Nacionaliniai Simboliai Kaip Tarpkultūrinių Sąveikų Rezultatai: Didžioji Siena Kinų Ir Vakariečių Vaizduotėje
National Symbols as the Results of Cultural Reciprocity: Great Wall in the Imagination of Chinese and Western People

Summary/Abstract: There is something common between Lithuanian basketball and Great Wall of China. They both are national symbols, by which Lithuania and China accordingly became best known around the world. However, as this article will demonstrate, in 20th century China the status and meaning of Great Wall as her national symbol was quite problematic and contradictory. One of the reasons for such contradictive treatment of this national symbol seems to be its “dual” nature, that is, the acquirement of its status not from Chinese cultural and historical context alone, but as the result of her reciprocal relationships with the West. The article explores this process of transforming Great Wall from mainly ignored, poorly investigated architectural construction into the national and cultural symbol of China. In the first part, it discusses the reception of Great Wall by Western people from 17th to 20th centuries, as well as changes of its treatment in China from the beginning of 20th century until today. In the second part it explores the “exploitation” of this symbol by famous Chinese avangard-artists. The article aims to claim, that the initial impetus for making the Great Wall into the national symbol of China came from Western interpreters rather than Chinese themselves, while its reinterpretation and recontextualization since the end of 20th century by Chinese intellectuals and artists was very suitable for integrating China into the context of global culture and claiming the uniqueness of her cultural history.

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