Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the support and generosity of many who invested in me and this project. The Harold Leonard Memorial Fellowship in Film Study from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and several travel grants and summer fellowships from the University of Richmond provided critical support in the research and writing of this project. I thank Kathleen Skerrett and Patrice Rankine, Deans of the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Richmond, for their support of this publication through a subvention.

Many colleagues generously offered their time and critical eye as this ‘baggy monster’ took shape and acquired a life of its own. This project benefited immensely from constructive audience feedback at Colby College, Macalester College, Penn State University, St. Olaf College, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the University of Minnesota, the University of Richmond, the University of Wisconsin, River Falls and Washington University in St. Louis. In particular, I would like to thank Rosemary Roberts and Li Li Peters, organisers of ‘The Making and Remaking of China’s Red Classics’ symposium at the University of Queensland, Australia, for creating the stimulating and collegial workshop where I tested some early ideas that eventually found their way into this book. I also thank the following colleagues, some of whom I have yet to meet, for their incisive criticism, suggestions and assistance: Jonathan Abel, Kim Besio, Timothy Brennan, Tina Mai Chen, Xiaomei Chen, Robert Chi, Rossen Djagalov, Daisy Yan Du, Kirk Denton, Gengsong Gao, Li Guo, Eric Hayot, Robert Hegel, Calvin Hui, Austin Jersild, Jennifer Kapczynski, Richard King, Fiona Law, Steven Lee, Yan Li, Song Hwee Lim, Elizabeth McGuire, Elidor Mëhilli, Eric Mok, Lissa Schneider-Rebozo, Marc Robinson, Shuang Shen, Julie de Sherbinin, Gaylyn Studlar, Xiaobing Tang, Nicolai Volland, Ban Wang, Yiman Wang, Zheng Wang, Zhuoyi Wang, Ankeney Weitz, Chuen-Fung Wong, Xin Yang, Yu Zhang and Mao Zheng. The anonymous reviewers’ sense of precision and perfection was indispensible to the completion of this book. Any oversights are my own.

The support staff at the Universities Service Centre for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Fung Ping Shan Library at the University of Hong Kong, the Shanghai Library and the Boatwright Memorial Library at the University of Richmond kindly provided assistance in locating periodicals and rare books. My editor, Maddy Hamey-Thomas, saw the potential of this project at an early stage and always trusted that I can deliver. My copy editor, Tedra Osell, knew what I wanted to say and put it more beautifully and forcefully than I did. I thank Alison Britton for her patience and attention to details in polishing my work. I could always count on David Campbell and Melissa Foster and her team when it came to images and final production. Parts of chapter 3 appear in modified form in ‘Translating “Montage”: The Discreet Attractions of Soviet Montage for Chinese Revolutionary Cinema,’ Journal of Chinese Cinemas 5, no. 3 (2011): 197–218, reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis.

At the University of Richmond, Kathleen Skerrett reminded me of my ‘Russian roots’ in a department that represents internationalism. For that, I thank her and the many colleagues who have helped me to navigate university life: Dixon Abreu, Julie Baker, Tom Bonfiglio, Kathrin Bower, Abigail Cheever, Michele Cox, Monti Datta, Olivier Delers, Molly Fair, Jane Geaney, Libby Gruner, Mimi Hanaoka, Yvonne Howell, Kasongo Kapanga, Francoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick, Sara Pappas, the late Paul Porterfield, Lidia Radi, Sharon Scinicariello, Rania Sweis and Vincent Wang. Youli Sun and his team at Peking University were always on call to provide support in moments of crisis. My students Bryan Carapucci, Marcin Jerzewski and Virginia Sun continue to inspire, motivate and assist me by volunteering as research assistants or co-translators.

This book began as a dissertation at the University of Minnesota under the supervision of my long-time mentor, Jason McGrath. Writing a book was not part of the plan, but Jason somehow convinced me that this book had chosen me, and his integrity and dry humour gave me the right mindset for the many challenges I continue to face. Alice Lovejoy, Shaden Tageldin and Ann Waltner, with their intellectual breadth and acumen, shaped this book in important ways. Joseph R. Allen, a mastermind behind the scene, is a coach I cannot live without.

Thank you for choosing this book among the many that could have been chosen. I would not have chosen writing as a profession without the encouragement of Walter Hatch and Sheila McCarthy, who instilled in me a sense of rhythm and witnessed my transformation from a mute to someone with a voice. I am grateful for my small community of joggers, potters, and family and friends: Carole Evans, Jim Laney, Brian Farmer, Mary Gardner-Stanley, Tim Hamilton, Natasha Kudriavtseva, Lorenza Marcin, Jessica Rock, Teresa Theesfeld, Laura Wen, Lizt Wong, my parents, and my sisters Vanessa, Sandy, Juliana and Elaine. I thank my mother, especially, for telling me stories of revolution. This book is dedicated to my parents.