The first draft of this book has constituted both my PhD thesis and my personal identity as a legal researcher. To accomplish a PhD is like a long, long journey through the darkness that tests one’s faith in oneself. With the ambition of ‘locating China, locating constitutional law research’, I was fortunate to have Prof. Ernst Hirsch Ballin and Dr. Gerhard van der Schyff supervising me like real gentlemen. As the first Distinguished Professor at Tilburg University and an esteemed Dutch politician, Ernst provides profound insights into the universal fate of human beings in modern times, with its predetermined relationship to politics in which the belief in rule of law also exists. As my daily supervisor, Gerhard always examined my texts with care and prudence. I could always knock on his office door when confronted with difficulties. My supervisors have also inspired me with their extraordinary professionalism, which results in continually updated publications, speeches and public debates on most of the EU and national constitutional issues that might influence people on a daily basis. From their works and actions, I have learned that bonded by our integrity, constitutional lawyers work to bring changes in society for those who deserve better lives.

From 2013–2017, people in four different offices on the fourth floor of the Montesquieu Building at Tilburg University witnessed my growth. I am thankful to my dear colleagues and to all I have learned from our discussions and their work, especially Caia Vlieks, Sangita Bajulaiye-Jaghai, Maarten Stremler, Stijn van Voorst, Hyoung-Jin Nho, Geetanjali Srikantan, Edwin Alblas, Mr. Karlijn van Blom, Dr. Koen van Aeken, Prof. Maurice Adams and Prof. Anne Meuwese. Dr. Hervé Tijssen and Ms. Marianne Scholing are always ready to offer their kind help. I would also like to extend my thoughts and prayers to Prof. Willem Witteveen (1952–2014). Many friends have also offered their kind company: thanks to them, I did not travel alone. Therefore special thanks go to Grace J. Ma 马瑾萱, Yang Yan 杨嫣, Yolanda Y. Wang 王悦 and Tala 塔拉. In addition, it is a great pleasure to know all of the excellent younger scholars in an informal association of Chinese PhDs studying at overseas law schools.

This work is beneficiary from the original thoughts, dedicated works and kind help of my colleagues in China. Here, I personally express my respect and appreciation to the following constitutional scholars and their original research: Prof. Wang Renbo 王人博, Prof. Gao Quanxi 高全喜, Prof. Chen Duanhong 陈端洪, Prof. Albert H. Y. Chen 陈弘毅, Prof. Zhu Guobin 朱国斌, Prof. Chang An 常安, Prof. Tian Lei 田雷, asso. Prof. Zhou Lingang 周林刚, assoc. Prof. Yu Shengfeng 余盛峰 and asso. Prof. Zhai Zhiyong 翟志勇. Because of the scholarship that we all hold dear, I have met most of them by 2019. Besides, dear peers have offered me new sources and pleasant conversations concerning my research topic, including assoc. Prof. Zhu Mingzhe 朱明哲, Dr. Zhang Xiaodan 张小丹, Dr. Liu Yang 刘洋, Dr. Feng Yang 冯洋, Dr. Xing Binwen 邢斌文, Dr. Fan Jizeng 范继增 and Dr. Tian Wei 田伟.

I have presented the essences of this book at Institute of East Asian Studies University of Cologne in June 2017 and in the School of Law Peking University in May 2018. Effective comments and sincere critique came from Prof. Bjorn Ahl 伯阳, Prof. Chen Duanhong and Dr. Peng Chun 彭錞. Some further reflections concerning the ongoing fundamental reform in China were presented in the 2018 Annual General Conference of the European China Law Studies Association in the University of Turin, which have resulted in the postscript notes in this book.

The Wuhan University School of Law kindly offers a position as a research fellow, which I sincerely appreciate. Although early career situations in academia are already highly competitive and somehow cruel to young scholars in China, the WHU School of Law has tried her best to protect young researchers from many aspects, even when she is also going through significant reforms herself.

Special thanks also come to Prof Zhang Wei 张伟 and Li Ruoyu 李若愚 from the Institute for Human Rights in Chinese University of Political Science and Law, all anonymous reviewers, Bea Timmer and Xing Xiaochun 邢晓春. They, and their colleagues, kindly helped me realise the cooperation opportunity between Brill and this book.

I thank my parents from the bottom of my heart for all of their wisdom and virtue in educating me. They always solidly back me up along the way and continuously tell me never to drop my dreams and ideas in research and writing.

This book is far from perfection, but the revising process from a PhD defence version identifies the robust start of my early career. Also with all learned through writing and finishing it, I am pleased to start new endeavours and welcome all intellectual challenges in the future research which continually explore the limitation of scholarly imagination of constitutional law research.