During his two years spent as a volunteer teacher at the Fuling Teachers College, Peter Hessler learns much about modern Chinese culture. He takes the Chinese name He Wei, and immerses himself in the local Fuling culture as much as possible. He keeps an open mind while observing every day life around him while keeping a detailed journal which he later uses to write and publish River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze in 2001.
It is hard to imagine a place like Fuling, a remote town in the Sichuan province of China. It is amazing how different it is compared to the suburban America that surrounds us. The experience Hessler describes often sounds like something that could have occurred decades ago, not something that happened within the last ten years. This contemporaneous nature of the novel makes it all the more intriguing.
Fuling is a place where no American had been for over fifty years until Peter Hessler and Adam Meier arrived in 1996 as Peace Corps volunteers. It is also a place where the term Peace Corps has such a negative connotation that it was changed to U.S.-China Friendship Volunteers.
When Hessler first arrives in Fuling his status as an outsider is painfully awkward. He does not know the language. His uncommon physical appearance draws unwanted attention everywhere he goes. Neither he nor Adam know or understand the social norms or taboos and both make frequent blunders.
Yet, Hessler is undaunted by his “waiguoren” status. He does not allow the locals’ taunts, or the administration’s isolationist policies deter him. Instead, he bravely and eagerly sets out to learn all things Chinese.
First, and foremost he must learn the language. Naturally, both Hessler’s and the reader’s understanding of Fuling parallels his progress with the language. As he becomes more fluent he is able to communicate with local people outside of the college. He prefers the company of the working class and discovers much about everyday Chinese life through these people. It is as if a veil is slowly lifted from the city around him as he forges new friendships and gains experiences.
He talks to as many people as possible and one of the most interesting topics is that of the building of the Three Gorges Dam. At the time of Hessler’s visit, the proposed dam is to be the largest in the world. To make way for the reservoir behind the dam, the massive project will flood a huge area of land. The dam will drastically impact everything: environment, local ecology, economics, historical sites, as well as where people live and work. He tells how there are signs everywhere marking where the future water level will be in a few years. In total, all along the Yangtze River 1,352 villages will be submerged (Hessler, River Town 103).
Yet, when Hessler asks people their opinion on the project, few seem to know exactly what will happen and none seem worried about the impending changes. A project like the Three Gorges Dam in the United States would have spawned constant protest, debate, and controversy. Yet, the Chinese continued to go about their daily lives and put their trust in whatever the government has planned. Hessler questions people’s faith in the project, and the feasibility of the government’s promise to build a 150 foot dike around the town. Especially, since there was no sign of a dike when he left Fuling in 1998 with the reservoir was scheduled to start rising in 2003 (Hessler, River Town 102).
Several years later Hessler returned to the Fuling teachers college to give a lecture on why he wrote the book. While there he found much progress had been made including a new dike (Hessler, Time). So it seems faith of the residents of Fuling was not unwarranted.
Overall, River Town is a fascinating and fast read, and I am not surprised by the cover’s statement that is a “New York Times Bestseller”. It does an excellent job at capturing Fuling at a specific moment in time as well as provides glimpses of Chinese cultural as a whole. Being the same age as Hessler during his time in Fuling I could not help but wonder how I would fair in a similar situation. One can only admire Hessler and the other Peace Corps volunteers for their willingness to throw themselves into such a completely foreign world. I would love to read a follow up book, since according to the credits Hessler choose to stay in China and now lives in Beijing.
