Chinese Walls in Time and Space: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (Cornell East Asia Series)

Are walls remnants of ancient and medieval societies, destined to become anachronistic in modern and postmodern times? Or will they persist, shaping as well as adjusting to new conditions? Do walls necessarily constrain and even isolate those who live within them, or can they act as a medium of support and communication for people on both sides? Fourteen authors from seven disciplines provide multiple perspectives on various kinds of walls. Cultural and scientific walls between East and West, China and America, prosperity and poverty, and viewer and viewed, are here explored in both their fragility and their endurance.