“The first line of the book, ‘Ming Cheng was born in the cruelest place on earth,’ is like a starter pistol, setting this zany, beautiful book into motion. Jan Alexander is a deft story-teller who manages to create a world that is both wild and breathtaking. She takes us across this alternate world, and we willingly go. I warn you though. If you pick up ‘Ms. Ming,’ you won’t be able to put her down.”

N. West Moss,
author of The Subway Stops at Bryant Park.

“With an operatic and often hilarious cast of characters—including the far from flawless Ming, her green-card husband, a rapper from a rice paddy, and the legendary Monkey King himself—Alexander crafts a farsighted novel on a grand international scale with a discerning eye for vivid details and unintended consequences.”

Mandy-Suzanne Wong,
author of Drafts of a Suicide Note.

“Ms. Ming’s Guide to Civilization is a witty and sobering account of contemporary China, with a touch of the absurd. For anyone who has had enough of the white expat male China novel, this book comes as a welcomed relief as Jan Alexander seamlessly weaves in modern social issues. An excellent choice for China novices and aficionados alike.”

Susan Blumberg-Kason,
author of Good Chinese Wife.

“Ms. Ming’s Guide to Civilization is as much a searing indictment of top-down, socially engineered living as it is of bottom-up, laissez-faire living, with a healthy dose of human realism. It challenges our notions of linear time, monogamy, and balance. But throughout, even to the twisting end, our heroine holds out hope. Hope that there is a path to a better life, for herself, for her friends and family, and for the broader society–a dream she can never abandon.”

Andrew Singer,
andrewsingerchina.com.