His part of the investigation shifted to the U.S., Inspector Chen wonders if he'll have a chance to rekindle his relationship with his American friend Catherine Rohn, the U.S. Marshal he met in A Loyal Character Dancer. Chen wonders about other questions, also: how will his estranged High-Society girlfriend, ensconced in the politics of Beijing, help or hurt his chances for survival? Are Politburo members trying to derail Chen's work when he discovers too much, are they trying to put him in harm's way, or are there even more layers of intrigue to sift through? With the battle raging on so many fronts, Chen must plan his attack like a master of the Chinese chess game, Wei Qi (better known in the U.S. by its Japanese name, go).
The interaction of the Chinese literary delegation with American writers and academics reveals misunderstandings of cuisine and culture, bitter and amusing ironies, and ignorance of history: expatriate Chinese are producing “deep sea fish oil” coveted in China for its "Made in the U.S.A." label; proud Chinese delegates could find no copies of their books in the university library, let alone the bookstore. Key quotes include:
- Nonsmoking area… Is this a free country?
- I talked to an American student today...They believe that Hong Kong belongs to Britain (and) know nothing of the Opium War. There is nothing in their textbooks.
- Pearl told me that Pizza Hut is a cheap fast-food restaurant here. In Beijing, it is a high-end place.
- What an irony. We never had fortune cookies in China.
Given the unintended but real affronts, a relatively successful academic conference takes place in Los Angeles, along with a secret investigation by Chen, who manages to impersonate a fortune-teller to interact up close with Xing. The literary delegation then moves on to St. Louis in search of Mark Twain, known as Master Ma. Twain is a particular favorite among some Chinese writers because his satire, "Running for Governor," is "a lampoon against hypocritical American Democracy." For his own part, Chen is happy to visit St. Louis to hunt for artifacts of T. S. Eliot's life and to reunite with Catherine Rohn, who lives in the St. Louis suburb of University City.
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