This book was based on a two-year study of left-behind children in Henan Province of China: their communication with migrant parents, their imagined interactions with migrant parents, the relational maintenance behaviors between parents and children, the support provided by caregiving grandparents, and how these factors work together to influence the long-distance parent-child relationship.
Completing this book was at times overwhelming and arduous, definitely an accomplishment that would have been impossible to achieve on my own without the support and encouragement from many people.I devote this section to acknowledging the individuals who provided assistance during the completion of this book.To begin with, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr.Mei-Chen Lin, for her consistent helpfulness, patience, consideration, and meticulousness.I greatly appreciate the constructive feedback, detailed instruction, valuable time, and kind encouragement that she has generously given to me as I wrote this book.She went above and beyond what was expected of an advisor, and I am grateful for all that I learned from her.Gratitude also goes to Dr.Amy Reynolds, the Dean of College of Communication and Information at Kent State University, for offering me great support to finish the book, to Dr.Bei Cai, for proofreading the questionnaire and offering suggestions for revision, and to Dr.Kun Xu, for providing help and suggestions on statistical analysis.
Next, I would like to acknowledge my dear parents for their support, not only during this process but also throughout my whole life.I am forever indebted to my parents more than anyone for instilling in me a reverence for knowledge and respect for education.They have always motivated me to do more than I thought I could in this lengthy and challenging journey.I thank my husband, son9 parents-in-law, aunts and uncles for their love, caring, support, and understanding.
Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge my employer at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), notably the management and staff from the Personnel Division and School of Journalism and Communication of SISU.Specifically, I am very grateful to the Deputy Director of Personnel Division, Prof.Qiuyan Zhao for her kind support; my lifetime mentor, Dr.Zuxin Zhang for his practical advice; and Dr.Lingning Wang, who kindly supported me in various ways.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the management and staff at the following for assisting me during the data collection process: Dengzhou Municipal Government, Dengzhou Bureau of Education, Dengzhou Chunfeng School, Dengzhou Siyuan School, and Shilin No.l Middle School.I thank my research assistants, Minaier Tuolai and Gaowenxin Tang, for helping collect and enter the data.I thank the participating left-behind children for sharing their thoughts and feelings in the survey.
Finally, I would like to thank some of my close friends, especially Liangtao Ni, Jieyun Liu, Hong Xu, Miao Liu, Aisha Tengku, Peiyu Liu, Xueping Li, Weiping Zhang, Qingyun Meng, and Mark Miller for their help, encouragement, motivation, and emotional support throughout this challenging endeavor.
I dedicate this book to my son Zhanqi to show him that perseverance leads to accomplishments.