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Preface
I still clearly remember that it was September 13, 1999, when I started my job at
Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA), formerly named Microsoft Research China. It
was the first year the lab was established. Twenty-eight Chinese Ph.D.s passed the
strict interviews and were hired as associate researchers by MSRA from among
more than 1000 applicants. Even so, at that time we were not formal employees
at Microsoft and only had a two-year contract probably because we received our
Ph.D. degrees in China. Thus, we had to prove that we had the ability to do excellent
research. All of us worked very hard, usually from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. every day, seven
days a week. When I recall the early years I spent at MSRA, I feel like it may have
been the most ...