A crucial topic in the study of Chinese culture past or present is that of the "boundary". In this book the authors investigate the meaning of the boundary as metaphor and paradox, as threshold and interface across the whole spectrum of Chinese art and society. The essays range from early politics and society to contemporary public and private discourse; from the creation of a literary canon to the positioning of individuals in dynastic time; from the public spaces in today's Peking Opera to the intangible surfaces of self in 14th-century painting.

All the authors in this book are established Sinologists. Boundaries in China will be stimulating reading for anyone interested in the psycho-social dynamics of non-Western art and culture.

Includes essays by Robin D. S. Yates, Wu Hung, Pauline Yu, John Hay, Jonathan Hay, Dorothy Ko, Isabelle Duchesne, Rey Chow, Ann Anagnost.