Acknowledgements
Exploring people’s motivations involves open dialogue about personal thoughts, childhood stories, intimate fears, painful hopes, and joyful visions for the future. When I started my field research, I did not know if people who are involved in classics-reading education would want to talk to me as a foreigner who has no emotional bond to Chinese culture and tradition. Their frankness to share their stories was overwhelming for me. My greatest thanks go to everybody whom I encountered in study halls, academies, in offices devoted to classics-reading education promotion, in evening gatherings, in nature, and through social media; to all those who patiently answered my questions and showed me around in their worlds of revived tradition. This openness was the largest contribution to this research, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to tour a world I did not even know existed a few years ago.
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Several years full of research and work would not have been possible without the support of many great people. In China, Professor Yi Lin (Xiamen University) has supported and encouraged me in my research. His students, especially Shi Haitao, Ma Mingjun, Shi Tianqi, and Bai Jiaqi, warmly welcomed me and provided me with advice and support. Professor Christoph Antweiler (University of Bonn) and Professor Thomas Zimmer (Tongji University in Shanghai, China) took on my project after I returned to Germany. I greatly appreciate their time, critical questions, and constructive comments. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Professor Ines Stolpe and Professor Gu Xuewu (both University of Bonn), who provided valuable perspectives and comments on my project. The two anonymous reviewers of my first manuscript and my copy editor helped me to develop my thoughts into a book, for which I sincerely thank them. Finally, I thank my current work team for supporting me while I worked on my first book.