The title of this book refers to the mountain girls from Jiaocheng County, Shanxi, who leave their homes to look for a husband but instead become businesswomen and entrepreneurs. Tiger Girls contains a study of female entrepreneurs who have taken advantage of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms and set up businesses. Despite the title of the book, the research does not cover the whole of China but focuses on three regions – Jiaocheng County (Shanxi); Qiongshan District (Hainan); Mianyang City (Sichuan) – each with different economic features and at different administrative levels. Minglu Chen completed a series of interviews with female enterprise owners and two control groups, wives of enterprise owners and female managers, in order to examine women in business leadership positions.

As a result of the research design, the book is clearly structured. The introduction considers the traditional gender inequality in China and changes in education, employment, political participation and household tasks of women since the beginning of the People's Republic with particular focus on the effects of the economic reforms. The chapter also introduces the three regions, giving an overall comparison of their respective economic development and the interviewees' personal characteristics. The book is then in three parts, each containing a chapter analysing the economic features and social development of one of the locations and the backgrounds of the female interviewees. The second chapter of each part focuses on issues of gender such as how the women balance work and family responsibilities. The third chapter examines the women interviewees and their families' interaction with the local Party-state.

The research relies on surveys of an impressive range of interviewees from the three regions (171 in total). The survey questions on the women's personal circumstances, their roles with regards to the businesses and within the family, and connections to the local Party-state seem appropriate. The findings may be summed up thus, “some women have played, are playing … a significant and increasing role in China's economic reform” (p. 180), although the results also have to be contextualized against the diverse experiences between and within the three research locations. At the same time, gender inequalities continue to exist, albeit in more subtle ways; for instance, many interviewees delegate “outside” work such as entertaining clients to their husbands because it remains an activity deemed inappropriate for women. Not surprisingly, female entrepreneurs are found to be the most empowered among the three types of interviewees. Similarly, connections to the Party-state are seen as advantageous for the businesswomen, though they may not directly become members themselves but rely on association via their close family members. The localities account for the major differences in the findings – women in Hainan tend to be less involved in local politics, most likely due to the province's longstanding isolation from central Party-state.

The author acknowledges that “the relationship between local-economic patterns of development and the nature of business development … is one area highlighted by this book where more questions are raised than answers provided” (p. 187). While the choice of the three regions is sensibly argued, the research excludes the first- and second-tiered cities in China, which are most economically advantaged and where women entrepreneurs may have very different experiences from those covered in this study. Similarly, the project relies on the comparison between the three types of female research subjects but it would be worthwhile to know how they compare to male counterparts. For instance, if the Qiongshan interviewees' enterprises seem to have the least assets out of the three areas due to the small scale businesses they are involved in, then how do they compare to male entrepreneurs' entreprises in the region? This may answer the question whether the small businesses are a distinctive feature of the region or a gender-specific phenomenon. It is also unclear how female entrepreneurs, wives of businessmen and female managers differ from other women in these locations. Are they more or less mobile; are they more educated? The book does not mention xia hai (“plunging into the sea,” a phrase describing those who leave stable employment in work units to take up private occupations) and xia gang (laid off workers due to the privatization and closing down of state owned enterprises) until page 147, both have been important influences on the development of entrepreneurship in China since the early 1990s.

The strengths of Chen's book lie in her empirical research in an area that continues to require scholarly study. It will contribute to scholarship in Chinese business culture and gender studies although it may not be easily adapted for higher education teaching. As the author points out, this study highlights the importance of “the relationship between local socio-economic patterns of development and the nature of business development, including individual entrepreneurial activity” (p. 187); more research of this kind in different locations will reveal how three decades of economic reform have affected the lives of women entrepreneurs in diverse ways across China.