Acknowledgements: This project would not have been possible without the support and cooperation of a large number of people. We would particularly like to thank the following: Miss Lu Meiyan, for giving us invaluable assistance in transcribing the language archive material; Mr Tian Jinggui for providing several texts and much helpful advice on the language; Mrs Tian Xintao for providing language texts and documents relating to recent Tujia history; Director Li Ping of the Longshan County Government, for hosting us on our text collection trip to Dianfang, Pojiao and Tasha; Mr Liu Changru for providing a number of the photos in the photo archive; Director Jian Debin and Vice-Director Tian Maojun of the College of Literature and Journalism at Jishou University, for their continual and unstinting support of the project; Director Peng Shuiying and Mr Luo Jianping of the Foreign Affairs Office of Jishou University, for their assistance in many practical ways; and Mrs Peng Xiucui for help with our Tujia wordlist; Mr Chris Akhurst for help with proof-reading and editing the text of the website, as well as all those who contributed to the text archive and to our knowledge of Tujia culture and history. Last but not least, our thanks go to all our friends, both in China and the UK, who have encouraged and supported us during this project.
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