Willborn said she has finished "a good portion of" the book, and believes that "learning about and respecting culture and traditional habits is always a good thing".

She is also happy to find that the book focuses on cultivating positive energy.

Zhang herself is a perfect embodiment of what she preaches: a woman full of energy.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine from Beijing's Capital Medical University in 1983, Zhang went on to complete a doctorate in pathology at New Jersey Medical School in the US.

She returned home in 1996 and set up her finishing school in Beijing in 2002, training more than 1,000 women who signed up for her courses.

Zhang said she has no secret to her transition of profession, except to "never give up and let things go easily".

"I learn from mistakes. There were many of them," she added.

Zhang hopes her book will inspire more people to improve their manners and cultivate better morals in Chinese people, even as they become wealthier.

Yet, upon hearing complaints that Chinese people are apathetic and impolite to strangers they meet in elevators, Willborn said, "I found it funny because I constantly hear people in the States voicing the same complaint."

"However, in my Beijing apartment, everybody talks on the elevator," she said.