• Contact

  • Newsletter

  • About us

  • Delivery options

  • Prospero Book Market Podcast

  • News

  • The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth

    The Great Wall of China by Waldron, Arthur;

    From History to Myth

    Series: Canto original series;

      • GET 20% OFF

      • The discount is only available for 'Alert of Favourite Topics' newsletter recipients.
      • Publisher's listprice GBP 23.99
      • The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.

        12 141 Ft (11 563 Ft + 5% VAT)
      • Discount 20% (cc. 2 428 Ft off)
      • Discounted price 9 713 Ft (9 250 Ft + 5% VAT)

    12 141 Ft

    db

    Availability

    Estimated delivery time: In stock at the publisher, but not at Prospero's office. Delivery time approx. 3-5 weeks.
    Not in stock at Prospero.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Edition number New ed
    • Publisher Cambridge University Press
    • Date of Publication 31 January 1992

    • ISBN 9780521427074
    • Binding Paperback
    • No. of pages316 pages
    • Size 219x139x21 mm
    • Weight 420 g
    • Language English
    • Illustrations 19 b/w illus. 8 maps
    • 0

    Categories

    Short description:

    Arthur Waldron reveals that the notion of an ancient and continuously existing Great Wall, is in fact a myth.

    More

    Long description:

    The Great Wall of China is renowned as one of the most impressive and intriguing man-made structures on earth. It is also the subject of an awesome mythology, embedded in both learned and popular imaginations, which has grown up and now obscured the historical record. Even the maps which chart the Wall's position offer erroneous accounts of a phenomenon which has never been accurately surveyed. Arthur Waldron reveals that the notion of an ancient and continuously existing Great Wall, one of modern China's national symbols and a legend in the eyes of the West, is in fact a myth. His fascinating account reveals the strategic and political context for the decision to build walls as fortified defences, and explores its profound implications for nomadic and agricultural life under the Ming dynasty. Taking up the insights offered into more recent Chinese politics, the book concludes with a searching investigation of the Wall's new meanings in the myths - departing from that history - fostered in our own century.

    'Historical writing at its best, a brilliant and very readable account.' The Asia Society

    More

    Table of Contents:

    List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Note on romanization; 1. Introduction: what is the Great Wall of China?; Part I. First Considerations: 2. Early Chinese walls; 3. Strategic origins of Chinese walls; Part II. The Making of the Great Wall: 4. Geography and strategy: the importance of the Ordos; 5. Security without walls: early Ming strategy and its collapse; 6. Toward a new strategy: the Ordos crisis and the first walls; 7. Politics and military policy at the turn of the sixteenth century; 8. The second debate over the Ordos; 9. The heyday of wall-building; Part III. The Significance of Wall-Building: 10. The Great Wall and foreign policy: the problem of compromise; 11. The Wall acquires new meanings; Notes; Bibliography; Chinese and Japanese materials; Western materials; Glossary; Index.

    More