Arts Along the Great Wall

Shane McCausland is Percival David Professor of the History of Art at SOAS University of London. His many books include The Mongol Century: Visual Cultures of Yuan China, 1271–1368 (2014) and The Art of the Chinese Picture-Scroll (2023), both published by Reaktion Books.

An excellent introduction to the arts and cultures of a number of states in Middle Period North China. In taking the Great Wall as a zone of cultural convergence, rather than a border or barrier, McCausland’s approach is one that assumes cultural exchange on multiple levels of society as a given, rather than exclusively occurring at the state level. Additionally . . . the book brings in a laudably wide range of art objects in different media to showcase specific points about northern nomadic and semi-nomadic cultures in the 10th–14th centuries. - Eiren L . Shea, Associate Professor of Art History, Grinnell College, Iowa, and author of Mongol Court Dress, Identity Formation, and Global ExchangeArts Along the Great Wall is a valuable reassessment of the significant cultural roles played by the mostly nomadic people living north of China. Shane McCausland questions the traditional Chinese dynasties’ views of these groups as “uncultured barbarians”. - Morris Rossabi, Distinguished Professor of History, City University of New York, and author of The Mongols and Global History