In Dating China, an excited 28-year-old Matilda goes to live in Shanghai and starts dating its culture, its language and its men. She makes friends with local women who help her navigate the Shanghai single life. Dishearteningly, Matilda finds herself dating men that are only interested in her because she is a laowai – a white faced foreigner – as well as men that are merely into the idea of having instant noodles – a metaphor for one night stands. She finds herself adapting to the culture more and more and at the same time finds herself lost in translation. Once Matilda is almost sick of all the hot Sichuan spice, the hot water and the hot men that she somehow can never get past date one with, she stumbles upon an intelligent and mysterious man.
During her many dating adventures, Matilda learns how beautiful and diverse China and its people are, but also how one can never become Chinese and how being seen as an alluring alien has its dark side. Dating China is the sensual and humorous coming-of-age journey of a Dutch woman in Shanghai.