Beyond the Great Wall : urban form and transformation on the Chinese frontiers / Piper Rae Gaubatz.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [345]-366) and index.

1. The Chinese Frontiers -- 2. The Historical Development of the Five Cities -- 3. The Functions of Cities on the Frontiers -- 4. Chinese Urbanism and the Frontiers -- 5. Non-Chinese Urban Traditions on the Frontiers -- 6. City Forms on the Frontiers -- 7. Monumental Architecture in Multicultural Contexts -- 8. Environment, Regionalism, and Vernacular Architecture -- 9. The Persistence of Traditional Forms in the Contemporary City -- 10. Contemporary Transformations and Restructuring -- Appendix: Survey of Preface-1949 City Shapes.

This study of cities on China's inland frontiers from ancient times to the present charts new territory in both geography and Chinese studies. As a work of geography, it integrates the approaches of urban geography, cultural historical geography, and frontier studies to assess the form and function of cities on the Chinese frontiers. In Chinese studies, it is the first work to explore the nature of urbanism on Chinese frontiers, and the first work in English to present comparative case studies of a group of Chinese frontier cities.

Beyond the Great Wall focuses on five cities, all originally established as frontier garrisons, which now flourish with populations of over a million as capitals of the ethnically diverse regions in which they are located. The cities are Kunming, Lanzhou, Xining, Hohhot, and Urumqi. The author explores how the urban ideals and practices of eastern China were adapted to the natural and human conditions of the frontier regions, and in the process she analyzes the interaction of Chinese and non-Chinese peoples in frontier cities in outlining the historical development of each city.