An International Circus Affair tells us the story of a remarkable exchange between Chinese acrobatics and the emerging American contemporary-circus movement. Its starting point is a 1989 meeting between Judy Finelli of San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus and Lu Yi, director of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe. Lu Yi subsequently moved to San Francisco and brought generations of Chinese acrobatic knowledge into the training of American jugglers, aerialists, clowns, and acrobats. Jeff Raz follows the following two decades, tracing how this exchange affected performers and institutions in San Francisco and Nanjing and ultimately helped influence major contemporary circus companies, including Cirque du Soleil and The 7 Fingers. It is both an important account of international artistic exchange and a behind-the-scenes history of the people and training practices that helped reshape late-twentieth-century circus.