In this ethnography, Zheng (anthropology, State U. of New York at Cortland) explores the world of karaoke bar "hostesses" (sex workers) in the Chinese seaport city of Dalian. She describes the mutually constituted relationships between the hostesses, clients, and the state. At it's heart, the study is about rural women seeking to survive through sex work, urban men seeking their services for reasons related to their own position in the emerging post-Mao social structure, and the evolving Chinese patriarchal state. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)