River Town

Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)

Paperback, 399 pages

English language

Published April 25, 2006 by Harper Perennial.

ISBN:
978-0-06-085502-4
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4 stars (6 reviews)

Records the author's experiences as a Peace Corps English teacher in the small Chinese city of Fuling, during which time he witnessed such events as the death of Deng Xiaoping, the return of Hong Kong to the mainland, and the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

5 editions

Review of 'River Town' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

 Have you ever read a book about something you've done that was by someone who did the same or close to it but better and it bugs you? That's a little how I felt about Peter Hessler's River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. I'd taught in China for a year a decade before Hessler taught there for two years.
 I liked River Town despite this. Hessler is smart, educated and hard working enough to learn Chinese and study China thoroughly to make much of what he wrote illuminate things that took place during my stay there. Much hadn't changed in the decade between my year there, 1986, and his two years, when he was employed by the Peace Corps. The town he was in, Fuling, was similar to the one I was in, Guiyang. That made some things he didn't mention puzzling to me. For example, he doesn't …

Review of 'River Town' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A memoir of two years spent teaching English in rural China. Most everyone (even Carolyn!) liked it, with small quibbles. There was a lot of culture shock in it, but it also resonated - we could see the same things going on in China as we'd seen in other parts of the world.

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Subjects

  • Travel - General
  • 20th Century Description And Travel
  • China - History - 20th Century
  • Travel
  • Asia - China
  • Essays & Travelogues
  • International Relations - General
  • Travel / General
  • 1969-
  • China
  • Description and travel
  • Fuling (Sichuan Sheng)
  • Fuling (Sichuan Sheng, China)
  • Hessler, Peter,