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This article considers the representation of exoticism in Dai Sijie's 2000 novel Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise. While Western discourse has traditionally exoticized China, Dai examines this perspective in reverse, as his Chinese protagonists look towards France as a desirable Other. The article reflects on the functions of this reversal in enabling the characters to subvert the emotional, intellectual, and physical constraints imposed upon them by Mao's Cultural Revolution, and the author himself to condemn this painful episode in Chinese history through his engagement with canonical works of nineteenth-century French literature. The article further highlights the extent to which Dai's own status as a Chinese expatriate writing in French shapes his treatment of the exotic and the plea for intercultural understanding ultimately formulated by his text.