Foreigners and Emperors

In his second tour-of-duty as an American professor of literature and writing, Alex Barteau encounters even greater obstacles than he did during his two-year stint at Shan-An University in northeastern China. This time the university where he is teaching in southeastern China is connected with a program run by an American university in Indiana, His troubles include, but are not limited to, inept communications between his home campus and the Chinese administrators, spoiled students including the "little emperor" males and their cellphones, criticism of his strict teaching style, etc. As it turns out, this is only the beginning of his multi-university experiences in China. Fortunately, as he travels from one university to another, he encounters friendly colleagues and students, lovely ladies, and contacts from his past. These outweigh and offer relief from those indigenous colleagues who want to elbow him in the back in public or try to sabotage his high standards.