Ancient Chinese City Walls (Six Volumes in a Set)

Content introduction China is one of the earliest countries to build cities in human history. Almost all cities in Chinese history had city walls, but most of them disappeared in the 20th century. At present, less than one-tenth of the ancient city walls remain in China (some only fragments of ruins remain), and most of them are in an endangered state, making their value increasingly rare. As the oldest architectural form in China, city walls will not be built again in future human social activities. Comprehensive sorting of this cultural heritage is not only a review, but also a reverence and rescue of this cultural heritage. This book is currently the first work in China that comprehensively collects and systematically organizes and researches historical data on images of ancient Chinese city walls. The book contains nearly 500 ancient Chinese city walls, more than 400 precious historical pictures, and more than 2,400 photos of city wall ruins. It is published in six volumes in hardcover and full color. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the origin of city wall construction, construction changes, previous damages and repairs, city demolitions, and site protection. It covers almost all shapes and levels of city walls in late China, as well as the Great Wall and different types of cities in other periods. It comprehensively displays the characteristics and significance of Chinese city walls in the form of pictures and texts. Many of the information are disclosed for the first time and are extremely precious. Its publication provides basic information for all walks of life to understand and study Chinese city walls, and achieves the purpose of preserving the history, administration and education of Chinese city walls. The starting point of compiling this book is to conduct an inventory of the fortunes of Chinese city walls for the first time in their heyday, and to provide the society with an illustrated dictionary of Chinese city walls that integrates academic, informative, instrumental and appreciative purposes, so as to achieve the purpose of promoting national culture and preserving historical materials for scientific research. About the author Yang Guoqing, associate researcher, is an expert employed by the Nanjing City Wall Protection and Management Center. For more than 30 years, he has been engaged in research on Chinese history and culture. Among the priority research areas are the history, function and evolution of ancient city walls, as well as the impact between city walls and cities, the relationship between city walls and people, the protection and utilization of city walls, and comparative research on international city walls. Many of his studies have been published in the form of articles, theses and monographs, and have won many awards from the country, province and city. The most influential ones include "Exploration of Nanjing City Wall Design Thoughts", "Nanjing City Wall Chronicles", "Nanjing City Wall Brick Text", "The Significance of City Wall Culture and the Protection of Contemporary City Wall Culture", "How to Learn to Be Neighbors with Ancient City Walls Today", "Symbol Jiangsu? Nanjing City Wall", etc. In 2011, he was invited as a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Germany to conduct comparative research on the history and current situation of city walls in China and Germany. He has traveled to Italy, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Canada, and Taiwan to participate in international city wall research projects, inspect city walls and castles, and has given many lectures at international conferences. In 2012, he was awarded the Expert Special Allowance issued by the State Council. Expert comments In the book "Ancient Chinese City Walls" edited by Mr. Yang Guoqing, a large number of ancient city wall pictures and descriptions of the city walls not only reflect the value of the Chinese city walls themselves, but also interpret the history of ancient Chinese cities. The publication of "Chinese City Walls" is of great significance, both from the perspective of Chinese city walls and from the perspective of traditional Chinese urban culture.