The People's Republic of Desire by Annie Wang (Harper)

The People’s Republic of Desire is Annie Wang’s version of “Sex and the City”, replacing New York City with contemporary and urban Beijing, China and focuses on three upwardly mobile women - Niuniu, Lulu, and Beibei. The story is narrated by Niuniu as she and her friends discuss all sorts of topic that used to be taboo in Chinese society such as sex, divorce, and watching pornography. 

Niuniu is American by birth but returned to China when she was five years old as the Chinese government “called on ‘patriotic overseas Chinese’ to return to their homeland to build ‘a modern, strong China’”. Her parents emigrated to the United States in the mid-seventies. Her mother, Wei Mei, was the daughter of revolutionary opera performers. She has been married three times and currently socializes with Beijing’s ex-patriot circle. Her father, Chen Siyuan, was an orphan from Taiwan. He is in his second marriage, his current wife being his former secretary and is only eight years older than Niuniu. They are about to have a baby. 

Lulu and Beibei are Niuniu’s childhood friends. They met when they were students at Beijing’s Jingshan School. Beibei is the oldest of the three, seven years older than Niuniu. Lulu is four years older. The school included grades one through twelve all on the same grounds and the three were fighting with some boys over the use of a ping-pong table. Beibei was in high school, Lulu, a junior high student, while Niuniu was still in elementary school. However, Niuniu liked hanging out with older kids. The three of them became inseparable friends. 

Niuniu was educated in the U.S. and received her B.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia and got her M.A. in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley. She is now in her twenties and is currently working as a reporter for the World News Agency in Beijing. She is considered one of the members of the xin xin renlei who are considered the “new” new generation. They are the Chinese generation Xers and Yers who enjoy hanging out at bars, have multiple sex partners, and get plenty of use out of the Internet. As a returnee, Niuniu says she’s sometimes called a fake. The local Chinese call her a jia yangguizi - a “fake foreign devil”.

Lulu is the executive editor of a fashion magazine called Women’s Friends. Although she was offered high paying jobs after graduating from Beijing University she chose to be an editorial assistant at a fashion magazine. Fashion magazines were still new to Chinese society, “that few people could afford to buy them and the pay for working there was low.” Now, she is the number two person at the magazine. She “enjoys wearing expensive high fashion numbers from designers like Gucci and Versace.” Lulu is also in love with an artist named Ximu who has brought her nothing but bad luck. 

Beibei is the president of a successful production company. She has been married for seven years and has had a number of lovers. Her current boy-toy is called Iron Egg. She is the daughter of a Chinese general and doesn’t hesitate to use your connections for personal gain. Beibei hangs out with Niuniu and Lulu almost everyday as if she were still single.

Wang entertains the readers with the exploits of the three women and others as they try to find love and happiness on their own terms, however, it is mostly about Niuniu finding herself and discovering the strength to do what she needs to do. The story reads more like a continuous episode of “Friends” with elements of “Sex in the City” and “The Joy Luck Club” featuring strong women characters who are not afraid to speak their minds. ~Ernie Hoyt