Voluntary Organizations in the Chinese Diaspora

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements The idea of an edited volume grew out of two panels on "Chines e Voluntary Organizations" that Khun En g Kuah-Pearce organize d fo r th e Secon d ICA S Conference i n Berlin i n August 2001 . Since then , sh e has had th e privileg e of having Evely n Hu-DeHar t a s co-editor whose insight s into thi s are a an d beyond hav e helpe d t o sharpe n th e essay s here. The tw o editors hav e als o had the privilege of adding scholars working in this area to contribute various chapters into thi s volume. There ar e man y peopl e wh o hav e helpe d wit h thi s projec t an d th e manuscript. Firs t and foremost, w e would like to acknowledge th e financia l support given by the University of Hong Kong in the form of a research gran t that enabled us to work on this project. Second, we would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers who have given us very thoughtful comment s tha t helped u s to improve th e manuscript . Third , we would lik e to thank al l th e contributors fo r thei r willingnes s t o participat e i n thi s project , thei r wholehearted suppor t in the revision of the individual chapters and for thei r patience while we put the paper s into a coherent picture . Khun En g Kuah-Pearce an d Evely n Hu-Dehar t December 200 5 ...