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Acknowledgments
As I reflect on the intellectual journey this book has prompted over the years, I find myself indebted to those who have made this journey meaningful and rewarding. This intellectual indebtedness is a blessing to a junior scholar who strives to introduce Sinophone Southeast Asian literature, a lesser-studied area, to a larger academic field. My deepest gratitude goes to Professor Shu-mei Shih and Professor David Der-wei Wang for their support of the book project. Their constant help and encouragement have benefitted me beyond the writing of this book. These two mentors have inspired and impacted me as a scholar and person with their earnestness. I am also grateful to Brian Bernards, Andrea Bachner, Chien-hsin Tsai, Alison Groppe, Alexander Huang, and many others who have made me realized that I am not alone on this journey. I am also very grateful to my advisors (Gary Gang Xu, Nancy Blake) and mentors (Waïl Hassan, Susan Koshy) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Gary has always been supportive of me and was the very person who advised me to locate a project closest to my heart. Nancy always makes everything seems clear and easy after I talked with her. My friends Oana Popescu Sandu, Sonja Wandelt, James Welker, Jessica Wienhold, Misty Houston, Matthias Stephan, and Cristina Stanciu have all contributed in different degrees to the early drafts of this book. I thank you all.