Martin Palmer has spent decades exploring and translating Chinese historical and philosophical texts. For Things Unseen he explains the Daoist concepts of Yin and Yang and our role in maintaining balance, in the world and in ourselves.

He explains how the written Chinese characters for Yin and Yang originate from the sunny and shady sides of a hill, and how he experiences this daily in his home on the sunny side of a valley. And he reflects on how, as a Christian, the discovery of Yin and Yang helped him see the world and his environmental work in a more nuanced way.