The internet is becoming a challenging environment in which to operate, and most journals, like Early China, have become dependent on it. In early June 2024, Cambridge University Press’s “News and Insights” page featured a notification that began with the sentence “Cambridge University Press & Assessment has experienced a cybersecurity incident.” In August, our excellent Cambridge copy editor Laura Macy let us know that articles were not going forward into production. By the end of September, however, CUP production was back online, and the production process soon resumed. We can only imagine the challenges that the press had to overcome to make that happen.

More recently, we were contacted by an author in the PRC who had paid USD $925 to a fraudulent account whose owner who had “accepted” a submission to Early China and demanded a publication fee. This article was not submitted to the Cambridge “ScholarOne Manuscripts” site, and we had no record of it. To be clear, Early China charges no publication fees. Finally, as of this writing, we are working with Cambridge University Press on returning the option to submit a “Research Article” to the submission page. We are at a loss to understand where the option went, but are happy to report that it was restored by Cambridge on May 13. If you are an author who encounters a problem of this nature, please contact me and I will give you instructions on how to submit despite this (mark.cs@berkeley.edu).

The delayed Early China 47 (2024) contains a number of excellent articles on discovered and excavated texts from the Warring States through Han periods. Among them are twin sets of complementary pairs: two research article on Kongzi 孔子 related manuscripts, and two on horse related manuscripts (a research note on Analects 3.5 is arguably a lost triplet to the former pair). We also have two fine pieces on the Han texts Huainanzi 淮南子 and Shiji 史記. Early China Assistant Editor Jesse Chapman has also compiled a thorough “Dissertation Abstracts” (through mid-2024) and “Annual Bibliography” (through the end of 2023) that combines these features for the 2023 and 2024 issues.

Internet willing, we are hopeful that Early China 48 (2025) will appear in Fall of 2025, returning the journal to release during the year on the cover.