Acknowledgments
The idea for this book originated in my graduate research at the University of Minnesota. I am deeply grateful to the insightful guidance of my advisory committee members: Edward Farmer, Ann Waltner, Joachim Savelsberg, Tahirih Lee, and Byron Marshall. Romeyn Taylor inspired the topic of this work through his lectures on Chinese religion. Since the early 1990s, these professors have provided ongoing intellectual stimulation and valuable stylistic advice. Without their teaching and inspiration, I could not have written this book.
I have received much-needed assistance for continuing my research and writing from colleagues at the two universities where I have taught, especially Fran Kelleher, Tony Travis, Jim Smither, David Ihrman, Cliff Welch, and Carolyn Shapiro-Shapin at Grand Valley State University; and Elizabeth Williams, William Bryans, James Huston, Richard Rohrs, Lesley Rimmel, Michael Smith, Michael Logan, Ronald Petrin, Joseph Byrnes, George Moses, David D’Andrea, Jason Lavery, James Cooper, Stephen Perkins, Susan Oliver, Diana Hover, and Dean Peter Sherwood at Oklahoma State University.
I am also deeply grateful to the large number of scholars who, at different stages, shared their expertise on Chinese legal and social history and offered constructive feedback and comments on the book, especially William Alford, John Langlois, Jr., James Feinerman, Peter Bol, the late William Jones and Wallace Johnson, Sarah Schneewind, Charlotte Furth, Bettine Birge, Mark Elliot, Joseph Lam, Yeh Wen-hsin, Katherine Carlitz, Kathleen Ryor, Judith Zeitlin, Tom Buoye, Ken Hammond, Li Xiaobing, Madeleine Zelin, Matthew Sommer, Bryan McKnight, Hugh Scogin, Maram Epstein, Leo Shin, John Herman, Liam Kelly, Karen Turner, Robin Yates, Willard Peterson, Timothy Brook, David Robinson, Peter Ditmanson, Tom Nimick, Marta Hansen, Kim Bessio, Yuan Zujie, Joe and Lorrie Dennis, John Ness, Yao Yusheng, Hsu Pi-ching, Jennifer Downs, Jeff Hornibrook, Chu Hunglam, Hok-lam Chan, Yang Yifan, Wang Tianyou, Zhang Dexin, Li Xinfeng, Chang Wejen, Lau Yap-yin, Wang Fan-sen, Chang Jer-lang, Hsu Hung, Chu Hung, Chiu Peng-sheng, Wang Hung-tai, Chiu Chung-lin, Wu Jen-shu, Tang Li-tsung, Hamashima Atsutoshi, Mori Masao, and O Kum-song. Sarah Schneewind commented on and edited the entire manuscript; and Elizabeth Williams, Richard Rohrs, Lesley Rimmel, and Joseph Byrnes critiqued several chapters. I thank Xu Lianda of Fudan University and Wang Shaotang and Chen Pengsheng of the East China Institute of Political Science and Law for guiding me to the field of Chinese legal history. Hosok O and Yukie O at Oklahoma State University helped to solve numerous computer problems.
The generous financial support that I have received from a variety of sources was critical for the completion of the book. The Graduate School at the University of Minnesota provided a writing fellowship. Two research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (2001 and 2004–5) and two grants from the American Council of Learned Societies (the Committee for Scholarly Communication with China, 2003–4, and the Charles Ryskamp Fellowship, 2007–8) greatly facilitated the research and writing of this book and other research projects. William Alford, Edward Farmer, Ann Waltner, Joachim Savelsberg, and James Houston wrote strong recommendation letters for my applications for these grants. It was also particularly helpful to receive various research grants from Grand Valley State University, Oklahoma State University, the Oklahoma Humanities Council, the Harvard Yen-ching Library, Friends of the Library at Princeton University, and the East Asian studies libraries at Cornell University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Kansas.
I am deeply grateful for assistance from a large number of librarians, especially Martin Heijdra, Tai-loi Ma, Zhou Yuan, James Cheng, Ma Xiaohe, Vickie Fu Doll, Cheng Hong, Wang Yu-shiow, Zhu Li, the staff members at the interlibrary loan services at the University of Minnesota, Grand Valley State University, and Oklahoma State University, and the librarians at the Library of Congress, Beijing National Library, and the Fu Ssu-nien Library of Academia Sinica. I am grateful for the comments from series editor Veronica Taylor, three anonymous readers, and my editors at the Press, Michael Duckworth, Lorri Hagman, Lynne Mallinson, and Marilyn Trueblood. Their insightful criticism and hard work have resulted in a more accurate and rigorous study. I acknowledge with deep gratitude that the College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State University generously and graciously provided the subvention that made this publication possible. Portions of my own, or coauthored, previously published articles have been incorporated into the text.
During my graduate research and the early stages of writing this book, my ex-wife Wang Yonglan and my daughters Jiang Zhe (Elizabeth) and Jiang Hao (Angela) offered indispensable support. I am deeply indebted to them for their enthusiasm and for the hardship they shared with me. I am most obliged to my wife and colleague, Wu Yanhong, who treats me daily to intellectual stimulation, constructive criticism, and delicious dishes (after I prepare the raw ingredients). With her solid training in both history and sociology, she has substantially helped to improve this work and speed up its completion. I am solely responsible for all remaining errors and shortcomings.