River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze [Hardcover]

Some books that have been written have also tried specifically to address the political issues of this vast country. It is more interesting to someone who is not a professional protestor/ academic to see what happens in practice when some of the Romanticized Sacred Cows of Academics are implemented in Real Life (see: Communism, Authoritarianism, Big Government). This is also not taken from the perspective of people that are constantly whining about Human Rights.

In my opinion, the author does a good job of not reinterpreting China in terms of some of these Sacred Cows, be they of whoever.

The prose is clear, elegant and not overwrought with detail. But the reading is not overly light, either. It's just the things that any person would think about if they came here to teach. Or that any person might want to know if they wanted a perspective of China independent of political slants of any type.

Really, this book is a testimony to the value of paying attention. I am sure that many folks living and working in situations similar to Peter Hessler's would have their own stories to tell. But so often we are fooled by the seeming ordinariness of our own mundane existence. So we live our lives endlessly, day by day without writing the story. Listen to me: If your life isn't worth writing a book about, you're doing something wrong. Change. Move. Do something. But become someone or be in the process of becoming someone that decent folks would really enjoy reading about some day. My highest commendation to Peter Hessler for this more than anything else.

The basic plot of the story is quite simple: A graduate student joins the Peace Corps, and teaches for two years in a Chinese university. What is especially useful about this book depends, I suppose, on your particular frame of reference, and on your needs, but for me, the book was most interesting as a very personal and honest description of how one person responded to the culture shock inherent in the cultural transition described. My parents were missionaries in northern Japan; that is where I grew up. For me, the most profound culture shock was when I came to America at the age of 13. I was, therefore, quite interested to see how this idealistic graduate student would respond to his own cultural adjustment. At times, he seems almost to have a "chip on his shoulder," but much of this is because of his simple honesty about how he is feeling at the particular moment. And I can hardly blame him for taking the pellet gun away from the kid who shot him in cold blood. Hessler talks very openly about feelings most of us would rather not admit we have at moments like that.

By far the most appealing part of this book for me, however, was the insight that it gave me into the nature of rural teacher training in China. Years ago I taught in a country school in North Dakota. I traveled to Yunnan Province some time ago, and participated in a benefit project where we donated some computers to a country school. I have a special interest in rural education, and the importance of giving kids in that kind of setting the same quality education that would be available to them if they lived a bit closer to the city. And the simple straightforwardness of the country young people who are the students in this University is so refreshing to anyone who has been frustrated with the way the American obsession with information has stuffed the minds of so many young people with all kinds of things they don't need to be worrying about so early in their lives. The sophisticated cynicism this too often causes is so wonderfully absent from the thinking of Peter Hessler's students.

I learned quite a bit from this book. Reading it was time well spent. I think even for those who do not have a particular interest in China, this book would be very attractive. But for those who are contemplating a life in China, it is definitely required reading. If you like people, you will like this book.