Dewoskin was just out of college in the early nineties and determined to have an interesting life. Since her Michigan family had spent a lot of time traveling in China when she was a child, she decided to take a PR job with an American company in Beijing. She planned to stay until something else came along, but instead, she was asked to audition for a part in a nighttime soap opera called Foreign Babes in Beijing a "Dallas" type show in which she played a seductive American who lures a Chinese man away from his family, exposing him to the "open-minded" ways of the Western world. The show made Dewoskin famous in China, though the bad pay kept her from leaving her regular job, and the character she played caused controversy in Western countries.
She spent many years in China, made Chinese and ex-pat friends, fell in love, argued about cultural differences and tried to figure out how to fit in with a city she really loved. The author writes about the perception of the Chinese to Western people and culture, their perception of Americans and culture, and her perception of the Chinese ways. She discusses the ways the average person lives and the people she befriends who live outside the norm. Really interesting to me and has lots of information that is surprising, yet still would be good for the casual travel reader. ( )

DeWoskin is a bit too much of the distant and amused observer for me, as compared to the warmth and empathy of the China memoirs of authors like Peter Hessler. ( )

When I first saw the title of the book, Foreign Babes in Beijing, I didn’t know what to expect. Its cover was racy but facetious. I was confused about the title. Was it implying local Chinese women weren’t babes?

The first few chapters cleared up the confusion. This non fiction book is about the author, Rachel, and her first few years as an expatriate in China. Foreign Babes in Beijing is actually the title of a Chinese soap opera she acted in.

I had read and grown tired of the usual books I read about China. Mostly written by Chinese Americans, the stories they shared were good and usually touching, but after reading so many of them, they soon started melting together in my mind. Foreign Babes, written by a western hand offered a different perspective of China. Sometimes I identified with Rachel, since I’ve lived in the US for most of my life, and sometimes I identified with the Chinese locals.

Rachel’s view of China shows Chinese perception of foreigners and their treatment of them. It’s something that I had an inkling of, but not the full details. Each chapter contains an excerpt for the script from the soap opera. Some of them are amusing because of the Chinese stereotype of how foreign women are like.

Foreign Babes in Beijing is an entertaining and eye-opening read and is a nice change of pace from the usual books on China written by Chinese Americans. It made me think about moving back there, but not living the typical expatriate life — I’d rather live like a local. ( )

An interesting look at expat life in Beijing in the mid - late 90s. Young American college grad, ends up acting in a Chinese soap as she watches China evolve and grow. ( )

As memoirs go, this story of a recent Columbia grad who ends up starring as a Western hussy in China's most popular soap opera is a fascinating one. I learned a lot about what modern day life in China is like from this book. It was particlarly shocking for me to read that some people there don't keep journals out of fear what they write might be used against them by the government. Still, the tone did get a little academic for me at times and I wish the author had included more of her own personal joureny within her very compelling observations about modern China. ( )