A fascinating look at the world of Hong Kong teachers and the tension Western influence and growing pressures from mainland China. The main character, Ling, a contract teacher at a school transitioning from Cantonese to Mandarin instruction, is incredibly compelling, even if she is not terribly likable. The writing is fantastic, as is the translation, which does a wonderful job getting across the linguistic differences between when characters are speaking Cantonese and Mandarin, and their level of proficiency with each.