Earlier versions of the papers included in this volume were first presented at a workshop convened jointly by The China Quarterly and the Asia Institute at UCLA in Los Angeles, 15–16 April 2011. The financing of the workshop was generously supported by the China Institute at the University of Alberta, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and the UCLA Asia Institute. We would like to thank the Director of the Asia Institute, R. Bin Wong, for his organizational and intellectual leadership in bringing things together. Romer Cornejo, Wenran Jiang, Tom Narins, Carol Wise, Cynthia Watson, Hongbo Zhu, Andrew Apter, Nick Menzies and Ching Kwan Lee all contributed to the lively discussion at the meeting, and were enormously helpful in establishing focus for our first set of revisions. Guillermo Ruiz Stovel did exemplary service as rapporteur. We are especially grateful to Nick Menzies and Elizabeth Leicester of the Asia Institute at UCLA, who both gave up weekends and went so far beyond the call of duty in making the logistics of the event run smoothly. Two anonymous reviewers did much to help us refine our arguments and smooth the flow of the volume. And finally, we were all enormously saddened to learn of the unexpected passing of our colleague Hongbo Zhu only a few weeks after the conclusion of the workshop. It is in his honour that this special issue is dedicated.