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Chapter 1: Trippers and Askers

• Wittman Ah Sing walks through the Golden Gate park. He sees a group of Chinese immigrants and being from China himself, he imagines them saying "Nylon-made. Lasts Forever."

• Wittman catches the bus downtown, reading aloud from a book called the Notebooks of Malte Lurids Brigge by the German poet Rilke. No one complains so Wittman presumes they enjoy his performance and even fantasizes about getting a job as a book reader on buses.
• Wittman calls the beautiful Nanci Lee from a pay phone and invites her for a cappuccino.

• Wittman tells Nancy about his upbringing. His mother was Chinese can-can dancer and Wittman was born backstage in a vaudeville theater.
• Wittman and Nanci go for a walk, stopping at a bookstore to help Nanci look for an audition piece. She said she is tired of being typecast as a Chinese prostitute. Witman promises Nanci...

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