Academies and Society in Southern Sung China

Acknowledgments

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s The subject of this book was suggested by my late mentor, Robert M. Hartwell, as a dissertation topic that would allow me to combine interests in both social and intellectual history. When it became clear—to me at least—that a study of Sung academies was too large in scope for a graduate student to tackle, I settled on a more limited local study for the dissertation and postponed study of the broader topic of academies until later. As “later” became nearly ten years later, I was able to benefit from the pioneering work on Sung education and the examination system by John Chaffee and Thomas Lee, as well as from studies by Hartwell, Peter Bol, Hoyt Tillman, Robert Hymes, and Patricia Ebrey. Like many others, this book took far longer to complete than anticipated, and its author incurred many debts in the process. The research for this book effectively began in 1987–1988 when I was the recipient of a Language and Research Fellowship, jointly sponsored by the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei, the Committee on Scientific and Scholarly Cooperation with the U. S., Academia Sinica, and the Henry Luce Foundation . A grant from the ACLS Joint Committe on Chinese Studies subsidized additional study at the Inter-University Program, where Director James Dew provided hospitality and support. During that year, my understanding of Sung texts was greatly improved by the efforts of my teacher, Liu Chi-lun. My stay in Taipei was also enhanced by the presence of other colleagues in Chinese studies: Brian McKnight, Constance Meaney, John Shepherd, David Schak, Hill Gates, Huang Chuh-chieh, Lau Nap-yin, Stephen Durrant, Chiu-mi Lai, and Joseph Allen. I am grateful to librarians at the National Central Library in Taipei, the Institute for Research in Humanistic Studies in Kyoto, The ix  Toyo Bunko in Tokyo, the Beijing Municipal Library, the Beijing University Library, the manuscripts division of the Fujian Normal University Library, and the University of Washington East Asia Library. A Travel to Collections Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities made possible a research trip to the East Asiatic Library at the University of California at Berkeley in 1989, where Donald Shively provided assistance. Stints as resident director of study abroad programs sponsored by the Oregon University System in 1991 (Fuzhou) and 1994 (Beijing ) allowed me the opportunity to do some research in mainland libraries. Two summer stipends from the Oregon Council for the Humanities and two Faculty Development Grants from Portland State University provided support for research that contributed substantially to this book. I appreciate financial support for the production of this book provided by the Department of History, the Friends of History, and the Vice Provost for International Affairs at Portland State University. Parts of this book in different form have appeared previously: “Southern Sung Academies as Sacred Places,” in Patricia B. Ebrey and Peter N. Gregory, eds., Religion and Society in T’ang and Sung China (University of Hawai‘i Press, 1993); “Scholars, Schools, and Shuyuan in Sung-Yuan China,” in W. Theodore de Bary and John W. Chaffee, eds., Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage (University of California Press, 1989). I wish to thank my colleague, David A. Johnson, for his unfailing encouragement and support as both mentor and friend. Candice Goucher, good friend and co-conspirator in more than one undertaking , by her creativity and generosity of spirit taught me much about humanistic scholarship and teaching. Sharon Carstens prodded me to refine and sharpen arguments. Frederick M. Nunn, as department head and administrator mentor, provided a model for how to sustain research projects in the midst of administration and teaching. My editor , Sharon F. Yamamoto, carried out her duties with a high degree of professionalism and courteous efficiency. Comments by one of the anonymous referees for the University of Hawai‘i Press contributed substantially to improving the manuscript, though any errors remain, of course, my responsibility. A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s  x  ...