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River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)
by: Peter Hessler

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780060855024
ISBN: 0060855029
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: May 01, 2006
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: April 25, 2006
Sales Rank: 5941
Studio: Harper Perennial

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Product Description:

A New York Times Notable Book

Winner of the Kiriyama Book Prize

In the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. Hessler taught English and American literature at the local college, but it was his students who taught him about the complex processes of understanding that take place when one is immersed in a radically different society.

Poignant, thoughtful, funny, and enormously compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.

Amazon.com Review:
In 1996, 26-year-old Peter Hessler arrived in Fuling, a town on China's Yangtze River, to begin a two-year Peace Corps stint as a teacher at the local college. Along with fellow teacher Adam Meier, the two are the first foreigners to be in this part of the Sichuan province for 50 years. Expecting a calm couple of years, Hessler at first does not realize the social, cultural, and personal implications of being thrust into a such radically different society. In River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, Hessler tells of his experience with the citizens of Fuling, the political and historical climate, and the feel of the city itself.

'Few passengers disembark at Fuling ... and so Fuling appears like a break in a dream--the quiet river, the cabins full of travelers drifting off to sleep, the lights of the city rising from the blackness of the Yangtze,' says Hessler. A poor city by Chinese standards, the students at the college are mainly from small villages and are considered very lucky to be continuing their education. As an English teacher, Hessler is delighted with his students' fresh reactions to classic literature. One student says of Hamlet, 'I don't admire him and I dislike him. I think he is too sensitive and conservative and selfish.' Hessler marvels,

You couldn't have said something like that at Oxford. You couldn't simply say: I don't like Hamlet because I think he's a lousy person. Everything had to be more clever than that ... you had to dismantle it ... not just the play itself but everything that had ever been written about it.

Over the course of two years, Hessler and Meier learn more they ever guessed about the lives, dreams, and expectations of the Fuling people.

Hessler's writing is lovely. His observations are evocative, insightful, and often poignant--and just as often, funny. It's a pleasure to read of his (mis)adventures. Hessler returned to the U.S. with a new perspective on modern China and its people. After reading River Town, you'll have one, too. --Dana Van Nest

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- China, both Complex and Fascinating
I picked up this book whilst on a business trip in China. It tells the tale of a 26yr old American Graduate (Peter Hessler) heading to rural China for 2yrs to help teach English. His portrayal of China is beautiful, complex and fascinating. You learn a little of how the people are influenced by the communist regime, their lifestyles, attitudes to the western world and of course their inner beauty. You can almost inhale the Chinese environment as he navigates you from industrial China with it's bellowing smog to the natural beauty of the rugged landscapes. Where this book wins for me is it's portrayal of the Chinese people, warm, curious and captivating. If you have a passing interest in Chinese culture, then you should read this. A very easy and enjoyable read.

Rating:

- The Adventure of an American in China

Peter Hessler is today a well known American correspondent and free lance journalist living in Beijing. He has written two books and many articles on modern China and can be defined ad an "Old China hand", an honorary title given to Chinese speaking foreigners who truly understand the country, which even in this era of globalization knows how to keep many of its secrets.
River Town was published in 2001, after a two year experience (1996-1998) as a Peace Corps English teacher in Sichuanese Fuling, a city on the Yangtze River that has since been transformed by the Three Gorges Dam activated in 2003.
The book is a Bildungsroman or better "Bildungsmemoir" centered on the relationship that builds up between a man and a country. Even though many other have lived through similar experiences, no one has attempted the same type of identification and empathic comprehension of the impacted culture ... Read More

Rating:

- River Town
Reading this narrative, one feels a sense of both Mr. Hessler's sense of adverture and his eye for detail in all things. His sense of humor is crisp and dry. Having just returned from China myself, I can vouch for his extraordinarily accurate descriptions,even in spots where the armchair traveller would shake his head in disbelief. And I was immediately transported back to the Yangtze River--I could smell it, see it, and observe the uniquely Chinese character of everything around. His ability to capture the essence of Chinese personality and expression while avoiding stereotype is amazing. When I left, I thought that there was something, well, different about all Chinese, not a racial thing but a cultural and perhaps historical thing. But I could not really say what it was. Fortunately for me and for all readers who enjoy travel and cultural subjects, there is this book.

Rating:

- A fast and engaging read
Hessler writes candidly about his experiences in China as if he were writing to a friend back home. His accounts of conversations between himself and the locals are priceless, both funny and sad. This book really brings to light the hardships of Chinese farmers and their children, who seek to escape their rural lives by getting an education and joining the Communist Party.

Hessler's self-deprecating tone and funny anecdotes about his cultural mishaps make this book entertaining and touching. I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to visit China or is interested in learning more about what makes this complex society tick.

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