Title: River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
Author: Peter Hessler
ISBN: 0-06-085502-9
First Harper Perennial Edition, New York, 2006 Overview
River Town describes the life of Peter Hessler in Fuling. The author inserts sketches focusing on the local landscape, its history, and the people into the story in a colorful way. His ability to weave people into the story brings a certain depth to this wonderful illustrated narrative. The tactful, unbiased and respectful way he approaches the locals, helps the reader understand the many issues on which Americans and Chinese share different views and opinions.
The book starts in August 1996 when a Peace Corps volunteer arrives in a city that had been closed to outsiders for many years and soon will be flooded by the new Three Gorges Dam. For two years, Peter Hessler traded his American life to be a teacher at a College in Fuling, a small city in Sichuan province. Educating students in English language and literature, he discovers how the works of Shakespeare and other famous authors are seen through the eyes of young Chinese adults. While teaching, the students also teach him many important lessons through their assignments and essays. Even though Hessler sometimes struggles and feel additional pressure to fit in because he’s working and living at the college where he’s monitored day and night, Hessler learns gradually about the culture and the special ways that things are handled in Fuling.
This is the second book I have read about China’s culture for our trip preparation so far. The first one, also written by Peter Hessler and the sequel of River Town, focused more on his life as a freelance writer while traveling through China.
Contribution With Hessler’s appellative ability, the reader gains a better understanding of China and the many problems Americans face when grappled with the foreign culture. Through the various encounters the author had with locals, the importance of history for the natives becomes more evident. Furthermore, Peter Hessler and his Peace Corps friend were the first American residents in Fuling in more than half a century, which reveals what picture most citizens have about the United States. The book also describes the background of holding these beliefs. In general, this book is for anyone who is planning on traveling to China or simply wishes to gain more insights on the complexity of China’s culture.
Attributes & Strengths
Especially when planning on traveling to China, Peter Hessler does a great job describing his experiences with the locals. Moreover he shows what experiences made him cope in the foreign environment. The many misunderstandings in the class room have helped me to learn about many misperceptions Americans have about Chinese, but also vice versa. The author was able to get these culture differences across with a considerate sense of humor, especially by including student essays or by describing the encounters in the class room. One of the points I liked most about the book was the writer’s ability to always stay tactful, even when slightly joking about the misunderstandings between him and the locals. Because he stayed in Fuling for two years, he was really able to not only pick up the nuances of the culture but to also describe these in detail.
Personally I was very interested in the part where the author wrote about the Three Gorges Dam since we had a few discussions about this project on our central blog. I was surprised, but also shocked at the same time, that the people in Fuling do not seem bothered by the fact that their town will soon be flooded away and therefore will be relocated. I picked up a sense of half-heartedness from the citizens while reading through the chapters. I guess it is because the people know exactly they have no other chance, especially against the government.
Another very interesting attribute was the time when Peter Hessler wanted to get a tutor so he could be able to learn Mandarin and some Sichuanese. Nobody seemed to want him to learn the language which I think is very contradictory to our western society. If someone from a foreign country wants to learn our language, we feel honored and want to help him, but the Chinese reaction was exactly the opposite. Maybe the people did not believe in his ability to learn this difficult language, so different from English. I would love to learn some Mandarin words before our trip and I will certainly pay attention to how the natives will react.
Weaknesses
Actually it was really hard to find a weakness about this book. Some readers might have problems with the incoherent short anecdotes and stories that are inserted in between the main chapters. But since I was already familiar with Peter Hessler’s writing style, it did not bother me as much anymore.
Conclusion
This is not a book about China in general but moreover about a certain part of it, which makes it more valuable since Peter Hessler was able to capture the richness of his experience in every detail. With the easy but elaborate writing style, the reader will think he was there himself. I think the author was able to get some of the complexity of the Chinese culture across, without exaggerations or distortions due to the fact that he actually lived there for two years. All in all, this must be one of the best books I have read so far and will certainly be on the top of my favorite’s list.
