In Search of Red Buddha: Higher Education in China After Mao Zedong, 1985-1990 (Idea (International Debate Education Association) S)

In Search of Red Buddha, first published in 1992, encompasses the experiences of two student/faculty exchanges sponsored by Bridgewater State College and Shanxi Teachers's University (Linfen, PRC) in the mid- to late-1980s. Much to her surprise, Professor Street discovered (shortly after her arrival) that Linfen had previously been used as a "natural" prison for perceived dissidents during the Cultural Revolution. For many, Street was the first Westerner they'd ever seen.
The book includes dozens of interviews with Communist Party members as well as Street's day-to-day experiences as an American faculty member living in rural China - her daily adventures buying and cooking food as well as her comical forays at the local post office and train station.