Chinese Women and the Cyberspace

Abstract

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements From the conception of an idea, through the germinating process, the gestation period and, finally, culminating in its fruition is a long path that scholars who have trod through will know-that along the way, there are many who have worked to enable us to reach the fruition stage. The idea of working on a research topic on 'Chinese women and their network capital: the use and abuse of the cyber-network' took off when I was awarded a research grant by the University of Hong Kong. As the research came to fruition, I began to explore the possible idea of organizing an international conference to bring together scholars who are interested in working in this area to share their views and to bring together an edited book on this topic. This has resulted in an international symposium in 2004 on the theme: 'Log on: Chinese women and the cyber-networks' that I organized under the Centre for Anthropological Research at the University of Hong Kong. This international symposium brought together scholars from different parts of the world who presented various issues of Chinese women and their experiences with the cyberspace. The final session of the symposium was a workshop where the conference participants discussed key ideas that emerged in the course of the two-day symposium and we were able to concretize the ideas that would be put into the edited book. Subsequently, I invited some of the conference participants to write for this edited book. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the University of Hong Kong for a research grant that enabled me to conduct the research on 'Chinese women and their network capital: the use and abuse of the cyber-network' which allowed for the seed to be planted at the initial stage. I am also grateful to my former dean, Professor James Tang, who kindly provided a conference grant to enable us to organize the international symposium. I am extremely indebted to my graduate students, especially Gao Chong, Huang Yedan and the administrative colleagues at the Department for helping with all aspects of the conference. I am delighted to acknowledge the contributions by the conference participants for their enthusiasm and ideas and especially so to those who have contributed to this edited volume.