Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude goes first to my supervisors Dr. Li Dechao, Dr. Wang Binhua and Prof. Chu Chiyu, who taught me to think critically and present my arguments clearly.

Thanks also go to Prof. José Lambert and Prof. Miriam Shlesinger, who encouraged me to apply for the CETRA research summer school. It is this platform that enables me to discuss my research project with Prof. Franz Pöchhacker, Prof. Christina Schäffner, Prof. Yves Gambier, Prof. Dirk Delabastita, Ms. Jiang Hong and every other teaching staff and participant there. The many meetings I have had with them individually and together have been the most valuable learning experience I ever had.

A special note of appreciation goes to Prof. Wang Kefei, Prof. Qin Hongwu, Prof. Zhang Wei, Prof. Sun Yifeng, Prof. Huang Libo, Prof. Zhong Weihe, Prof. Mu Lei and Prof. Rachel Lung for their warm encouragement and precious support. In addition, I thank Dr. Wang Weiwei, Prof. Zhang Daozhen, Dr. Wang Yunhong, Dr. Wei Rining, Dr. Zou Bing and Dr. Yu Jing for their ever-gracious sharing and all the subjects for making the data collection possible.

Finally, gratitude for the personal support from my beloved family through the years of my academic pursuit can never be fully expressed. My only wish is that what I have accomplished is worthy of their devotion.