China won with 275.997 points. In a controversial decision, Japan won the silver in a dramatic last-ditch appeal on 271.952 points while Great Britain took bronze with 271.711.
China went into the last rotation nearly three points ahead, and strong pommel horse routines from Chen Yibing, Guo Weiyang and Zhang Chenglong dispelled any doubts about them.
Zou, 2008 Beijing Olympics champion in the floor and the horizontal bar, put in near flawless performances on the same apparatus to put his team firmly on course to victory.
But the main drama of the evening came on the final rotation, when Japan only needed two average scores on the pommel horse for silver.
After one gymnast slipped, Kohei Uchimura fell on the dismount to allow — initially — the British into second and Ukraine into third.
The Japanese, led by brothers Yusuke and Kazuhito Tanaka, headed the competition early on before China clicked into gear.
Max Whitlock, Daniel Purvis and Kristian Thomas put Britain in a position for silver with scores of 15.166, 15.533 and 15.433 scores on the floor.
They thought they had the bronze in the bag when it turned out they had outscored Ukraine, who hit 15.33, 15.233 and 15.433 through Oleg Stepko, Mykola Kuksenkov and Igor Radivilov.
But the judges took their time in scoring Uchimura, after which it emerged Britain had done enough for silver.
Later the Japanese coaching staff appealed, arguing Uchimura had been penalized incorrectly for failing to dismount entirely, rather than a poor dismount. The judges agreed, returning the 0.5 points the Japanese needed for second place, pushing Britain for the bronze and Ukraine off the podium.
For obvious reasons, the Ukrainians weren't happy.
The British, meanwhile, were ecstatic with winning a medal, even though it was relegated to bronze at the death.
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