chinese martial artists.

Tonight on Stuff the British Stole Marc Fennell explores explores how it ended up in a prestigious Australian building.

Binding together China, UK and Australia, Shadow Boxer, is a saga of martial arts, the high seas, a prestigious gallery and a precious object that very few people even know exists.

In the wake of an epic rebellion by Chinese martial artists against foreign military forces, a golden warrior statue is taken by British colonial forces. The theft, at a crucial turning point in global history, binds together multiple nations. But how on earth did this mysterious warrior statue end up in one of the most prestigious buildings in Australia?

An unexpected message from a former art gallery worker plunges Marc into the murky early days of Australia’s maritime history. A handful of sailors are sent into an event that very much appears to be a massacre. But the truth of all of this is far, far stranger.

Marc finds himself in Dublin to discover the curious role martial arts plays in a Chinese uprising that changed the course of history. In Scotland, Marc will connect the dots of looted art and how a superpower is rewriting history.

And this whirlwind global adventure unfurls in a stunning garden in Vancouver, Canada where a record-breaking YouTuber will lay bare how a generation of the Chinese diaspora are fighting to reclaim the past as well as how the past itself is told.

8pm tonight on ABC.