Part travelogue, part diary, part Cliff notes to China's long and varied history, this book is a strong introduction to a culture which some may regard is largely impenetrable. Hessler presents the day to day minutiae of life on the Yangtze in a way which retains its personal element but also references the wider historical and cultural aspects which have moulded the lives of the residents of River Town (Fuling). Hessler is an engaging writer but from the outset I found myself wondering why I should care about two years in the life of an American Peace Corps volunteer (probably in much the same way that people might wonder why they should care about my opinions of this or any other book). The result is a book which carefully documents Hessler's time and experiences living in the river town of Fuling on the banks of the Yangtze. Peter Hessler, author of River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze, went to China not to check population statistics, but to immerse himself in the culture and physical geography of a place which still seems mysterious to a large portion of the world beyond China's borders. How do you even go about counting that many people? How do you get them all to stand still for long enough? Not only is it massive but the PRC is also the most populous country in the world with a population of over 1.3 billion. You can get one of those old fashioned things called a map and have a look. And that is a bonafide geographical fact people.
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