Dispatches From Chengdu

Beguiled in China!

"The girls here are dazzling," the author marvels as he begins work as an English teacher in China's Sichuan Province. The food is delicious, the cameraderie joyous, and the enthusiasm of his students infectious.

But how long will the honeymoon period last?

Until the pollution becomes unbearable? Or the faculty falsely accuses him? Or his postgraduate students cheat in their exam?!

With a journalist's eye and lively wit, Abdiel describes the delights and despairs of living and working in China and how he copes with unprecedented challenges in an alien and often toxic environment.

But will his campus romances compensate?

Dispatches From Chengdu is the opening installment of Abdiel's five Dueling the Dragon memoirs and a witness to the deep corruption and incompetence behind China's superpower façade. As always, he'll have you laughing between the tears!

"An adventure, a memoir, and certainly one of the more entertaining books about China before us today."
San Francisco Review of Books

"These stories from China are addictive!"

"LeRoy's ability to write so cogently about such AWFUL things and simultaneously give readers a chuckle, is magnificent."

"Wields a wicked and eloquent pen."

"Should be awarded an honorary degree in Anthropology."

"Informative and eye opening."

"Reveals the the dark side of the country."

"The author knows the Chinese better than the Chinese."

"Subverts dominant concepts of China."
Reader reviews