Acknowledgements

This is a good chance to express my strong gratitude to all who have helped and supported me during my dissertation writing period.

I would f irst like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Wong Sin Kiong of the Department of Chinese Studies, the National University of Singapore, for spending time on guiding and discussing with me. Without his encouragement and guidance, I cannot imagine that I can finish my dissertation. There is no word to express my gratitude and respects to my life-long mentor.

From the bottom of my heart, I am grateful to Assistant Professor Xu Lanjun (from the Department of Chinese Studies of NUS), who is a member of my dissertation committee. I cannot forget the experiences on dissertation writing that she shared with me. And I always felt her warm heart and it comforted me so many times, when I felt helpless, depressed and hopeless during the very hard time in my life.

Def initely, I must give a big thanks to Associate Professor Yang Bin (from History Department at NUS), and Associate Professor Cheng Yinghong (from History Department of University of Delaware and Senior Visiting Fellow of Asia Research Institute). Thank them for spending time on reading the draft of my dissertation and giving me so many brilliant advices.

I am also grateful to Associate Professor Xiao Chi, another member of my dissertation committee. His introduction of the newest research trends and lots of discussions on the social events always inspired me.

Assistant Professor Vivien Wei Yan, from Lingnan University, is whom I would like to express my gratitude to. I learnt a lot from her and we shared a lot of girl's secrets with tears and smiles. And her optimistic attitude always inspired me.

Big Thanks for faculty members in the Department of Chinese Studies of NUS. They are Associate Professor Lee Chee Hiang, Associate Professor Lo Yuet Keung, Associate Professor Yung Sai Shing, Associate Professor Ong Chang Woei, Associate Professor Koh Khee Heong, Associate Professor Lam Lap, Assistant Professor Nicolai Volland and Dr Yang Lijun.

I am also grateful to the inspirations from some faculty members of the History Department of NUS. Associate Professor Huang Jianli is always concerned about my dissertation. Assistant Professor Chua Ailin and Assistant Professor Lee Seung-joon always share their unique opinions on the Southeast Asia studies with me.

I would like to acknowledge all the administration staff and librarians of NUS. Thank them for the assistance and material support.

There are so many outstanding scholars at other universities I would like to express my strong gratitude to. Professor Paul. G. Pickowicz, from the History Department at UCSD, is always very generous and kind to share his sharp and creative ideas and research experiences with me. He discussed with me several times on the methods of the travel writing studies and his historical advices are always very deep. Professor Wu Xiao'an from Peking University, is the one that I owe a debt of gratitude. Professor Wu gave me a lot of training on Southeast Asian Chinese studies and also gave me a lot of advices on the research perspective. Assistant Professor Luo Liang, from Kentucky University,kindly discussed my research approaches with me and gave me some aspiring advices. Professor Zhuang Guotu and Professor Zhang Kai, both from Xiamen University, gave me so warmhearted support on research sources. Professor Chen Chunsheng, from Sun Yat-Sen University (Guangzhou), generously shared his research sources with me. Professor Xia Xiaohong, from Peking University, also offered me some clues on research source searching.

There is still a special person I would like to thank. He is Associate Professor Tee Kim Tong from National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan. I still remember very clearly that Prof. Tee and I discussed the Chapter 3 of my dissertation in a cafe at Terminal 2 of the Changi Airport, from there he would fly back to Taiwan. When I write this, I am still touched by the scene.

Another scholar from Taiwan that I want to say thanks is Associate Professor Ko Chia Cian, from National Taiwan University. Professor Ko is very kind to share some research sources and his fantastic academic paper with me.

Research is often an interesting as well as isolated experience but this has been made much less so by the company of the other graduate students and friends. My sisters Dr. Zhang Huimei, Hong Lan, Pan Ping, Gu Haiying, Liu Yi and so on accompany me, help me, monitor me and comfort me all the way down. Without them, I would not be happy. A lot of my classmates gave me support. Thankful word is no need to them as I am always stand aside them. Guys, you know who you are.

I also would like to express my gratitude to a lot of local friends, who helped me generously and inspired me a lot. And I am always touched by their tolerance and humility and love to me.

When I was in the last phase of the dissertation, bad news came from my family that my father must have a medical surgery because of the heart attack. Luckily, he overcame it and recovered soon. Here, allow me to thank God first as my family is blessed. And I owe the debt of gratitude to my brother, Xue Fengqing. I appreciate him and his wife Chen Miaomiao of course, very much, as he took a very good care of our parents for so many years when I am abroad, even in the hard period. He also comforted me when I was nervous and anxious on some family matters. Thank you, brother! Our hearts are always together.

Some things do not change, I wish to thank my parents and family for always being there for me.