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ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It has been a long, twelve-year journey since I started the first research on Mount Wutai. A journey that I could never have completed without the guidance, support , and good wishes of colleagues, friends, and family along the way. No one has provided me with more intellectual and moral support than my mentor Wu Hung, who was my advisor in this project in its early stages. No one has done more to encourage and push me to reconsider how Buddhist architecture could be defined and studied in relation to the history of the sacred mountain. I owe him the intellectual inclination, as well as the skills, to think historically, holistically, and creatively. To him, this book is offered, although I know he thinks it should have been completed years ago. I am also indebted to Yen Chüan-ying and Katherine Taylor, who helped me conceptualize this project and who advised me in the subsequent research and writing. My great appreciation also goes to the rest of my University of Chicago community: Joel Snyder, Richard Neer, Katherine Tsiang, and Hans Thomsen for their advice at various stages of this project; and my Chicago colleagues Delin Lai, Yudong Wang, Catherine Stuer, Sun-ah Choi, and Seunghye Lee, as well as the late Cong Liu, among others, for the many conversations and discussions we shared; from them I learned a great deal in intellectual maturity and collegial relations. Many of my teachers, colleagues, and friends have read or heard parts of this work, and offered their honest and valuable comments. I am truly grateful for Michael Nylan’s correction of my use of the term zhenrong; Yumin Lee’s kind words on my study of Mogao Cave 61; insightful opinions from an anonymous reader of Artibus Asiae regarding the icon of the “new-mode” Mañjuśrī; and much feedback and encouragement from Wendi Adamek, Raoul Birnbaum, Sheng-chih Lin, Shu-fen Liu, Amy McNair, Liang-wen Pan, Shou-chien Shih, Michelle Wang, and Dorothy Wong. During my several trips to China, I could not have accomplished much at all without timely and generous help from Chai Zejun, Li Qingquan, Li Yuqun, Zhang Zong, and Zheng Yan. Special thanks are owed to Shi Jinming, the director of Shanxi Provincial Museum, whose enthusiastic assistance made each of my trips to Shanxi much easier and more enjoyable. Fan Jinshi, Peng Jinzhang, and Zhao Shengliang of Dunhuang Academy were also wonderful supporters of my project during my research trips in Dunhuang. My colleagues in the Triangle Area have provided me with their unfailing support in the past five years since I arrived in Chapel Hill. My thanks go to Stanley ACKNOWLEDGMENTS x Abe, Glaire Anderson, Jan Bardsley, Paroma Chatterjee, Eduardo Douglas, Pika Ghosh, Jim Hirschfield, Li-ling Hsiao, Michelle King, Cary Levin, Charles D. Orzech, Mary Sheriff, Daniel Sherman, Wenhua Shi, and Jiayun Zhuang. Beyond creating a rich and stimulating intellectual environment, these colleagues have helped me in various ways through the difficult times and frustrations I encountered while writing my book. Hsi-chu Bolick, East Asian bibliographer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, deserves a special note for never failing to answer any of my requests. I also benefited from the Carolina Asia Center, the Program in Medieval and Modern Studies, and the University Research Council of UNC at Chapel Hill for their research support, which made the completion and publication of my book possible. I would also like to express my appreciation to those who have generously assisted me in preparing my manuscript and illustrations. I owe much to Shihshan Susan Huang for sharing many useful tips about publishing a first book, and Jason Steuber for his expertise and advice in the publication business. Thanks also to Beverly Foit-Albert, Guo Zhicheng, Jungmin Ha, Sonya Lee, Li Yuqun, Puay-peng Ho, Sun Xiaogang, Katherine R. Tsiang, Yen Chüan-ying, Zhang Zong, Zhao Shengliang, and Zhao Xiaoxing, as well as the Academia Sinica, Daigoji, Dunhuang Academy, Seiryōji, and Wenwu Press, for permitting me to use their images. In particular, I am very grateful to Lin Zhu for granting me the right to use Liang Sicheng’s drawings, and to Fu Xinian who graciously let me use his drawings of Foguang Monastery. I also appreciate Chia-ling Chen, Dora C. Y. Ching, Annie Feng, Guo Daiheng, Alexandra Harrer, Shih-ming Pai, Sarai Mai, Mei Mei, and Wang Guixiang for their help with acquisition of image permissions. At...

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