Marrying Buddha is the second novel by Chinese author Wei Hui and is a sequel to her first published novel, Shanghai Baby.

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.

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 Shanghai, after resuming her old, pleasure-filled life, Coco travels to the place of her birth, Mount Putuo, where she spends time with an elder in a Buddhist monastery.

Marrying Buddha is supposedly a continuation of the Wei Hui's semi-autobiographical story of Nikki/Coco, a young Shanghainese author of erotic literature.

The novel is set in various locations, but mainly New York, Shanghai and Mount Putuo, site of Coco's birth and a Buddhist monastery.

She visits Chinatown, shops at Barneys New York, Barnes & Noble, and Bloomingdales, and is perplexed by the American men she dates.

Things do not always run smoothly though: Muju expresses his deep respect for women who can cook delicious meals, just like his ex-wife, who one day turns up and does just that.

Muju is similarly frustrated by Coco's lack of self-control, her inability to cook, and her desire for a baby despite her immaturity.

Back in his hotel suite, Coco is overwhelmed by this purchase and lets Nick make love to her without contraception.

"The book is an important cultural artefact, it's at the front line of a new genre of semi-autobiographical popular writing being produced by young Chinese women authors."

Some reviewers praised the book for its daring, erotic and modern content, considering it to be groundbreaking because it explored subjects taboo in China.

Marie Claire magazine praised Wei Hui for being an 'intelligent and passionate spokeswoman for the women of modern China'.