This volume is dedicated to Michael Loewe on his 100th birthday. I am delighted to be able to include herein a special section of invited contributions written in his honor and guest-edited by Michael Nylan. Many specialists in Han Dynasty history were enticed into the field by reading something he had written, and they are only a small proportion of the scholars that he has influenced over the course of a long career. Indeed, I doubt that there are many readers of this journal who have not read at least some of his work with profit. So, I am sure that you will join me in wishing him wan sui 萬歲!

I have now held the offices of Chair of the Society for the Study of Early China and Editor of Early China for twelve years. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our field in this manner and I am immensely proud of the work that we have done together. I would like to thank the Editorial Board members, webmasters, secretary-treasurers, conference organizers, editorial assistants, and, especially, the authors of the articles that we have published over this period for their contributions. I would also like to thank the people at Cambridge Journals who have supported and ably assisted us in transforming Early China from a print-only journal with limited circulation to one broadly available, in print and online, with a wide international readership. But the time has come to pass on the baton, and I am delighted to congratulate Mark Csikszentmihalyi, who was recently elected to fill these joint positions. I would also like to congratulate Jue Guo, Christopher Foster, and Nicholas Vogt for their election to the editorial board. I look forward with great interest to reading the future issues of the journal.

One final appeal: if you are a regular reader of this journal and do not subscribe because you have access to the articles through your university library subscription or online postings, please help us by subscribing anyway. We do not have an endowment and we need the funds. Donations are also welcome. You may think of yourself as a part of the Society for the Study of Early China and that is good, but it is only by subscribing that you actually become a member.

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