Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture

Acknowledgments

xv Acknowledgments ‫ﱠ‬ The essays collected in this volume are the output of the conference“The Historical, Fictional,Theatrical, and Artistic Three Kingdoms: A Sino-American Colloquium.” Held in Chengdu and Nanchong (both in Sichuan Province, PRC) from May 28 to June 1, 2001, the colloquium was followed by a three-day excursion to Langzhong, a beautiful city over which Zhang Fei once presided as magistrate, and where he was eventually assassinated, and to Jian’ge, which, amid majestic mountains, was the last defensive position of the Shu-Han Kingdom. Sichuan University (Sichuan daxue, Chengdu), Sichuan Normal College (Sichuan shifan xueyuan, Nanchong), Southwest Petroleum Institute (Xinan shiyou xueyuan, Nanchong), and the State University of New York at Buffalo jointly sponsored the conference. Our deep appreciation goes first to the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchanges (U.S.A.), which provided a generous grant to enable participants from the United States to attend this conference on “Three Kingdoms Culture” (Sanguo wenhua). The grant ensured the initial success of the Colloquium on this important and colorful subject, which holds such a special place within the Chinese imagination. We are also grateful to Baozhen Dong, Party Secretary of the Southwest Petroleum Institute (SWPI, now Southwest Petroleum University). Secretary Dong served as the liaison between the American and Chinese conference organizers throughout the entire process of the preparation. Secretary Dong and Dr. Zhimin Du,Vice-President of the SWPI, and their colleagues were responsible for the logistics of the conference. We are much obliged to the noted historian, President Zhengsong She, of Sichuan Normal College at Nanchong and his colleagues; to Professor Beichen Fang, Director of the Three Kingdoms Culture Research Center of Sichuan University; and to Professor Tingzhi Wang, Dean of Sichuan University’s College of History and Culture for their contributions to the success of the conference. During the conference and the excursion, the Party Secretaries, Mayors, and other community leaders of Nanchong, Langzhong, and Jian’ge County graciously extended their hospitality to us. The three cities supplied police escorts, hosted exquisite banquets, and provided specialists to accompany us to various historical landmarks, marvelous temples, and other cultural sites. We will always remember the warm welcome we received. We express our sincere gratitude to Southwest Petroleum Institute’s Messrs. Xinghong Yang, Yiping Sun, Shuguang Mu, and Hong Wang who accompanied us on the excursion. We warmly remember Director Qijun Kang of the SWPI’s Chengdu guesthouse, and his staff members who ensured the comfort of each conference participant. The chauffeurs of the SWPI guesthouse deserve special thanks for navigating us through winding and treacherous, but gorgeous, backcountry roads. On the American side, our thanks go to Stephen Dunnett, Vice Provost of International Education, SUNY Buffalo, who was most kind to render his support to the conference on behalf of his university, and Leah Doherty, assistant to the Chair of the then Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, who offered her generous help with the preparation of the colloquium. Catherine Pagani, who arrived at Chengdu a few days before the commencement of the colloquium, helped finalize several conference panels with her quick wit and enthusiastic efficiency. The coeditors gratefully acknowledge Colby College’s Information Technology Services for much needed technical support during the preparation of this manuscript for publication. Ankeney Weitz supplied vital encouragement and professional advice. Catherine Fillebrown contributed in many ways, both large and small, during the final stages of editing; we appreciate both her careful attention to detail and her infectious enthusiasm. We express our gratitude to the State University of New York Press for choosing to include this volume in their SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture under the editorship of Roger T. Ames. We particularly want to thank Nancy Ellegate, Senior Acquisitions Editor of SUNY Press. Her many thoughtful and professional comments and suggestions guided us through the final process of preparing this volume of essays for press. Finally, we acknowledge the valuable contributions made to the colloquium by Michael J. Farmer of Brigham Young University, John W. Killigrew of SUNY Brockport, David Rolston of the University of Michigan, Roger DesForges of SUNY Buffalo, and our Chinese colleagues on the other shore of the Pacific. We hope that this volume on Three Kingdoms will spur further scholarship—both individual and collaborative—on this vital and fascinating element of Chinese culture. xvi Constantine Tung and Kimberly Besio ...