A smart, funny, insightful peek into modern China through the eyes of a "foreign babe."

Hoping to improve her Chinese and broaden her cultural horizons, Rachel DeWoskin went to work for an American PR firm in China. Before she knew it, she was not just exploring but making Chinese culture — as the sexy, aggressive, fearless Jexi, star of a wildly successful soap opera. A sort of Chinese counterpart to Sex in the City revolving around Chinese-Western culture clashes, the show was called Foreign Babes in Beijing.

Living the clashes in real life while playing out a parallel version onscreen, Rachel forms a group of friends with whom she witnesses the vast changes sweeping through China as the country pursues the new maxim that "to get rich is glorious." In only a few years, billboards, stylish bars and discos, international restaurants, fashion shows, divorce, foreign visitors, and cross-cultural love affairs transform the face of China's capital. Foreign Babes in Beijing is as astute and informative as it is witty, moving, and entertaining.

"DeWoskin moved to Beijing in 1989, shortly after the military squashed the democracy movement in Tiananmen Square, but just as China's younger population began embracing Western ideologies and commodities. This entertaining romp through her five-plus years in Beijing details her life as a PR consultant — and as the star of the wildly popular Chinese nighttime television drama Foreign Babes in Beijing. After getting the gig on a lark, DeWoskin became known, sometimes even in her real life, as the character Jiexi, an American who falls in love with a married Chinese man, in the 20-episode drama, which aired to an estimated 600 million viewers. Her memoir weaves humorous tales of Sino-U.S. culture clashes both on and off the set with astute observations of the two cultures, as well as a significant amount of Chinese history. Though she admits frequently to being homesick for New York, DeWoskin feels for the loss of more traditional Chinese culture: 'Consumerism became a religion; companies arrived like missionaries... seducing the average Zhou Schmoe with products he had never known he needed.' The book offers a generous helping of Chinese words (along with their English translations and insights into the young people's 'Chinglish'), as well as Lost in Translation — esque glimmers of the differences between the Chinese and American acting worlds. Agent, Jill Grinberg. (May)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"The ultimate insider's view, living witness to the philosophical and practical aspects of a traditional and repressed society's tumultuous confrontation with liberated, energetic, and economically dynamic Western influences.... A candid and valuable portrait of a China few Westerners get to see." Carol Haggas, Booklist

Hoping to improve her Chinese and broaden her cultural horizons, the author went to work in China, eventually becoming the star of a wildly successful soap opera. Living the culture clashes in real life while playing out a parallel version onscreen, she witnesses the country's vast changes.

Rachel DeWoskin was a soap-opera star and consultant in Beijing for five years before she returned to the United States. She divides her time between New York City and Beijing, teaches poetry, and writes Chinese rap.