In 2004, Vanessa Fong offered a groundbreaking ethnographic exploration of the social, economic, and psychological development of children born since China's one-child policy was introduced in 1979. Her book Only Hope left readers with a picture of stressed, ambitious adolescents for whom elite status was the ultimate goal, though relatively few were in a position to achieve it.

In Paradise Redefined, Fong tracks the experiences of many in her initial cohort of Chinese only-children—now college-age—as they study abroad in Australia, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, North America, and Singapore. While earning a prestigious college education in China is the main path to elite status, study abroad provides an alternative channel by offering a particularly flexible "developed world" citizenship. This flexible citizenship promises the potential for greater happiness and freedom afforded by transnational mobility, but also brings with it unexpected suffering, ambivalence, and disappointment. Paradise Redefined offers insights into China's globalization by examining the expectations and experiences that affect how various Chinese students make decisions about studying abroad, staying abroad, immigration, and returning home.

"Vanessa Fong has made a remarkable contribution by her meticulous following of a generation of Chinese single children through their educational careers, first at home and now abroad. The impact of this generation on the world will be immense, and this is a key window on how their lives are unfolding."—Alan Smart, University of Calgary

"From Only Hope to Paradise Redefined, Fong's unique, longitudinal research offers an invaluable key to better understand the singleton generation in China who have come of age in the first decade of the 21st century, and will to a great extent determine the future of the most populous country on earth."—Yunxiang Yan, University of California, Los Angeles

"With Paradise Redefined,Vanessa Fong has produced another well-researched and innovative account.Those familiar with Only Hope will welcome this impressive transnational sequel, and a wider audience of globalization and migration scholars, educators, policy makers, and China scholars will find it a timely, authoritative, and unique source of insight into Chinese students abroad."—Nicole Constable, University of Pittsburgh