Rating: 
Summary: Worth Reading.
Review: The reason I gave this book three instead of two stars is because of the nationality of the author, and the setting of the novel. Reading it will forever change most readers conceptions of "them" and "us", with "us" being the West, and "them" being the exotic ancient, or isolated and inscrutable communist China. The values and lifestlye of Coco, the heroine, and the sub-culture in which she dwells is completely interchangeable with any major Western city where an art/fashion/theater scene exists, epitomised by Berlin in the 1930's, San Francisco in the '50s, New York, London and Paris from the sixties to the present day. Coco is identical to the vain, self-centered, ambitious, talented writer/artist types I have known intimately from my life in London and New York. Clearly the author is very familiar with these Western cultural enclaves. In terms of style, she and those in her scene are doing a lot of copying. But in terms of substance, the implication is that the persona of Coco and therefore the author, is an archetype that has existed for centuries or more. Despite a lack of originality in plot and characters, I think Wei Hui does have a gift for storeytelling, and I raced through the book. And some of her writing is very creative, and her metaphors work well even in translation. In sociological terms, the story not only conforms to, but magnifies racial and sexual stereotyping: She is the 'highly-sexed Asian female'. Her Chinese boyfriend is so under-sexed that he's completely impotent. Her white lover is extremely virulent ... As an intelligent and highly self-conscious author, she must have been aware of this stereotyping. If the sexual roles of the two men had been reversed, would the storey have worked? Would Chinese women and Western men have bought so many copies of it? Grist for the sociologists mill. Not an original work of genius, but worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Utter drivel
Review: A regular column in a Beijing-published English language magazine features the misadventures of "An American Screenwriter in Beijing" - a comic tale of disaster and debauchery in the PRC. The most recent installation introduced readers to Bebe, "the moody Shanghai novelist" who lives upstairs from the narrator, and who has just received a multi-million dollar advance for the publication of her masterpiece: "Sleeping with Eight Hundred Thousand Foreign Men and Writing Down Verbatim Every Banal Thought That Crossed My Mind Afterward." If you've read Shanghai Baby, you'll know exactly what this is talking about. What is it about this book, and others like it, that tantalizes Western readers so? Is it the heady combination of the oriental and the erotic? Maybe, but there are far more insightful, and better written, books about China in print, and Wei Hui's eroticism scores somewhere between Mary Poppins and an episode of Friends. Is it the fact that it has been banned by a government widely held to be whimsical and oppressive, and that by buying and promoting it we feel that in some small way we are striking a blow for freedom? Again, possibly. But at the risk of condoning censorship, if this book was banned for any reason it was surely not for its sexual content, by a censor with some literary sensibilities, aghast at its appalling crassness. Is it, then, that by reading it we can feel we are "getting to know China" - for sure a necessity of the 21st century - but that it offers an easy-to-digest, dummed-down version of modern Chinese life that avoids making us face up to any of the real issues facing the country today, and lets us pretend that relationship issues and the occasional drug problem are about as bad as it gets in the PRC? A Fools' Guide to the New China - and oh look, they're just like us! If this book really were the first of its kind, or if Coco (the semi-autobiographical narrator) had struggled to attain her 'sexual awakening' in the face of severe social or political repression, then it might be worth printing (see the recent bloom of "I survived Mao" literature, Anchee Min's wonderful Red Azalea in particular). But the Shanghai of today is not the Shanghai of the Cultural Revolution, or a modern North Korea or Afghanistan. Short of openly fermenting political discontent, young Shanghainese at the turn of the millennium live free and unimpeded lives, especially the moneyed (dare I say sophisticated?) urban elite of whom Wei is a member. This is merely the story of a young lady living a self-centered and self-fulfilling life in a permissive big-city environment. Not that such an environment is necessarily incapable of inspiring quality literature - a Chinese Bonfire of the Vanities would be a wonderful thing - and if Wei had made any insightful comments about the shoddy world of expat-men and party-girls she inhabits she could have deserved some praise. But sadly there are none. In summary, the book Wei takes us through the Coco's poor excuse for an life. Funded by others and seemingly unaware of the consequences of her actions or of the lives of those less fortunate than herself, Coco babbles inanely about her German lover while her harmless Chinese boyfriend (poor soul) slips quietly into a drug-fueled oblivion. In love with herself and her social circle, we are treated to an endless cascade of name-dropping (she mentions her friend drives a Volkswagen - gasp -- no less than three times), and various remarks about how beautiful she looks when she dances. Possibly the low point of the whole sorry affair is her description of an argument at a party between a pair of foreign students, one American and one Serbian, concerning the US bombing of Belgrade. Morally, she tells us, all onlookers sympathized with the Serbian, but they couldn't help being swayed over to the American's point of view by his irresistible good looks... If only this were irony!
Rating:
Summary: Badly written, self-obsessed drivel
Review: ..."Shanghai Baby" isn't so much a novel as a guidebook to the damp, sticky underbelly of Shanghai's nightlife. Unfortunately, Wei Hui misses the ironies and idiosyncrasies of this decidedly skanky scene and rather proceeds to fawningly gush and name-drop throughout. It's quite humorous to us here in Shanghai, as we all know every one of the bar and restaurant owners she repetitively refers to... That does sum up, however, the culture that Wei Hui is depicting. Ignore the ads: this is NOT representative of China, NOT representative of Shanghai, NOT representative of the "new youth" and NOT representative of China's budding Bohemian crowd. The lifestyle it documents is unique to the anorexic, gaudily made-up gals who lurk in expatriate bars hoping to snare Caucasian sugar daddies who will provide them with visas, condos, cars and/or cash. They'll sleep with a rock musician or artist once in a while to prove that they're "alternative" and not just party girls. Wei Hui does little to tone down the highly autobiographical nature of the book, which is the reason why it so lacks any sense of humor or perspective. She didn't even change the name of her foreign boyfriend from his real-life version. The author tries to prove her literary credentials by dropping references to great modern Western writers throughout the book, both in the text and in really random quotes at the beginning of each chapter. She particularly uses and abuses Henry Miller and Milan Kundera, who were extremely popular among Shanghainese college students during Wei Hui's student days. She name-drops three different writers within the first five pages of the book, and one Kundera quote gets repeated three different times. Editorial oops. What's most galling, though, is her supposed adulation of Henry Miller, who so despised the sort of artifice which fills this book to gagging. Much has been made in the Western press of how "Shanghai Baby" was a bestseller that got banned. Well, it was in the top 5 in Shanghai for a few weeks, but hardly registered as one of China's major successes in 2000. By the time it got banned, its sales and accompanying buzz had already dropped from any radars. It was banned not for its sexual or subversive content but rather because its main audience was teenybopper Shanghainese girls, whose parents complained in mass that the book was encouraging a perception that being going to sleazy bars and bopping middle-aged white men is cool. Sad that such a shoddy novel got picked up for English translation and distribution when so much better and more significant literature is coming out of modern China but never gets noticed.
Rating:
Summary: Dull....Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Review: I was told this book was great. So I went into it excited to learn. However, I quickly, and I mean quickly, was bored with this book. This book is a pure, unadulterated waste of money. The author tried to used x-rated language to attract readers. Nothing special.
Rating: 
Summary: whats all the fuss about
Review: Wei Hui does show promise in her depiction of Shanghai's decadent generation of late 20's youths and their baseless preoccupation with sex and drugs.....no doubt an intriging theme with shades of Bret Easton Ellis and Henry Miller in her style. However the plot is weak and much of the book is a jumbled up series of reptitive exploits that either involves drugs or sexual encounters. Speaking of sex, this book banned in China and I still dont know why? Its sexual content is probably as mild as reading a Danielle Steele novel and as for drugs this book is a mere child when compared to Trainspotting..... What annoyed me was her constant attempt to illustrate the 'in vogue' aspects of Shanghai....her gay friends, trendy restaurants and bars, constant referal to brand names and cars etc etc.....this genre of literature has already been tested with Bonfire of th Vanities and American Psycho...but hello this is not the 80's so lets maybe try something new. The author's knowledge of current affairs was surprisingly poor and no doubt heavily influenced by local government propoganda....the Americans did not bomb Bosnia and kill hundreds of women and children" as she mentions in the book....infact they saved innocent victims from persecution, maybe ignorance is a bliss, but in some cases its very annoying... To conclude I think there is potential in this author but certainly not in the novel she's written. Would this book stand out at all had it been written by a Western author and taking place in Europe? I think not.......
Rating: 
Summary: Real revolution of culture at work
Review: It took yet another generation, but eventually China has found writers who can be translated and sold abroad even thou in their books there is no mention to Cultural Revolutions, Gangs of Four, Japanese Invasions and so forth. The book of Wei Hui represents indeed a revolution of culture. In it, Shanghai is no more the founding city of the Chinese Communist Party, nor the colonial capital of the East. It is a modern city, where Chinese youth turn out to be much like any other country's youth. Women do talk of their problems and dreams. Western pop culture has been absorbed and mixed so deeply that you cannot split it from local culture any more. When you buy this book (highly reccomended), forget about any references to the old or last century Chinese culture and history. It is definitely not another 'tourist guide' to China. Shanghai Baby is a book of flesh, saliva and sweat. Wei Hui has a story to tell. Read the story. It is time to update your cultural perception of China. Michele
Rating: 
Summary: Fresh and New
Review: This book is avant-garde and contemporary. In spite its ban in China, it shows how far Chinese culture has come since the days of Communism. Shanghai Baby, by Wei Hui, is translated by Bruce Humes. The story is about a rebellious twenty-something Chinese woman name Coco, who aspires to be a writer and follows her ambition at her boyfriend's suggestion. Meanwhile, she begins to discover her inner identity through her relationships with her rich, Chinese boyfriend and her tall, handsome German lover. Her life is further complicated by her social circuit. For the first time in her life, Coco questions her own control of life. This beautifully written novel grabs hold of all the senses and emotions and forces us to confront our own identity.
Rating:
Summary: Boring and Cheesy!
Review: This book was a terrible read! It was monotonous and boring, and the translation was pretty cheesy. The author is repetitive and uses Western references in a tiring manner. Even as an Asian woman, I still couldn't relate to the characters because they were so underdeveloped. I can't figure out what it was about Tian Tian that Coco was so in love with. She just "fell" for him, no questions asked. If you're searching for meaning in this book and yada yada like some of the other readers here, I guess you might be able to find (or make up) something if you look hard enough.
Rating:
Summary: I'd ban this book too...for bad writing.
Review: I had to plough through the first few chapters and exactly 100 pages later, I gave up, tucking the book into a nook on my shelf with absolutely no intentions on ever reading the remainder of it.
Shanghai Baby is the Chinese version of chick lit: tortured female writer assuming erudite airs--trying to philosophize while her sexuality explodes haphazardly across the pages. It must have taken little to no effort to write Shanghai Baby.
The semi-autobiography didn't work for me either, like the writer lacked the courage to write a memoir and yet lacked the imagination to write substantial fiction. The novel lacks in plot, involves a handful of two-dimensional characters that are not inherently interesting, but only interesting by contrived situation. Moreover, our overly-narcissistic narrator rambles on in senseless tangents, always taking time either blatantly or through subtlety to champion herself, and then due to the semi-autobiographical nature of the novel, it really makes me wonder about the writer.
However I don't wish to bash on senselessly about the novel either. I do give credit to the writer for good use of metaphors and solid descriptive passages-the stuffing is good, but the frame and foundation is shoddy at best. I also got the feeling she is trying too hard to show off her literary "skills" (I just couldn't use the word "talent," I'm sorry) and forgot about the importance of crafting plot and purpose.
I do not recommend this book. I bet the Chinese government banned Shanghai Baby not because they thought it was risque, but because they thought it was poorly written.
Rating:
Summary: Underrated
Review: I think that most of the reviews on this book are not in a good perspective. It may now be considered an old technique and not very risque in the West. But you have to look at China's history and its reluctance to talk about subjects like sex. Its extremely taboo. You also have to look at the deeper meanings in the story. If you take a superficial read then obviously it isn't very interesting. But there is a history of using impotence as a way of stating a point. The impotence of Tian Tian versus the virility and passion of Mark. Think about it. What is it saying politically? When people make a review, look into the subject alittle more and try to look at the perspective of the audience it was targeted for. One hint...it isn't American.
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