While the word “gentlemen” suggests that its heroes are adults, The Two Gentlemen of Verona is more intelligible if we think of them as boys, leaving home for the first time. One has a crush on a girl, Julia, though he hasn’t yet told her. Sent to court to learn to be “perfect gentlemen,” Valentine and Proteus are derailed by their attraction to Sylvia, the ruler’s daughter. Valentine’s mental denseness does not deter Sylvia from returning his love, but he is caught, and banished, when he tries to elope with her. Proteus’ desire for Sylvia wipes out his former love, leading him into despicable acts that win scorn from Sylvia and wound Julia, who has pursued him disguised as a boy. When Sylvia follows Valentine into banishment, Proteus follows Sylvia, and Julia follows Proteus, the stage is set for a disturbing ending. But the stage is also set for the “gentlemen” to take small steps toward maturity. The authoritative edition of The Two Gentlemen of Verona from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes: -The exact text of the printed book for easy cross-reference -Hundreds of hypertext links for instant navigation -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play -Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play -Scene-by-scene plot summaries -A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases -An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language -An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play -Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books -An annotated guide to further reading Essay by Jeffrey Masten The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

This work concentrates on both Shakespearean performance and Shakespeare's appearance in Sinophone culture in relation to the postcolonial question.

Foreword Joseph J. Borich President, Washington State China Relations Council As a relatively junior Foreign Service Officer working on the State Departments China Desk in 1978, I found myself in an ideal fly-on-the- wall situation from which to observe and peripherally contribute to the chain of events that would lead to the full normalization of relations between the U.S. and China on January 1, 1979. By January 1980, I was in China helping to reopen the U.S. consulate general there after a 30-year hiatus. Although I did not imagine it at the time, I would spend much of the final 17 years of my Foreign Service career involved with China. During that time I encountered the Washington State China Relations Council its executive directors, board members, member company representatives and delegates of various WSCRC-led missions on a number of occasions. In the process my knowledge of and respect for the WSCRC and its mission grew with each passing year. Perhaps it was destiny that the WSCRCs executive director position should become vacant in 1997 at the same time that I retired from the Foreign Service. Whether by fate or coincidence I was ineluctably drawn to accept the Councils offer of employment, an acceptance that years later I have found no reason to regret. Washington is one of only a handful of states that have found compelling reasons to establish and support a China-centric nonprofit business association like the WSCRC, and the WSCRC remains the oldest and arguably best known of these. The foresight of the WSCRCs founders tying together Washington states historical links to China with the suddenly unleashed but still not well understood new opportunities for business with China on a massive scale has been fully justified by history. Today Washington leads all states on a per capita basis in trade with China and is the only state to maintain a trade surplus with China. This is very important because no other state is nearly as dependent on foreign trade as Washington nearly one job in three here is directly tied to international trade. The vision of the WSCRCs founders in 1979 has withstood the test of time. I congratulate Wendy Liu for writing Connecting Washington and China, published originally in 2005, and for updating it with new content. The Washington State China Relations Council has in more than a quarter century become an institution in the state of Washington and in the realm of post-normalization U.S.-China relations. As such, its story is certainly worth telling. But, this work also reflects an intensely personal voyage of discovery for Ms. Liu, with her own metamorphosis on her journey from China to the United States and from normalization through Tiananmen and beyond. That, too, is a story worth telling. Seattle, November 2009

With its fossil hunters and philosophers, diplomats, dropouts, writers and explorers, missionaries and refugees, Peking's foreign community in the early 20th century was as exotic as the city itself. Always a magnet for larger than life individuals, Peking attracted characters as diverse as Reginald Johnston (tutor to the last emperor), Bertrand Russell, Pierre Loti, Rabrindranath Tagore, Sven Hedin, Peter Fleming, Wallis Simpson and Cecil Lewis. The last great capital to remain untouched by the modern world, Peking both entranced and horrified its foreign residents. Ignoring the poverty outside their gates, they danced, played and squabbled among themselves, oblivious to the great political events that were to shape modern China unfolding around them. This is a dazzling portrait of an eclectic foreign community and of China itself.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1880.