Although set in the early 1980s, when Liu came to the US to study, his experiences as a stranger in a strange land have a universal and timeless relevance. In Chicago on a scholarship to study English, Liu Zongren finds his task involves much more than classrooms, books, and courses. Here he recounts his experiences and impressions with candor and honesty in encountering landlords, evangelists, Chicago politics, street gangs, Christmas, Chinese Americans, and American lifestyles and attitudes.