Long Peace Street : a walk in modern China / Jonathan Chatwin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chatwin, Jonathan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chatwin, Jonathan--Travel--China--Beijing.

Chatwin, Jonathan.

Walking--China--Beijing.

Walking.

Beijing (China)--Description and travel.

Beijing (China).

Beijing (China)--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 242 pages, 18 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), digital, PDF file(s)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2019.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Recounting a walk of twenty miles across Beijing, 'Long Peace Street' takes the reader on a journey through the city's recent history, explaining how the present and future of the world's rising superpower has been shaped by its tumultuous past, from the demise of the last imperial dynasty in 1912 through to the present day.

Contents:

Front matter

Dedication

Contents

List of plates

Acknowledgements

Timeline

Introduction

Day one

1 Capital Iron and Steel – origins – the Great Leap Forward – a bad neighbour – future plans

2 New suburbia – The City in History – the hutong – Shijingshan Amusement Park

3 Change – ring roads and the new Beijing – Great Olympics

4 Babaoshan ghosts – the cemetery – the life of Peng Dehuai – return to Hunan

5 A diversion – straightness – the road as metaphor

6 Military markings – Tomb of the Princess – new regime, new capital? – the Military Museum

7 Diaoyutai State Guesthouse – December 1980 – ‘To rebel is justified’ – Chairman Mao’s dog

8 Big roofs – Capital Museum – pailou – some history

9 Muxidi Bridge – petitions and protests – May Fourth – Democracy Movement – 1976 – 1978 – 1989 – the aftermath

10 Rainbows – walls, walls and yet again walls – breaches – New Year’s Day in Xi’an – demolition – Core Socialist Values

11 A hungry refrain – little grey streets – reform and opening-up – state-owned enterprises

12 An assassination – Middle and Southern Seas – imperial pretensions – Xinhuamen – paranoia – hidden places – Mao at Zhongnanhai

Plates

Day two

13 The middle of the Middle Kingdom – hidden tales of Tiananmen – the Great Helmsman

14 A walk to Tiananmen – into the Forbidden City – intruders

15 Four days in the Forbidden City

16 Out of the Forbidden City – scholar trees – dislocation – destruction – impressions of Beijing – going native – Legation Street today – fireworks over Tiananmen

17 The man who died twice – Wangfujing – a literary traveller – the end of the Qing – Morrison and Yuan Shikai – a sad coda – Palm Sunday in Sidmouth

18 Oriental Plaza – walking in cities – the Imperial Observatory – origins of the Chinese calendar – the Jesuits – the Republican calendar – time in modern China

19 Outside the wall – the Grand Canal and the eastern suburbs – 22 August 1967 – ‘All Palaces are Temporary Palaces’ – Forsan et haec olim – red

20 One city – the east is rich – weird architecture – mall life – underground

21 G103 – the story of a nation – the end

Epilogue

Sources and notes

Select bibliography

Index

Notes:

Date of publication from publisher's website.

Preface is new to this edition.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on February 25, 2026).

ISBN:

9781526131584

1526131587

9781526151735

1526151731

9781526158741

1526158744

OCLC:

1230564011