River Town
Two Years on the Yangtze
Peter Hessler
Peter Hessler’s River Town is a colorful depiction of the author’s two years spent in the Peace Corps at Fuling, a “small” town on the intersection of the Yangtze and Wu Rivers. As one of the first westerners to see the town in fifty or so years, Hessler and his friend Adam interact with the new and strangely beautiful world that is Fuling through a series of short and sometimes comically uneventful encounters.
River Town is more painting than prose, vividly illuminating the dichotomy between the Chinese city and its surrounding landscape. I cannot explain what I mean but to site the following passage: “Paulownia trees bloom purple and white along the lower slopes of White Flat Mountain. The trees’ flowers are short-lived -- next week they will begin to wither and fade -- and the soft yellow of the rapeseed will soon be cut down from the hills. After that, the bright green rice beds will disappear, moved and dispersed into the waiting muck of the paddies. Spring in Fuling does not arrive so much as it rushes through, a blur of changing colors.” This depiction of the seasons is a common theme throughout the book, and the focus on nature and Feng Shui is presented in sharp contrast to the actual city of Fuling -- “loud, cusy, dirty, crowded; the traffic twisted, the pedestrians jostling each other; shops overstaffed and full of goods, streets covered with propaganda signs; no traffic lights, drivers honking constantly; televisions blaring, people bickering over prices; and along the main streets rows of frightened-looking trees, their leaves gray with coal dust, the same gray dust that covers everything in the city.” Notice the different tones, and different styles of writing. The city actually makes you feel dirty, stressed, and hurried, while the purple tones of the Paulownia trees set you wondering off into tranquil thoughts. I cannot describe the book better than simply sharing those two passages.
A very clear message in the book is the importance of education to the Chinese. Hessler teaches at a low level university, where most students come from, and later return to rural villages to teach at elementary schools. Still, his students come with undying pride, as many of them are first generation college students. In fact, the entire book is built upon not so much what Hessler taught his students, but about what they taught him about China, and their daily struggles.
The entire story is a finely woven article involving politics, culture, heritage, and humanity. Fuling is a river town threatened by the new construction of a nearby damn, which will submerge half of the city upon completion. This damn, though rarely mentioned, depicts the Chinese’ traditional struggle between the self and the communist whole. This theme is discussed many times in the book, including an instance later on, when Hessler poses a question to his students at the low-ranking university he teaches at. He asks the students what they would propose if they had been early American settlers posed with the problem of what to do with the American Plains Indians. Both students respond that the Indians should be forced to assimilate into modern American culture, so hat they will “get along with us and advance together.” This mandatory imposition of assimilation is a given in the minds of the Chinese.
Other accounts in the book are told more casually and conversationally. For example when Hessler is asked to eat dinner at a student’s house, he records the discussion between himself and the student’s Father. What follows is nothing short of sitcom banter, hinging on a common hatred of the “small devils,” or “Japs” (the Japanese). Cultural nuances are in this way seamlessly woven into the entire book, which not only makes for a more enjoyable read, but helps to communicate them more clearly and make them stick.
While I’m sure this is not exactly what we will encounter on our trip, I am glad I got to read this book to gain insight into the “softer” side of China. So far I have read business accounts of working with modern Chinese suppliers, government, regulations, and the like, and have seen just how stressful working in China can be. It was nice to sit back with this book and be reminded just how beautiful the country can be to a westerner. Both in its aesthetics and its uncommon juxtapositions.
