- 432 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
A "gripping, colorful" history of China's Great Wall that explores the conquests and cataclysms of the empire from 1000 BC to the present day (
Publishers Weekly).
Over two thousand years old, the Great Wall of China is a symbolic and physical dividing line between the civilized Chinese and the "barbarians" at their borders. Historian Julia Lovell looks behind the intimidating fortification and its mythology to uncover a complex history far more fragmented and less illustrious that its crowds of visitors imagine today.
Lovell's story winds through the lives of the millions of individuals who built and attacked it, and recounts how succeeding dynasties built sections of the wall as defenses against the invading Huns, Mongols, and Turks, and how the Ming dynasty, in its quest to create an empire, joined the regional ramparts to make what the Chinese call the "10,000 Li" or the "long wall."
An epic that reveals the true history of a nation, The Great Wall is "a supremely inviting entrée to the country" and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand China's past, present, and future ( Booklist).
Over two thousand years old, the Great Wall of China is a symbolic and physical dividing line between the civilized Chinese and the "barbarians" at their borders. Historian Julia Lovell looks behind the intimidating fortification and its mythology to uncover a complex history far more fragmented and less illustrious that its crowds of visitors imagine today.
Lovell's story winds through the lives of the millions of individuals who built and attacked it, and recounts how succeeding dynasties built sections of the wall as defenses against the invading Huns, Mongols, and Turks, and how the Ming dynasty, in its quest to create an empire, joined the regional ramparts to make what the Chinese call the "10,000 Li" or the "long wall."
An epic that reveals the true history of a nation, The Great Wall is "a supremely inviting entrée to the country" and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand China's past, present, and future ( Booklist).
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The Great Wall by Julia Lovell in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Chinese History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Maps and Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Note On Romanization and Pronunciation
- Note On Names
- Introduction: Who Made the Great Wall of China?
- 1 Why Walls?
- 2 The Long Wall
- 3 Han Walls: Plus ça change
- 4 Shifting Frontiers and Decadent Barbarians
- 5 China Reunited
- 6 Without Walls: The Chinese Frontiers Expand
- 7 The Return of the Barbarians
- 8 A Case of Open and Shut: The Early Ming Frontier
- 9 The Wall Goes Up
- 10 The Great Fall of China
- 11 How Barbarians Made the Great Wall
- 12 Translating the Great Wall into Chinese
- Conclusion: The Great Wall, the Great Mall and the Great Firewall
- Appendix 1: Principal Characters
- Appendix 2: Chronology of Dynasties
- Appendix 3: Significant Dates in Chinese History and Wall-building
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
- Footnotes