This book grew from my doctoral dissertation completed in 2012. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Stacey Pierson, who has been so generous with her time and knowledge throughout. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to my other lecturers at SOAS, including Professor Shane McCausland, Dr. Andrea Janku, Dr. Lukas Nickel, and Dr. Wang Tao. I also wish to recognise Dr. Chia-ling Yang for her guidance at the initial stage of this research. In addition, I thank my examiners, Professor Timon Screech and Dr. Frances Wood for their feedback.
I have been fortunate to enjoy the benefits of assistance from many col- leagues. I am happy to acknowledge a considerable debt of gratitude to Dr. Clarissa von Spee for her immense support in various forms. I would like to thank Jessica Harrison-Hall for inviting me to the Qianlong Inscription Workshop held at the British Museum in 2010, which helped greatly in formu- lating my ideas. I am appreciative of the constructive criticisms from Nixi Cura, Dr. Sascha Priewe, and Dr John Finlay, which added much to the improvement of the work. The development of the fourth chapter in this book owes much to stimulating discussions with Dr. James Lin and Dr. Victoria Avery. My deep appreciation also goes to all my colleagues at the National Palace Museum in Taipei whose names are too many to be listed here individually. They have given me continuing and tremendous assistance throughout the years.