Peter Hessler

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.

Two Years on the Yangtze

River Town

farah

this was such an easy read. Peter got me invested in his story so easily, I feel a little hoodwinked. I am on a China travelogue binge recently and the outlook he has towards China is incredibly thoughtful. I especially appreciate how Peter is very congniscent of his knowledge base and usually talks about Fuling people, and avoids attributing their behaviour and culture to the whole country.

Hearing him talk about things like the 3 Gorges, XinJiang unrest and the historical events taking place at that time was fascinating. 

Some of my personal highlights (that I can remember):

 - The historical river-bed site in Fuling with carvings dating back 1200+ years. Hearing about the history that was about to be submerged under the Yangtze was both horrifying and somewhat beautful

- The many extracts of student papers/letters that he includes. Hearing about the return of Hong Kong as the happiest day of a students life was interesting

- The humanisation of party members. Hearing a couple of them described as idealistic and somewhat democratic was interesting

- Class Monitor. Party Member. Model Student. Whats his english name? Mo Money ... lmao. author + his peace corp friend have a funny sense of humour

This book felt like a normal fiction book in some ways. The way I was drawn in. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Elda Mengisto

I thought this was an interesting book when I read it a year ago. It really shows Hessler's journey in teaching the students and his experiences.

Shelby Doherty

** spoiler alert **
           Likes:
- Could relate to some of the feelings that the author had.
- Enjoyed reading about his experience as a "temporary resident" and being the richest he's ever been even if he didn't make much money.
- Encouraged me to look somethings up that I otherwise would not have/learned a little bit more about China
- Covered some topics that are very important presently (i.e. Hong Kong handover, Uguyher conflict, and flooding in the Three Rivers Gorge area).
- Does a good job at displaying the kindness and generosity that he receives from locals.

Dislikes:
- I felt sometimes the locals were painted in a bad light, sometimes I felt it was a very us vs. them mentality.
- Would have liked there to be more character development/characters that reappear and have a bigger impact on the whole story.
- Would have liked to explore the Uguyher area a bit more
- Did not like how long the chapters were and how they often felt very loosely connected to the title of the chapter.

Miko Gao

之前不只从一个地方听说过 Peter Hessler 或者「何伟」，也很早就知道他的中国三部曲，甚至早就把电子书下载好了，但是一直没有什么特别的冲动去读。
现在看来，要感谢拖延症让我没去读这三部曲的中文版。从这本书涉及的一些话题来看，大概中文版应该会被删掉不少内容(读过中文的朋友，可以说一下)。
读的过程中，随着何伟在涪陵的经历，我也一直在不断回想那个时间段我在做什么。比如邓的去世和香港回归时，我们都在学校的阶梯教室观看电视直播。以这种方式和这本书产生交互，真是一种特别的体验。
印象比较深的是何伟讲他教学生读诗的过程

  

  We reviewed poetic terms and archaic language, and I divided them into groups and told them to put the poem in order. 
 my goal was simply to make them struggle with the bare bones of the poem until its form felt somewhat familiar.
 And they understood the form of the poem; just as they had put it together, they could take it apart. They could scan its rhythm—they knew where the stresses were in each line, and they could find the inconsistencies. They read the poem to themselves and softly beat time on their desks. They heard the sonnet. This was something that few American students could do, at least in my experience. We didn’t read enough poetry to recognize its music, a skill that educated people lost long ago. But my students in Fuling still had it—nothing had touched that ability, not the advent of television or even the pointed devastation of the Cultural Revolution.
  


比起来，也就是上学时候读过些唐诗宋词，至于英文诗，至今都没读过。还真得挺羡慕他的那些学生能有这段经历，也一直很好奇他们现在在做什么，这段经历对他们产生了什么样的影响。
得益于他的这种既非中国人，又在来之前就已经确定了离去时间的外国人身份。他一边以「何伟」的身份体验涪陵日常生活的方方面面，一边以 Peter Hessler 的视角观察和记录「何伟」和他所在的环境以及经历的事情。

  

  I never changed my Chinese name, but I sensed the ease with which my Chinese identity became distinct from my American self.
Ho Wei and Peter Hessler never met each other. The notebook was the only thing they truly shared.
  


我之前多次幻想能有这种体验，想不到这次真得看到别人做到了。想来，也只有在中国的外国人能有这种经历了。
Peter Hessler 对环境的描写特别有画面感，像我这种几乎没有什么想象力的人，都能感受到他所描写场景的栩栩如生。
还收获了两个知识点：

  

  even as late as the early 1800s it had been illegal for a Chinese to teach the language to foreigners, and a number of Chinese were imprisoned and even executed for tutoring young Englishmen.
  


多年以前，教外国人中文竟然是违法的。

  

  They had been forced to undergo tedious military training as a direct result of the Tiananmen Square crackdown,
  


高中、大学都经历过军训，却还是第一次知道了军训的来历。因为某次有名的学生运动，
真得还挺喜欢这本书的，可以让我回想起自己成长的环境和经历。他所描写的那些事情，其实就是日日发生在自己身边的琐碎，只不过自己从来没有耐心去感受。读这本书，又被带着回去经历了一次，激活了很多记忆。

  https://viewpre.com/review/1000019

Francine Corry

David

Colton Ray

When Peter Hessler went to China in the late 1990s, he expected to spend a couple of peaceful years teaching English in the town of Fuling on the Yangtze River. But what he experienced - the natural beauty, cultural tension, and complex process of understanding that takes place when one is thrust into a radically different society - surpassed anything he could have imagined. Hessler observes firsthand how major events such as the death of Deng Xiaoping, the return of Hong Kong to the mainland, and the controversial consturction of the Three Gorges Dam have affected even the people of a remote town like Fuling. Poignant, thoughtful and utterly compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a place caught mid-river in time, much like China itself - a country seeking to understand both what it was and what it will one day become.

River Town Two Years on the Yangtze

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