Tweak a Dragon's Tail — John Graham

This is an adventure story set in the People's Republic of China in the early eighties before the nation was opened to the Western world. An engineer, Toby, from Hong Kong follows his mentally disturbed brother who has entered China. He fears the worst: illegal entry without a passport to be sure but perhaps also an act against China itself. Toby's colleague, Donna, his lover, helps in his quest while a mysterious college student, Kathy, invades the scene. The path leads deep into China. The story is a vivid picture of what the country and its people were like in the seventies: full of intrigue under a totalitarian regime. Guangzhou, Guilin, the Yangtze, and Chongking lead to Beijing and a triple-whammy ending.