Acknowledgements

This book originated in my dissertation prepared at the University of Melbourne. I am indebted to my thesis supervisor Antonia Finnane and associate supervisor Stephen L. Morgan for their advice and help. Over the long course of revising the dissertation into this book, some of the ideas were further trialled in articles written at Lund University and The Australian National University. The final version of the manuscript was mostly completed at ANU. I am grateful for the support offered by these institutions. I have benefited enormously from the mentorship and unreserved help of Kamaruding Abdulsomad, Edward Aspinall, Geremie R. Barmé, Anita Chan, Greg Fealy, John Fitzgerald, Ben Kervliet, Ben Hillman, Chi-kong Lai, Hoiyee Lau, Luigi Tomba, Regina Trillo, Timothy Tsu, Jonathan Unger, Crystal Woo and Haiqing Yu.

My special thanks are extended to CartoGIS Services of ANU for providing the maps in the book and the staff of the Australian Centre on China in the World Matthew Galway and Sharon Strange for volunteering their time.

My gratitude goes as well to my students, especially to Jie Bai, Adala Chan, Irene Chuon, Brooke Churchman, Julian Coady, Aaron Dennis, Montserrat Lopez Jerez, Wai Ki Kam, Yu-ping Luk, Nicole O, Katrina Osborne, Kori Rutcosky and Hugo Velazquez. Some of them offered practical support even years after their graduation. The inspiring questions they asked and the experiences they shared with me across a variety of fields make me understand why the guide to negotiation and mediation is often antecedent events rather than theories developed in the ivory tower of academia. To all I offer my heartfelt thanks.

I could not have completed this book without help from many librarians, archivists, language specialists and journalists. I especially wish to thank Irina Chou, Darrell Dorrington, Cathryn Game, Di Pin Ouyang, Dayaneetha De Silva, Wan Wong, Bick-har Yeung and my lifetime friend Chen Ping-hsun for facilitating my research.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude also to the following individuals. My parents and Alice disguised their worry for me. Their love gave me the serenity and spirit to write this book. Samuel W.K. Chan, who also made critical comments on my draft, helped me to locate some of the rare source materials. Samuel’s constant concerns over my progress have been a powerful source for me to stay on course and reach the finishing line.

This volume is a tribute to my good friend Professor Shui-Lung Tsang. It has now been two decades since Lung’s passing, but his works on history still live. I promised Lung, on the day I saw him off, to stay healthy and tell his tale: all academics deserve a fairer workplace. I keep my promise.

Victor S.C. Cheng