Marrying Buddha

Marrying Buddha is the second novel by Chinese author Wei Hui and is a sequel to her first published novel, Shanghai Baby. The English translation was made in 2005.

Set four years on from the events of Shanghai Baby, Marrying Buddha continues the story of Coco, a writer from Shanghai, now aged 29. The plot intersperses Coco's adventures in New York City, and later in Madrid, Barcelona and Buenos Aires, with her journey in China from Shanghai to the Buddhist monastery on Mount Putuo (Putuoshan).

In New York, Coco meets a Japanese-Italian documentary filmmaker named Muju and after a short romance moves in with him. Muju is a divorcee with strict ideas about women's roles and behaviour. He prefers his girlfriends, for example, to be competent cooks and willing to demonstrate their expertise for him. Coco, who cannot cook, finds it difficult to adapt to life with Muju. After a few months, Coco meets another man, the all-American Nick. When she travels to Spain without Muju, she resists embarking on an affair with Nick, who coincidentally visits the same cities and stays in the same luxury hotels as Coco. In Buenos Aires, Coco and Muju meet again, but Muju is disappointed with what he feels is Coco's snobbery and arrogant, self-centred behaviour. The two argue, and soon after returning to New York, Coco travels home to Shanghai without knowing whether she and Muju are still lovers.