kvmsusa.blogg.se - Rivertown peter hessler

The author manages to go over the "unemotional veneer" that the Chinese presented to the outside world and discover real China.įuling was very different from now in the two-year period 1996-1998. Some of his students (mostly women) had abortions or committed suicide. Moving stories are also those of some of his students, who came from deprived peasant homes in Sichuan countryside and tried to deal with a tough schooling system. Many stories are heavy with poignancy: for instance, the priest of the Fuling Catholic Church, 李海若 (Li Hǎiruò) has a beautiful innocence and a poignant past.

The goal of the book partly seems to be to recount the author's experience in Fuling, but mostly it seems to be aimed at telling the locals' stories inside the setting of the author's life in Fuling.

Those short pieces and excerpts are pregnant with their stories, feelings and thoughts, that help the reader (as the author before) to discover hidden private stories about Chinese life. It is common to find excerpts from writing assignments given to Chinese students. Įach chapter includes a short annex which describes Fuling's most notable places in the present tense, whilst normal chapters are set in the past and use the past simple, present perfect and past perfect tenses. For instance, foreigners are often referred to as waiguoren, girls are called xiaojies, porters are called stick-stick soldiers (translated literally from the Sichuanese term 棒棒军 bàngbàngjūn), and so on. The author uses many Chinese terms (normally romanized) to refer to common things or people, to make them look more typical of Chinese culture.

Anne, one of Peter's brightest students.

Teacher Liao and Teacher Kong, who will teach Peter Chinese.

Most characters only appear inside a single chapter - or a few contiguous chapters - while just a few main characters appear throughout the book. One of the features of the book is that most of its chapters can be read out of order without confusion. The language used is deliberately informal and aims to convey the beauty of the city and the poignancy of the stories.

The book is a memoir of his experience in Fuling, told in first person. It documents his Peace Corps teaching assignment at Fuling Teachers College in Fuling, Sichuan, which started in 1996 and lasted for two years Fuling is now part of Chongqing municipality. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze is a 2001 book by Peter Hessler. A copy of Peter Hessler's book River Town in a Fuling restaurantĬhinese memoirs about two years spent in Fuling, China as an English teacher