The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head [Hardcover]

William Lindesay (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674031490 | ISBN-13: 978-0674031494 | Publication Date: September 30, 2008

A journey along the Great Wall in the past and present, this landmark volume offers an extraordinary portrait of perhaps the world’s most famous structure. Carrying his camera and a file of vintage photographs—the earliest dating from 1871—author-photographer William Lindesay traveled across Northern China for three years, searching for settings where the Great Wall could be examined in the past and present, side by side. The result, The Great Wall Revisited, presents seventy-two of the most elucidating then- and-now comparisons. This glossy dossier opens out as an extraordinary journey from the Jade Gate in northwest China’s Gobi Desert to Old Dragon’s Head on the Yellow Sea.

Far more than a romantic look at the Great Wall of yesteryear, this stunning, artfully crafted volume also contains concise histories of the sites that Lindesay’s images revisit. Colorful literary impressions composed by earlier visitors, juxtaposed with contemporary eyewitness accounts of change traced along the Wall, afford a sense of history unfolding and time inexorably creeping along the contours of this enduring monument to human ingenuity.

(20080721)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The mystery and magnificence of the Great Wall of China have fascinated historians and artists for centuries. In recent years, photographer Lindesay traveled the entire length of the wall to document its current state in comparison to earlier photographs and drawings. For this elegant, lavishly illustrated book, Lindesay selected 72 of the most striking comparisons, juxtaposing his new photographs with the older images to illustrate the changes inflicted by man and nature. For example, in 1937, the Chinese photographer Sha Fei snapped a picture of the Three Towers in the Hebei section of the wall, capturing the power of the towers with their battlements intact. Over 70 years later, as Lindesay's photo shows, none of the towers still stand. In sections of the wall at Shanhaiguan, Lindesay's photos reveal that towers farther up the mountain remain in better condition those lower down, possibly because locals took the stones for building materials. Lindesay's album—a gorgeous visual complement to John Man's The Great Wall (Reviews, July 7)— provides a one-of-a-kind time-lapse view of the wall and a thoughtful lesson about the preservation of historical monuments. (Sept.)
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Review

The mystery and magnificence of the Great Wall of China have fascinated historians and artists for centuries. In recent years, photographer Lindesay traveled the entire length of the wall to document its current state in comparison to earlier photographs and drawings. For this elegant, lavishly illustrated book, Lindesay selected 72 of the most striking comparisons, juxtaposing his new photographs with the older images to illustrate the "changes inflicted by man and nature."...Lindesay's album...provides a one-of-a-kind time-lapse view of the wall and a thoughtful lesson about the preservation of historical monuments. (Publishers Weekly (starred review) 20080801)

In 1990, William Lindesay, a British authority on the Great Wall, Beijing, happened upon a copy of The Great Wall of China, a travelogue by William Edgar Geil--very likely the first individual, Chinese included--to traverse the entire Great Wall of China, at the turn of the century...Lindesay thumbed through the book, transfixed by the photographs, particularly one showing Geil near a tower on a remote section of the wall. Lindesay possessed his own photograph of that very site; however, by the time he arrived there in 1987, the tower visible in Geil's image had vanished...Beginning in 2004, he set out to locate and re-photograph the sites depicted in Geil's pictures...Lindesay's then-and-now images...document changes to the wall in the last century. (Smithsonian 20081224)

The second-best instrument besides a ticket to see something in person is a good book. Or, in this case, a great book.
--Catharine Hamm (Los Angeles Times )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 292 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (September 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674031490
• ISBN-13: 978-0674031494
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Wall - Great Book, January 18, 2009

By 

T. Halbertsma (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head (Hardcover)

Having lived in both China and Mongolia for some years I was looking for more in my Great Wall book than Genghis Khan's marauding hordes and moon myths, and found it in "The Great Wall Revisited".

Author William Lindesay has come up with a unique approach to tell the Wall's story. He integrates its history, strategy, construction, function etc. with the story of its photographic exploration, from c. 1870. The Wall comes over not just as a pile of mud, stone and brick, but a structure that's attracted a procession of explorers, adventurers, thieves, photographers and travellers. Through their photos and his, we see how it's changed over the last century. Vintage photographs are "updated" or "rephotographed".

At the core of the book are some 70 or so old and new photographs which starkly evidence how nature and man have done to the world's greatest defence work. How he managed to find scores of remote sites is testament to his field experience, and he gives us snippets along the way. The comparisons produced are grouped into seven regions, which is nice because you can see the diversity of the Wall's construction and its varied host landscapes, and start to appreciate that "The Great Wall" as a name is quite misleading, as it also includes watchtowers, fortresses, gates, engraved stones and even bales of reeds!!! that were readied to ignite when the enemy was sighted.

What are the stories behind the old pictures? Lindesay writes elegant essays on the Wall's early explorers. Especially gripping are the exploits of Aurel Stein, who photographed the Han Great Wall near Dunhuang in 1907, and William Geil who we learn was the first explorer of the entire Wall, in 1908. As an archive the collection is amazing. He is also quite a photographer himself.

This is not a coffee table book. It's more a well-illustrated book: it has around 50 thousand words. History lessons are delivered painlessly; scholarly findings presented with unpretentious vocabulary.

The book should appeal to China enthusiasts, students of the region's history and heritage conservation and, of course, travellers who've walked on the Wall themselves. Strangely enough, for the author is a geographer, the only downside of the book is its lack of detailed maps.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very detailed before and after, May 30, 2009

By 

Jackal (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head (Hardcover)

I just love books with old photos (in this case 1900-1940) and modern photos taken at exactly the same spot. If you have the same interest this is a must buy book. The author has been so careful to find exactly the right spot. I really appreciate that effort a lot. It is fun to compare how things have changed. (Note that if you want a detailed history of the wall, this is not the book for you.)

If you are aware of any other good rephotography books, please add a comment about their titles! Thanks.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a beautiful treasure, November 1, 2008

By 

S. Stocking "flutemusic" (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Wall Revisited: From the Jade Gate to Old Dragon's Head (Hardcover)

This book is a wonderful book, full of pictures, that is invaluable for middle school students studying ancient civilizations who probably have never been to China before, and need these 'visuals.' Thank you for creating a great resource, as well as a great coffee table book! I have been to China, and have stood on the Great Wall, so it provides an 'ice breaker.'