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2,200 years old and 4,300 miles long, the Great
Wall of China makes
an overwhelmingly confident physical statement about China’s
age-old sense
of itself. But behind its intimidating exterior lies a complex history
of China’s
view of the outside world. Historian Julia Lovell will explore the
conquests and
cataclysms of the Chinese empire over the past 3000 years as set
out in her
new book, China Against the World 1000 BC - AD 2000 (Atlantic Books,
2006
- ‘A work of panoramic scope.’ Alex Clark, The Observer).
She will also restore
a human dimension to this remarkable structure, recreating the bleakness
of the frontier, thousands of miles from the centre of Chinese civilisation;
the suffering and sacrifice of the builders; costly colonial expansion
and
suffocating cultural conservatism; and the control and repression
of those
kept within.
Julia Lovell was born in 1975 and teaches Chinese history and literature
at the University of Cambridge. She has spent extended periods in
China
and has recently translated the prize-winning Chinese novel, A Dictionary
of Maqiao. She writes on China for The Guardian, The Times, The
Economist
and The Times Literary Supplement.
Asia House Members and concs £4, non-members £7
Tickets available from Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street,
London W1G 7LP Tel: 020 7307 5454
enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk mailto:enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk |
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