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This book is the end product of multiple origins, beginnings, and middles. It unifies ideas from different periods of my thinking, living, and research interests . The diverse materials were first presented at numerous places, including the University of California at Davis, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Riverside, University of Southern California, University of Oregon, New York University, Duke University, University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign, CUNY Graduate Center, CUNY at Staten Island, College of William and Mary, University of Maryland, Drew University, University of Pittsburgh, the Mattress Factory and the Wood Street Galleries in Pittsburgh, the Asia Society in New York, St. Petersburg State University in Russia, St. Andrews University in Scotland, Tamkang University in Taiwan, Tsinghua University (China), Beijing Normal University, Beijing Language and Culture University,ShanghaiUniversity,NanjingUniversity,University of HongKong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the annual conventions of the Modern Language Association (New Orleans, 2001 and New York, 2002), Society for Cinema and Media Studies (Atlanta, 2004 and Vancouver, 2006), and the American Comparative Literature Association (Ann Arbor, 2004). Many friends and colleagues read, heard, or commented on earlier versions of the various chapters, and it is impossible to list them all and acknowledge my intellectual and professional debt in this limited space. For their hospitality, critique , or support, I thank Chris Berry, Michelle Bloom, David Bordwell, Chen Xihe, Leo Ching, Ralph Cohen, Shuqin Cui, Arif Dirlik, Mary Farquhar, Lucy Fischer, Poshek Fu, Peter Hitchcock, Huang Du, Dina Iordanova, Joan Kee, NeilLarsen,WendyLarson,JohnLent,DavidLi,XiaopingLin,KathyLinduff, PerryLink,JianmeiLiu,LiuKang,KariLokke,GinaMarchetti,JiayanMi,Paul Pickowicz, Stanley Rosen, Shu-mei Shih, Claire Sponsler, Yanfang Tang, Tao Dongfeng, Georges van den Abbeele, Ban Wang, David Wang, Wang Ning, Wang Yichuan, Chia-chi Wu, Gary Xu, Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh, Michelle Yeh, Wen-hsin Yeh, Yingjin Zhang, Zhang Yiwu, Zhang Zhen, Zhou Yongming, and Ying Zhu. My graduate students at UC Davis—Haomin Gong, Jing Nie, Andrew Hagemen, and Fei Shi—read some chapters of the book manuscript ack now led g men t s and generously offered their feedback. I especially benefited from the scathing, searching criticism of the two anonymous readers for the University of Hawai‘i Press. Needless to say, I am solely responsible for any remaining shortcomings of the book. I am thankful to the Cai Studio, Zhang Huan, Qin Yufen, Wang Jinsong, Hong Hao, Cui Xiuwen, the Gao brothers (Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang), the Mattress Factory (Pittsburgh, PA), the Wood Street Galleries (Pittsburgh, PA), and Courtyard Gallery (Beijing) for providing me with images of artworks crucial to my study. An academic year spent in Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine as a Fulbright scholar deepened my understanding of the circulation of desires and affects in a postsocialist register and on a global scale. I am grateful for the help of the Fulbright Program and its Kyiv branch, and fondly remember my colleagues, friends, and fellow Fulbrighters in Ukraine. It has been a privilege and pleasure to have the opportunity to collaborate with the University of Hawai‘i Press again and again. Patricia Crosby’s faith in my projects has been a source of encouragement and inspiration. I thank Pat for her unfailing support of my work. The efficiency and professionalism of my managing editor, Cheri Dunn, and manuscript editor Barbara Folsom are also greatly appreciated. I dedicate this book to my beloved wife, Anzhela (Angela) Matyukhina, and to our beautiful baby daughter, Caroline. Caroline’s birth into the world is the source of tremendous fatigue as well as the greatest joy to her parents. Her mama and papa have not been surprised at her incredible innate exuberance, curiosity, and restlessness: she was constantly on the move even before her birth. With us, she circled half the globe, crossed continents, and did what could have been a lifetime of traveling in the months waiting to be born: from Kyiv, Kherson , L’viv, and Odessa in Ukraine; to Beijing in China; to San Francisco and Davis in California, finally to arrive at the world at Sacramento. Early short versions of some chapters were previously published in the following journals and anthologies. Chapter 1 first appeared as “Waking to Modernity: The Classical Tale in Late Qing China,” New Literary History 34.4 (Autumn 2003): 745–760. Chapter 2 first appeared as “When Mimosa Blossoms: The Ideology of the Self in Modern Chinese Literature,” Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association 28.3 (October 1993): 1–16. Chapter 3 first appeared as “Body Writing: Beauty Writers...

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