"A foreigner's personal confrontation with the historic political and economic changes taking place in China. Shot when Marx was working in Tianjin and Beijing, the film is a diary-like account of his alienation and acclimation, a highly lyrical film essay lending perspective to the 1989 tragedy of Tiananmen Square." --Milosz Stehlik, Facets Video

"The portrait of China it presents is highly personal, full of fascinating details, and, for the most part, given Marx’s leftist background, unfashionably negative." - J. Rosenbaum, The Reader

"Extremely sincere... Marx’s voice-over presents a paradox of Chinese politics and society." - Caryn James, New York Times

"Sensitive, powerful, and prophetic." - Edwin Jahiel, C-U News Gazette