David Spindler: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|American independent scholar}}

'''David Spindler''' is an independent American scholar of the [[Great Wall of China]] and is one of its leading researchers. He was recently profiled in an article in ''[[The New Yorker]]''.

{{refimprove|date=February 2024}}

'''David Spindler''' is an independent American scholar and an authority <ref>{{Cite web |author=((Betsy Q. Cliff ’00)) |date=Nov–Dec 2010 |title=On the Wall |url=https://dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/articles/wall |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=Dartmouth Alumni Magazine |language=en}}</ref> on the [[Great Wall of China]]. Writing in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' in 2007, [[Peter Hessler]] called him "a leading expert on the Wall’s history and construction." <ref>{{cite magazine | url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/21/070521fa_fact_hessler |title = Letter From China: Walking the Wall | magazine = [[The New Yorker]] | date = 2007-05-21 |last = Hessler | first = Peter | accessdate = 2007-05-23 }}</ref> He has made more than 400 trips to the Wall. Spindler's research focuses on the Ming Dynasty, and specifically how the Wall was used at that time in response to China's northern neighbors, the [[Mongol]]s, who had conquered China once and might do again.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Margot |date=2021-02-08 |title=Interview with Great Wall Expert David Spindler |url=https://www.journeysunparalleled.com/interview-with-great-wall-expert-david-spindler/ |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=Journeys Unparalleled |language=en-US}}</ref>

David has spent the last nine years researching the Great Wall. He attended [[Dartmouth College]] and [[Harvard Law School]], studied as a graduate student at [[Peking University]], and spent two years as a consultant at [[McKinsey & Company]].

== Sources Contributions==

*{{cite news | url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/21/070521fa_fact_hessler | title = Letter From China: Walking the Wall | work = [[The New Yorker]] | date = [[2007-05-21]] | last = Hessler | first = Peter | accessdate = 2007-05-23 }}

In 2010, his research paper "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/175975909X12589849512419 A Twice-Scorned Mongol Woman, the Raid of 1576, and the Building of the Brick Great Wall.]" was published in the journal ''[[Ming Studies]]'', made available online in 2013.

In a review of recent work in the field, the scholar [[Arthur Waldron]] explained that Spindler resisted explanations that the Ming was "too weak to fight and too proud to talk," and so the rulers relied on walls that failed to protect them. He likewise resisted the symbolic explanation that the wall represented either xenophobia or chauvinism. Spindler held that in fact the Ming strategy was practical and flexible, using walls where they could be effective, such as around the capital. Waldron, however, adds that Spindler does not deal with the various roles that the wall played over the centuries as China changed.<ref>{{citation | first=Arthur | last =Waldron| pages =28–29| title =Chinese Walls in Time and Space: A Multidisciplinary Perspective |chapter=Chapter One: The Great Wall of China” an Author’s Reflections after Twenty Years |volume= | series = | editor-first = Roger| editor-last= des Froges | ___location =Ithaca, New York | publisher= Cornell University Press | year =2010 | isbn = 978-1942242444|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=s4WDEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22David+Spindler%22+great+wall&pg=PA3}}</ref>

==Notes==

{{Reflist}}

== External links==

*{{cite newsmagazine | url = http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/21/070521fa_fact_hessler | title = Letter From China: Walking the Wall | workmagazine = [[The New Yorker]] | date = [[2007-05-21]] | last = Hessler | first = Peter | accessdate = 2007-05-23 }}

*{{cite news | url = http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-greatwall28-2008nov28,0,583200,full.story | title = An American finds his niche in the Great Wall | date = 2008-11-28 | work = [[Los Angeles Times]] | last = Glionna | first = John M. | accessdate = 2008-11-28}}{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

*[http://virtualreview.org/china/zoom/1223192/david-spindlers-great-wall David Spindler's Great Wall]

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RPH1Q1iEnY David Spindler - The Great Wall] NBC Today video interview on David Spindler

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100616013408/http://www.rbf.org/resources/resources_show.htm?doc_id=1048612 Great Wall Photographs and Driftwood Sculptures Inspired by Chinese Scholars Rocks Comprise Inaugural Exhibition]

*[https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2009/09/china_wall_scho.html China: Wall Scholar BY Joe Rubin] Frontline video interview with David Spindler. September 17, 2009

*{{in lang|zh}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20170723075744/http://www.thegreatwall.com.cn/ 长城小站]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100406235200/http://china.usc.edu/ShowEvent.aspx?EventID=1076&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 China's Great Wall: The Forgotten Story] USCI

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_krttdZz-h8 Inside the Great Wall of China: Facts part 1] Discovery channel video

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZnsXw6igjw Inside the Great Wall of China: Facts part 2] Discovery channel video

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-KVsoK8KEw Inside the Great Wall of China: Facts part 3] Discovery channel video

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLkghWJXBPs Inside the Great Wall of China: Facts part 4] Discovery channel video

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxNp98J3-qc Inside the Great Wall of China: Facts part 5] Discovery channel video

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[[Category:DateHistory of birththe missingGreat Wall of China]]

[[Category:PlaceAmerican of birth missingsinologists]]

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[[Category:Living people]]

[[Category:Dartmouth College alumni]]

[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]

[[Category:Great WallYear of Chinabirth missing (living people)]]

[[Category:AmericanLiving academicspeople]]