The work on this book took place in Berkeley and New York among a changing cohort of mentors, colleagues, and friends. The long and intermittent process of writing this book has delayed adequate expression of my gratitude toward them. Michael Burawoy, my dissertation advisor at Berkeley, taught me political economy through his immediate, meticulous critique of myriad drafts of chapters. His everyday devotion to students' projects and his public participation through teaching demonstrates an

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... luable example of pedagogy for me. The members of Michael's 1991-1993 dissertation group-Bob -helped me think Manchuria beyond the framework of area studies. I was also fortunate at Berkeley to receive warm hearted support from Arlie Hochschild, Tom Gold, Peter Evans, and Lowell Dittmer. I appreciate Troy Duster for his encouragement when I was writing my dissertation. Since coming to New York University, I transformed part of my dissertation into this book. Harry Harootunian has rallied for the abundant institutional and intellectual support at NYU that was vital to completing new rounds of research in China and writing. My daily conversations with Harry and his enthusiastic reading of numerous drafts of all the chapters have made it possible for me to meld my learning of cultural studies with political economy. I appreciate Rebecca Karl for important and constructive suggestions on the entire final draft of the manuscript. Wolsan Liem offered an insightful reading of chapters. I thank colleagues and friends in the Departments of East Asian Studies and Sociology, especially , and the late Dorothy Nelkin for their support. My special thanks also go to Osamu Nakano and Chia-jung Lin for their assistance in language.