ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

 

广告：个人专属 VPN，独立 IP，无限流量，多机房切换，还可以屏蔽广告和恶意软件，每月最低仅 5 美元

Writing a book, as a friend once reminded me, is not a group activity. Just the same, I owe a large debt of gratitude to many people who helped me see this project through.

My thanks go first to those I knew in Dongguan, who taught me so much about this city in which we were all outsiders. Lu Qingmin and Wu Chunming generously opened up their lives to me, granting me their trust, patience, time, and lasting friendship. Zhang Qianqian and Jia Jimei showed me life on the assembly line, while Jiang Haiyan and Chen Ying shared their struggles to rise above it. Liu Yixia opened my eyes to the ways English is learned in a factory town.

Luke Lee and Allen Lee of Yue Yuen illuminated the workings of a shoe factory and gave me unfettered access to their company’s Dongguan compound. Thanks also to William Anderson and Kitty Potter of Adidas for paving the way for those visits. Deng Shunzhang and the other teachers at the Zhitong school kindly allowed me to sit in on their White-Collar classes. The Dongguan Making Friends Club opened its doors and membership files to me. Ben Schwall accompanied me on an extended tour of the karaoke underworld. Lin Xue shared numerous insights into factory life and became my first good friend in Dongguan. Tan Shen at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences gave invaluable advice on navigating the factory towns of the Pearl River Delta. And Min’s parents were generous hosts when I visited their village.

Researching this book gave me the opportunity to get to know members of my far-flung family. Nellie Chao, Luke Chang, and Irene Chow were generous with their time and their memories; thanks especially to Aunt Nellie for sharing her poetry. Zhang Lijiao’s widow, Zhu Shulan, and their children Zhang Song, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Yinqiao welcomed me into their home as a younger sister and shared letters and recollections over my favorite Dongbei dishes. Zhang Hong devoted the better part of three days to telling me everything he knew of our family history. In Beijing, my great-aunt Zhang Lian offered home cooking, newspaper clippings, and her memories of growing up in Liutai. Zhao Hongzhi took me to our family’s old house at no. 6 and remembered so many details everyone else had forgotten. In Liutai, Zhang Tongxian was a knowledgeable guide—one of many private historians I was privileged to meet along the way.

I was fortunate to work with gifted and dedicated colleagues in my years at the Wall Street Journal. Marcus Brauchli taught me how to write a leder; I have appreciated his friendship and support since the day we met in a Prague movie theater. Ian Johnson was always generous with his knowledge and insights, and he was kind enough to review the manuscript and supply helpful—and humorous—comments. Jonathan Kaufman was an enthusiastic champion of my early articles about migrant workers, and Mike Miller gave those pieces the space that every reporter feels she deserves. Sophie Sun, Kersten Zhang, and Cui Rong provided invaluable research assistance; I thank them for their good humor and their patience with my endless inquiries. Urban Lehner, Reg Chua, and John Bussey supported my career at the Journal and granted me leave to start working on this book. Lily Song, Dou Changlu, and Yue Dingxian provided help in many ways over the years. I benefited greatly from friendship and conversations with my fellow reporters: Kathy Chen, Charles Hutzler, Karby Leggett, Peter Wonacott, Matt Forney, Matt Pottinger, Jason Dean, David Murphy, Joseph Kahn, Craig Smith, and Rebecca Blumenstein.

I am indebted to Doug Hunt, whose thoughtful reading of an early draft helped me resolve major problems with the book. Susan Jakes suggested myriad improvements and guided me to useful reference works after reading the manuscript—I thank her for that and for her friendship over the years. I appreciated the comments of Michael Meyer, Terzah Becker, and Zhang Hong of Colby College, all of whom reviewed the manuscript with great care. He Hongling and Guo Daoping patiently deciphered my grandfather’s diaries, and Travis Klingberg gave invaluable advice on the book’s visual elements. Thanks to Jane Lee and Jen Lin-Liu for their friendship and encouragement from the day I decided to write this book.

I am grateful to Cindy Spiegel, my editor at Spiegel & Grau, for her sympathetic and insightful readings—no writer could wish for better. A big thanks to Chris Calhoun, my agent, for his early faith and continuing support, and to Marcy Posner for her expert handling of the foreign rights.

My greatest debt is to my parents, who taught me Chinese and told me about China, then left me free to learn so much on my own. My father patiently endured many rounds of questions, and my mother made helpful corrections after reviewing the manuscript. The work that has taken me so far from home has also brought me closer to them. I am grateful to my brother Justin, who always encouraged and understood me despite having chosen such a different path through life.

And to Peter Hessler—thank you for showing me the possibilities, in life and in writing. Every writer should have a reader such as you.