Читать книгу Circulating the Code - Ting Zhang - Страница 5

During the research and writing process of this project, I received enormous help from various people, institutions, and libraries. First and foremost, I owe William T. Rowe and Tobie Meyer-Fong a deep debt of gratitude for their generous help, thoughtful guidance, and heartwarming encouragement. Their erudite knowledge of Qing China and their excellent advice have shaped the ways I have researched and written this book. I am also grateful to Sarah Schneewind, Mary Ryan, Erin Chung, Cynthia Brokaw, Li Chen, James Gao, the anonymous readers of the manuscript for University of Washington Press, and fellow members of the DC area Modern China Reading Group, who read most chapters or the whole manuscript, raised insightful questions, and provided valuable advice. I also want to thank my editor, Lorri Hagman, for her efficient work and wonderful suggestions.

In the course of my research, I have made use of a number of libraries, archives, and online databases, including the National Library of China, Library of Congress, First Historical Archives of China, C. V. Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University, Harvard-Yenching Library, HathiTrust Digital Library, and the libraries of the University of Tokyo, the National Committee for the Compilation of Qing History, the University of California, San Diego, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland. I am indebted to the wonderful staff at these institutions. Special thanks are due to my friends Liu Wenpeng, Wang Yuanchong, and Emily Mokros, who helped me get access to important databases and to collect and photocopy some important primary sources.

This research was assisted by generous fellowships and grants from a number of agencies. They include the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies, the Doris G. Quinn Foundation, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the China Scholarship Council, the China and Inner Asia Council of the Association of Asian Studies, the University of Maryland at College Park, and Johns Hopkins University.

Many people have commented on chapters or on related conference papers, asked meaningful questions, and offered critical advice. They include Jonathan Ocko, Madeleine Zelin, Wu Yanhong, Chiu Peng-Sheng, Benjamin Elman, Matthew Sommer, Melissa Macauley, Kai-wing Chow, Shuang Chen, Wang Zhiqiang, Robin Yates, Lisa Mar, Stanley Chodorow, Taisu Zhang, Weiting Guo, Yun Xia, David Crowe, Janet Chen, Meghan Cai, Michael Bryant, Timothy Waters, He Bian, and Nancy Park. I am also grateful to Antoine Borrut, Ahmet Karamustafa, Philip Soergel, Peter Wien, Sarah Cameron, Madeline Zilfi, Holly Brewer, Andrew Schonebaum, and my other colleagues at the University of Maryland for their help and support. Thanks also go to my fellow students and friends at Johns Hopkins: Ke Ren, Zhang Ying, Yang Jin, Zhu Xiaolei, and Li Yao. They made the research and writing process a lot more fun and my life happier.

My deepest gratitude is to my family. My parents, Zhang Qiang and Zhang Suhua, are always confident in me and encouraged me to pursue a career as a historian. They and my parents-in-law, Wang Xianghua and Huang Cunrong, provided tremendous support and helped with childcare when I was researching, teaching, and writing. I am grateful to my grandmother, Liu Shuqing, who provided me with a comfortable place to stay and cooked for me every day when I was collecting primary sources for this project in Beijing. My two children, Meilan and Yilan, arrived when I was writing and revising the manuscript. They brought endless fun and joy to our lives. Finally, my husband, Wang Jianwu, has shared all my frustrations and happiness throughout the writing of this book. This work could not have been done without his love, encouragement, and support.