Peter Hessler’s River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
What I loved most about Hessler's journey was the opportunity of “following” him and thus digging lots of exciting themes about China, such as the building of the Three Gorges Dam and all the impact it made along the river communities (this dam is probably on of the biggest engineer artifacts of the century). The mandarin language and its multiple facets is also striking — tones, characters, dialects: how could he master so many nuances in so little time? And, probably the most important, the challenge of trying to understand a country that has been passing for one of the most spectacular and uncanny changes the world has ever seen in terms of politics, economics and culture. While reading Hessler's narrative, I found myself constantly looking for further information, reading about the recent history of China, the Opium Wars, The Long March, North Korea, Mao, Xiaoping, Yuan exchange rates, one-birth policies, ethnic conflicts... Wow, it made me really dive into this sea of dazzling topics.
So, what's this book about?
In 1996, 26-year-old Peter Hessler traveled to Fuling, a small Chinese city in Sichuan province, to work as a Peace-Corps volunteer, teaching English at the local college. He and his fellow teacher Adam arrived at a city that hadn't have the opportunity of contacting foreigners for decades. Everything was new to them: the language, the cuisine, the air pollution and, of course, the costumes and habits of their new students and coworkers. Besides having the tourist-like experience of being abroad, both Peter and Adam got friends with locals, which helped them to absorb the atmosphere of a country in permanent change.
Peter’s students were being prepared to be English teachers at elementary and mid-schools around the country. That’s one of the policies of the Communist Party for education — provide new generations with a strong background in the English language. After the reform and opening process conducted by Deng Xiaoping, mastering English is nothing but mandatory in China... Spending time with them, Peter shows us their expectations and conflicts.
Change is probably the most appropriate word to describe what has been happening in China for the last decades. As you read Peter’s lines, you will probably feel the same I felt: — Man, this people experienced everything in life! Coming from centuries of dynastic governments, the Chinese had to face all “political flavours” in their recent life, culminating with the “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” of Xiaoping and his followers. Not only the changes themselves are striking, but also the pace at which they are happening — the whole country is spinning way too fast. Younger generations now have to deal with this new way of living. They have to choose among lots of options, from farms to factories, from tradition to modernity, from the reasoning and contemplative thinking of confucianism to the money-driven pragmatism of the industrial zones such as Shenzhen, Zhuahi, Xiamen and many others.
Contrast might be the other keyword in today’s China. It’s not anymore a country that fits in any standard definitions of old high-school books, such as “second world” or “emerging country”. It’s something completely new, which combines the aggressive need for results of the capitalist thinking with the intense presence of the State in the lives of the people, typical of totalitarian regimes. At the same time that millions of migrants struggle to get successful and rich in the new industrial centers, others prefer to remain in their rural villages, enjoying a simple way of life, many times without even knowing how a waiguoren (外国人 - out-of-the-country person) looks like... While technology and pragmatism spreads fast among the country, superstition remains ruling most daily activities — numerology, horoscope, feng shui... Even the government is said to check the best dates for important events with fortune tellers...
(source: http://www.people.com.cn)
Why was it so good to read this book?
What made me love this book the most was the fact that it encourages you to search for information and, consequently, to think. The first moments you read Hessler talking about something, you will probably stop and ask: Who are these guys he is talking about? What was the importance of these events to the locals? Would we react the same way if our homes were to be flooded because of the building of a mega-dam? How did each of the greatest leaders of China influence the course of its history? Would the world economy have taken the same path if Xiaoping had not assumed the leadership of the Party in 1978?
It’s also nice to follow Hessler’s day-to-day experiences, such as how he won a mini-marathon, the trip to the Yangtze Gorges, the excruciating mandarin classes, and, of course, the banquets with the Communist Party cadres, ever filled with Baijiu (白酒), the strong and famous grain distilled alcoholic drink of China.
I liked very much the way Hessler presents the opinions of his students about sensitive themes such as politics, tradition, money, personal relationships and future. It made me think a lot about my own perceptions about these subjects. Would I ever act differently from them if I lived there?
I also appreciated the way he describes his students and their feelings: never prejudging, always reasoning. As pages go by, you start to get closer and closer to them, waiting for news about their career and future lives. What happened to “William Jefferson Foster” and “Coconut”? Did they succeed as teachers, as business-men in big towns or as farmers in the country side? Do they still appreciate Magnificent Sound cigarettes? What do they think about the future of their nation?
River Town will certainly be an excellent choice for those who like to savor every detail of a nicely-told experience of life. Immediately after finishing this book, I was ready and eager for the next one: Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present (2006)...
Rogerio Maciel,
March, 2011.
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