Small Works: Poverty and Economic Development in Southwestern China

Acknowledgments

xi Acknowledgments Like raising a child, raising a monograph requires a village. Acknowledging adequately the contributions made by the many people who have assisted me would require nearly as much space as the book itself. A few short sentences will have to suffice. I have received sage counsel from numerous people throughout the academic world, including my community at Singapore Management University and colleagues at George Washington University and University of Toronto. I thank my advisors, Bruce Dickson, Harry Harding, and Hal Wolman , and also Michael Mochizuki and Daniel Wright. These scholars were indispensable, providing me with patient advice and guidance. Nearly all the other professors in the Political Science Department at George Washington University have also helped me directly or indirectly—including the much-missed Lee Sigelman. In addition, the founders of the extraordinary Asian Network for the Study of Local China (ANSLoC), including founders Tao-chiu Lam, Philip Hsu, Tse-kang Leng, Lai Hongyi, and especially the organizer, Jae Ho Chung, deserve my heartfelt thanks. The China Scholars group of my George Washington University classmates , including Injoo Sohn, Phillip Stalley, Yisuo Tzeng, and Jaime Reilly, provided a supportive community for feedback and support, as did Stephanie McNulty, Lee Ann Fujii, Mark Teel, and Jessica Lieberman. I especially thank Hal Wolman, Kris Ramsay, Wang Shufen, Tom Holyoke, Luan Shenghua , Liu Tian, Nicholas Harrigan, Joel Ng, and Aurobindo Ghosh for their advice on quantitative methods. Among the many other scholars who provided sage advice, Dorothy Solinger, David S. G. Goodman, Lin Kun-Chin, Chen Shaohua, and Li Qiang deserve special mention. In China, I benefitted from the advice of scholars from Tsinghua University in Beijing and from a number of universities in Guizhou and Yunnan, where individual scholars supported this project with their full commitment, to the point of nearly adopting it as their own. Professors Cheng Housi and Yu Minxiong deserve special mention. I hope that I have used their cooperation xii Acknowledgments and assistance wisely. In addition, I learned a great deal from local officials and residents in Guizhou and Yunnan, who provided frank and insightful opinions about what is happening in the Chinese countryside and what, if anything, has helped improve local economies and the lives of poor people. The Fulbright Foundation and the research office at Singapore Management University both provided vital funding. In addition, sections of chapter 2 are based on material from my 2009 article “Why Do Similar Areas Adopt Different Developmental Strategies?: A Study of Two Puzzling Chinese Provinces,” Journal of Contemporary China 18(60): 421–44, and portions of chapter 5 are based on material from my 2007 article “Tourism , Development and Poverty Reduction in Guizhou and Yunnan,” China Quarterly 190: 333–51. Many undergraduate research assistants from Singapore Management University helped with various aspects of this book. Zhou “Premier” Chuanyi , Guo Xin, and Zhong Ke served as a core research group. Wilson Loke, Elvin Ong, and Phoebe Luo also deserve special mention. Other research assistants included Nicholas Chia, Abdul Shariff Bin Aboo Kassim, Ethan Tong, Lim Feng Lin, Eugene Kwok, Gokul Sahni, Isaac Chee, Li Jing, Nupur Bhargava, Yves Yeo, Zhang Xuefeng, and many others whom I may have unintentionally omitted. Among those helping with editing were Jennifer Milewski, Rajan Rishyakaran (greatly missed), Hazel Tan, Mark E. Donaldson, Madhu Chaubey, and Chan Ying Xian. My wife and family have been critical as my supporters, data enterers, and last-minute editors. It is sometimes not easy—even for other scholars— to live with someone in the midst of this kind of project. Many friends and loved ones have prayed over this book, and I thank them and God for help and encouragement. Finally, I thank the rural residents whom I met in China. Invariably, they supported the research I was conducting, and without their help, this book would have been impossible. Although I can never adequately repay my debt to them, I hope one day to do them some good. ...