When Kirsty Needham went to Beijing as a 'Foreign Expert' she had no idea quite how foreign - or confronting - the experience would be. Her romantic expectations of how it would be to work and live as a journalist in Beijing are swiftly swept away by the bizarre realities of this extraordinary country. As she grapples with the strange and often contradictory world of modern China - a country of communist slogans and transvestite nightclubs, SARS scares and SWAT-like teams of tourist handlers - Kirsty becomes embroiled in a world that constantly challenges her perceptions as it quietly wins her heart. By turns enlightening, hilarious and sometimes not a little scary, Kirsty's is a unique take on contemporary China as it is evolving right now. From a city where where St Bernard dogs are the new status symbols and nice middle-class Beijingers play the NASDAQ for fun she provides a fresh, compelling outsider's view of a little known and fascinating part of the world.