ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Cai Tinglan made friends along the way and particularly cherished those who shared his intellectual interests. We, too, cherish the friendly conversations this project has helped bring about. The Association for Asian Studies’ Vietnamese Studies Group offered helpful advice, especially Li Tana, Le Thi Mai, Hoai Tran, C. Michele Thompson, and David Biggs. Li Tana offered suggestions helpful for transcribing many of the place-names. Catherine Churchman offered help and advice on transcribing Hokkien and Vietnamese words. Vũ Đường Luân guided Kate to sites in Hanoi and shared expert advice and historical references to aid our translation. Many offered suggestions, observations, and connections, including Andrew Hardy, Hue Tam Ho Tai, Sixiang Wang, Vu Duc Liem, John Phan, Nguyen Tuyet Tran, Nguyễn Tô Lan, Mike High, Thùy-Lan Đỗ, and Shuang Shen. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down international travel, Lê Tùng Dương helped us look for traces of Cai Tinglan in the Vietnamese archives. We are grateful to Bradley Camp Davis, who read the entire manuscript and made many helpful suggestions and corrections. Ben Pease read the manuscript and made the maps. Lorri Hagman and Beth Fuget at University of Washington Press supported the project, offered feedback, and ushered it through the publication process. Cynthia Col edited the introduction and made the index. An anonymous reviewer offered pages of helpful suggestions. Nguyễn Tuấn Cường shared the manuscript copy held at Sino-Nom Research Institute and granted us permission to use it. Kate spent an enjoyable academic year at the National Humanities Center and is appreciative of the beautiful space, the intellectual community, and the good food to be found there. Kate would like to thank the many teachers and mentors who spent untold hours patiently helping her learn to read literary Chinese, including Victor Mair, Tina Lu, Paul Goldin, Liu Hsiaoping, Lin Chiufang, Fan Meeiyuan, Zhou Changzhen, Cui Yihe, and Xu Zhicheng. Michael Kulikowski, Erica Brindley and the History and Asian Studies Departments at Penn State and the Penn State University Libraries have generously supported our research, travel, and the publication of this book. Global China Studies at NYU Shanghai has also provided thoughtful support for the making of this book. And thanks to Christopher, Solomon, Lydia, and Laska—just because!

Kate Baldanza would like to particularly thank a student, a teacher, and a friend. My student Kwok-leong Tang first told me about Cai Tinglan and his adventures. Chen Yiyuan, the great Taiwanese scholar and compiler of Hainan zazhu, paved the way with his research and warmly welcomed our English translation. And to my dear friend Zhao Lu: finding the right words with you has been an absolute delight. Thank you for being my fellow traveler.

Speaking of traveling, Zhao Lu always believes that companionship is the best part of it. Therefore, I would like to thank Sarah Basham for her unfailing support since the conception of the project; the 2019 AAS panelists Mercedes Valmisa, Huang Wen-Yi, and Hu Xiaobai for giving us the opportunity to present the topic in an exciting framework; and my colleagues at NYU Shanghai, especially Tansen Sen, Lena Scheen, Joanna Waley-Cohen, and Zuo Lala for their embracing enthusiasm of the project. Most importantly, I would like to thank my co-author and friend Kate Baldanza for always taking me in. Besides her insightfulness and way with words, I have constantly benefitted from and been inspired by her persistence and patience, ever since we became language partners as graduate students at Penn in 2009. It has been my privilege to travel together.