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I must also thank Victor Mair and Paul Goldin of the University of Pennsylvania. It was during a seminar offered by Mair that I first became interested in the question of the Dao among the Yao, and when I wrote the paper that became the nucleus around which this book took its form. Goldin helped me to transform a collection of disparate chunks into a cohesive narrative. He also led me to reread what I had written from the perspective of the potential reader.
I would also like to mention Nancy Steinhardt, who has also always been there when I needed advice, and Alan Berkowitz of Swarthmore College, who exposed me to the world of Chinese hermits and taught me how to find what I need in Chinese sources.
I must express my gratitude to Kittisak Ruttanajangsri of IMPECT in Chiang Mai, who put me in touch with ritual specialists in Northern Thailand who could speak Mandarin, to the faculty of the Institute of Daoism and Religious Studies at Sichuan University, and to the Daoist priests at Qingyang Monastery in Chengdu.
I would also like to thank Yang Jidong and Julianna Lipschutz of the Chinese collection at Van Pelt library, and to my many friends at the University of Pennsylvania and at Leiden University. Thank you also to my fellow staff in the English service at Radio Taiwan International. It has certainly been a fascinating twist in my life, one that has deepened my awareness of culture, politics, religion, and life in Taiwan.
I am especially grateful to Cambria Press both for recognizing my book and for doing such an amazing job with its design and layout, as well as with the task of publishing and marketing it.
Finally, thank you to my parents, who brought me into this world and gave me a place in it. You have always been there for me. Thank you also Heather, Mitch, Bob, Nellie, and Jacob.