China's Road to the Korean War

The Making of the Sino-American Confrontation

Chen Jian

New York

Columbia University Press

1994

Acknowledgments

In the course of completing this study, I have been indebted to many individuals and institutions. Professor David L. Wilson, my dissertation advisor at Southern Illinois University, advised and encouraged me at various stages of this book. Michael Hunt, Warren Cohen, Odd Arne Westad, and William Stueck read the entire manuscript more than once, and made constructive and critical comments. As a result, their influence can be felt on virtually every page of this book. I also wish to thank a number of friends, colleagues, and fellow scholars who have read all or part of the manuscript and offered critical comments: Charles R. Bailey, Thomas Christensen, William Derby, Cary Fraser, Immanuel Geiss, Sergei Goncharov, Torbjšn L. Knutsen, Helena Lepovitz, Geir Lundestad, Joe McCartin, Niu Jun, Michael Schaller, Michael M. Sheng, David Tamarin, Marc Trachtenberg, William Turley, Xue Litai, Kathryn Weathersby, Philip West, Allen Whiting, Michael Winship, Marilyn Young, Zhai Qiang, and Zhang Shuguang.

Special thanks also go to Bao Shixiu, He Di, Hu Guangzheng, Li Haiwen, Liao Xinwen, Qi Dexue, Qu Ayang, Shi Zhe, Tao Wenzhao, Xu Yan, Yang Kuisong, Zhang Baijia, and Zhang Xi who offered invaluable assistance and/or advice during my four research trips to China in 1987, 1991, 1992, and 1993.

Support from several institutions allowed me to complete my study. A 1991 SUNY-Geneseo Presidential Summer Fellowship facilitated my trip to China that year. A grant from Woodrow Wilson Center's Cold War History Project contributed to another trip to China in 1992. The Sponsored Research Office at SUNY-Geneseo, headed by Dr. Douglas Harke, provided several grants to cover research expenses related to this study. In Spring 1993, a Norwegian Nobel Institute fellowship not only released me from teaching and allowed me to devote several months to the revision of the manuscript but also, and more important, offered me a scholarly home replete of friendship and intellectual inspiration. My thanks go to Inger-guri Flögstad, Torill Johansen, Elisabeth Karesen, Anne Kjelling, Sigrid Langebrekke, and Arne Storheim.

A large portion of chapter 2 was published in the Summer 1993 issue of Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, and part of chapter 4 appeared in the March 1993 China Quarterly. Both journals have graciously offered permission for me to reuse the published parts in this book. For both, I am very grateful.

The editors at Columbia University Press deserve great credit for their assistance in improving the original manuscript. In particular I would like to thank Kate Wittenberg for her encouragement at different stages of this project and Leslie Bialler for his skillful copyediting.

I would also like to thank Raymond Mayo of Computing and Media Services at SUNY-Geneseo for preparing the maps.

The greatest debt I owe to my father. In addition to his love and constant concerns for his only son's health, he devoted much of his after-retirement time to helping his son collect Chinese source materials. By now, even many of my Chinese colleagues are surprised by his knowledge of books and journal articles about China and the Korean War. I therefore dedicate the book to my father and the memory of my mother.