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"Essays that educate and delight. . . . A keen eye and a ready humor."- Publishers Weekly "A wry and witty view. . . . She describes this fascinating country in prose that is colorful and richly detailed."- Bloomsbury Review "A fine and tonic introduction to the mysteries of pan-culturalism and the future. A terrific read. Sibyl James has given us a delightful and useful gift."-William Kittredge, author of Owning It All "A quirky, tender travel diary that is a gift to the arm-chair faint-of-heart. Its short vivid chapters, juxtaposing the expectations of an American idealist with the gritty humanity of the Chinese people, describe a society painfully reconstructing its beliefs and desires. This is no ordinary travel book: James's style and voice shape her observations of underwear, spitting, bathrooms, temples, and tailors, so that the book is charged with an irresistible energy very much like love."- Bloomsbury Review "The Chinese government was offering me a free roundtrip, a modest salary, and housing. . . . And that is the heart of the tale. . . . My hotel's famous in Shanghai. My friends from home can send me letters with only the name, Jin Jiang Hotel, and in a city of six million, their news will find me." a? Sibyl James, from the Preface and opening chapter. This is a witty meditation on the social and political reality James encountered during that year spent teaching in Shanghai.… (more)