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Series Editor’s Preface About twenty years ago, a European scholar of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), which ravaged large parts of China and caused the deaths of many millions, mentioned to me that no sooner was the University of Washington project aimed at translating most of the extant Taiping documents completed than research on the rebellion dried up and all but disappeared. Of course, his statement was something of an exaggeration, but it contained more than a kernel of truth. A similar fate seems to have affected studies of premodern Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations. With the publication over half a century ago of English translations of the entries on “Japan” in the Chinese dynastic histories by Tsunoda Ryusaku (1877–1964) and L.Carrington Goodrich (1894–1986), research on this fascinating and extremely important topic for all intents and purposes vanished. We are thus exceedingly proud to offer this marvelous new study by Wang Zhenping, Ambassadors from the Islands of Immortals: China-Japan Relations in the Han-Tang Period, the first major study on this topic in English since Tsunoda and Goodrich’s translations appeared. As a look through Professor Wang’s notes and bibliography will quickly reveal, however, Chinese and Japanese scholars have not been so adversely affected as their Western counterparts, having produced countless books and articles over the past century or more. Wang makes judicious use in his study of this immense body of writings as well as the rich primary documentation. We are thus lucky to have such a work in English—by one trained in the Chinese, Japanese, and Western worlds of sinology. In his prudent examination of the primary materials—published documents, seals, and inscriptions—Wang is careful to address all sides as we now understand them: Han-Tang China, Wo-Yamato Japan, and the various kingdoms on or near the Korean peninsula. But his study goes beyond an examination of the documentary record alone. He looks at the ships that carried emissaries from “Japan” to “China,” the route of travel from their port of call to the capital in Changan, Japanese efforts to acquire information from China, Chinese efforts to assimilate foreign talent, and much more. In the end, he adopts a model of “mutual self-interest” to describe Sino-Japanese relations in this early period. Both sides saw much to be gained by keeping the relationship alive and healthy; it was not simply Chinese pompousness and Japanese ingratiation. Asian Interactions and Comparisons is pleased to be able to offer this important study to a broad readership. Let us hope that another fifty years will not pass before other works on this topic appear in English. j o s h u a a . f o g e l x : SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE ...

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