When Jennifer de Lasala left Canada to teach English in China, she was unaware of a few important facts. She didn't know it was illegal to enter the country on a one-way ticket or that it was illegal to work in China after age sixty. All she knew was she had fifty dollars in her pocket and a dream of living and teaching abroad. So began Jennifer's inspiring journey through China, a journey that would end years later on an unauthorized boat trip along the Mekong River, which is infested with pirates and drug smugglers. Jennifer's words and photographs reveal the everyday lives and kindness of the Chinese people as well as exquisite architecture and relics. Her book offers a brief, penetrating glimpse into a nation so vast it can never be fully experienced.Turning away from one illegal school after another, de Lasala sought more stable and legal work, and along the way, she set out to explore the real China, riding on rickety buses and trains filled with migrant workers. She watched the country deal with the SARS epidemic and the growing insurrection in Tibet. She explored rare sights and she took pictures capturing both the remarkable and the everyday life of a country little understood in the West.China, The Phoenix and The Dragon is many things. It is both an adventure and a sociocultural commentary on an ancient nation in the midst of intense change. Part travelogue, part memoir, part social commentary, Jennifer's story serves as a reminder that age, sex, and financial security are no barriers for anyone seeking adventure.