Before American Alex Barteau goes to teach English in China, he discovers many forbidden voices in his experiences as a newspaper salesman and later as a part-time teacher at a community college where he is taken to jail along with other protesting teachers. Years after earning his PhD and after teaching at a private college in Atlanta, he is hired to teach at a university in northeast China. Here, ironically, is where his real education begins.

Alex discovers many ex-patriots teaching at the university, but he is the only American. His colleagues are from the UK, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and Japan; each of them, he quickly discovers, has his/her own agenda, particularly when it comes to adapting to the teaching methods and expectations of the Chinese administrators. Although Alex's standards are high, his experiences at below-average colleges in the US color his expectations of the students. However, he is not willing to condone the amount of grade changing that he encounters or the negative attitude of many Chinese instructors who resent him and other foreigners taking their jobs. His British colleague, on the other hand, has a different attitude: "I for one was just as bad as immigrants in our two countries. I totally thought that they should convert to my way of thinking about cheating, plagiarizing, bribery, sleeping in class, not having to take part in sports day parades, etcetera. I expected someone to say: 'You chose to be here.'"

Alex's experiences, as it turns out, also include his becoming involved in an intense relationship with an elegant but shallow Chinese teacher. Her beauty but self-centered manner both add to and offer relief from his professional life.

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