Preface
Preface The following institutions at Brigham Young University were warmly supportive of this work in the form of travel grants, research supplies, and salaries for research assistants: the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, the College of Humanities, and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies. Friends and colleagues at universities in Guangzhou, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have been encouraging and helpful at various stages of this project. The late Lin Tianwai, former professor emeritus of Hong Kong University, and Li Te-ch’ao of Chinese Culture University, Taipei, were among the earliest supporters of my work on the poetry of Cantonese literati. Professor Lin was particularly considerate in arranging several professional visits to the PRC and Taiwan to participate in various conferences on subjects of concern to Cantonese history and culture. Sadly, he passed away as I was crafting the first draft of these lines of acknowledgement. Professor Wei Chung-yu of the Department of Chinese, Tunghai University, was instrumental in arranging and participating in an exchange program between my institution and Tunghai University for one semester, where I was fortunate enough to teach a graduate seminar on the belletristic traditions of Guangdong. The literary insights of the participants in that seminar, Wu Ch’iu-lan, Yang Yung-chih, and Ch’en Fu-keng, did much to refine my understanding of many aspects of the works we studied. Professor Wong Man-kang of the Hong Kong Baptist University was solicitous in facilitating several visits to lecture and to conduct research. The faculties of Jinan University (Guangzhou campus), South China Normal University, and Hainan University were fine hosts and interested auditors during several visits to their institutions. Mr. Qin Huanming, librarian of the T’ang Studies Society, helpfully supplied various relevant articles that he located on his own volition and offered many useful suggestions and needed corrections to Chapter Two. I must also acknowledge the contribution to this work by several former research assistants, Scott Galer (now Professor of Chinese at Brigham Young University, Idaho), Kayla Ping Lam McKewen, Zijun Lan Dozier, and Elliot Dozier. Most recently, James Graff performed yeoman’s work in wrestling the manuscript into some semblance of stylistic consistency. I have especially enjoyed collaborating with two fellow students of Cantonese literati culture, Steven Miles and Lawrence Yim. Their strict fidelity as scholars, Steve in the handling of historical texts and Lawrence in the treatment of poetry, has been a constant prick to my conscience as a literary critic; both have saved me from numerous blunders in interpretation and blind spots in historical understanding. My longlamented colleague at BYU, Dr. Edward Peng, was untiring in his efforts to improve the manuscript when, at an early stage, it was a large collection of translated poems. Professor Paul W. Kroll lent his enormous erudition to a close reading of the entire manuscript, improving both the accuracy and readability of every chapter. The errors and infelicities that remain, despite the phalanx of experts mentioned above, are inescapably my own. In memory of the late Edward H. Schafer, I present this work about a region that he loved with the passion of the explorer. His seminal works on many aspects of the natural world and material remains of the tropical South, especially his magnificent The Vermilion Bird, were indispensable in informing this work with any degree of ecological insight. Lastly, this book was inspired and sustained by my wife, Yi-chin. Her support and encouragement over many years have made many things possible, among them this poetic tribute. viii Preface ...
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