Paperback. Pub Date :2006-4-1 Pages: 425 Publisher: Penguin Set in the 1930s it follows the misadventures of Fang Hung-chien (Fang Hongjian). a bumbling everyman who wastes his time studyingabroad. and secures a fake degree when learning he has run out ofmoney and must return home to China. The first part of the novel isset on the boat home. where Fang courts two young ladies. Fang was the son of a country gentleman. A marriage had beenarranged for him while at university. but the intended wife diedbefore he could see her. After completing a degree in Chineseliterature. he went to Europe where he studied at severaluniversities without pursuing a degree. After being pressured byhis family. he bought a fake degree from an American Irishman. The year was 1937. and Fang was returning to China from Europealong with other graduating Chinese students. One fellow travellerwas Miss S...