The Shipboard Scientific Party thanks the many people, committees, and agencies that played critical roles in making Leg 184 to the South China Sea an overwhelming success. The leg achieved all of the precruise objectives and deepened three sites to recover almost 5000 m of core. The proposal that became Leg 184 was prepared at the Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai, by 12 Chinese and German scientists from various institutions. The joint German-Chinese cruise Sonne 95 (Monitor Monsoon expedition) to the South China Sea played a major role in the survey of sites for Leg 184. We thank the many institutions and organizations that provided seismic data and logs of industrial wells, including the Ministry of Land and Resources (China), the China Offshore Oil Corporation, the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology (Guangzhou), Hamburg University (Federal Republic of Germany), Kiel University (Federal Republic of Germany), Tongji University (China), and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (Columbia University).

We gratefully acknowledge the JOIDES advisory structure—especially the Ocean History Panel and its successor, the Environmental Science Steering and Evaluation Panel—for the opportunity to present our proposal to drill in the South China Sea and for their helpful advice and suggestions.

We thank the international Ocean Drilling Programs (ODP) for funding the scientists’ participation in planning and implementing Leg 184, especially the United States Science Advisory Committee and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. We further acknowledge and appreciate permission received from all political entities to drill the sites in the South China Sea.

Lastly, we thank the JOIDES Resolution crew, the Sedco drilling crew, and the ODP technical crew for their enthusiastic cooperation and support in making Leg 184 a success; the ODP administration for obtaining the necessary clearances; and the ODP editorial staff for their assistance in producing the Leg 184 Initial Reports volume.