David Spindler

In 2010, his research paper "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. ==Notes==