Reddit reviews River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.)

River Town Not Chinese history per de, but puts the daily lives of modern day Chinese people in an understandable context. It’s also a good read.

Kind of tough to pick just one, as China is vast and there are so many differect aspects of the society worthy of being explored.

I really enjoyed Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside, which was a pretty solid caricature of just about every type of foreigner you meet in China, and a well written story as well, a bit like a more modern, more dynamic River Town.

I think the two most common answers to this question are River Town, by Peter Hessler, and Factory Girls by his wife Leslie Chang. Both are excellent but tackle very different parts of contemporary Chiense culture.

A touch of sin was already mentioned, and it's a very, very good movie. So I'm mentioning it again. If you haven't seen it, go watch it.

If you haven't already read them I'd suggest reading the books by Peter Hessler.

River Town, two years on the Yangtze

Country Driving: A Chinese road trip

Oracle Bones



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hessler

Some of my personal favorites (amazon links):
A Fortune Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East, mainly Southeast Asia.
The Geography of Bliss, RTW.

Food-related:
Ant Egg Soup: The Adventures of a Food Tourist in Laos
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China

Peter Hessler in China:
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
Country Driving

And Peter Mayle's series on Provence.

I read a really great book by Peter Hessler called River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze that had a great bit about his students funny english names. Give it a read if you haven't already.

Not sure if this really counts for "Modern China", but Red Dust: A Path Through China takes place in the 1980's. I haven't read it personally but it's gotten good reviews and is also on my list of books to read. Same with River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, which is set in the late 1990's.

I would totally do it. Of course it will be a culture shock. But you would always wonder about how it might have been. Take it from an oldster, the stuff you didn't do haunts you a lot more than the stuff you did.

Look into the author Peter Hessler. His book River Town is a well-written description of what it is like for a Westerner who moves to Asia. Hessler still lives in Beijing. edit: Hessler is now posted in Cairo, though he does plan to return to China.

My younger son joined the Peace Corps moved to China at the beginning of the summer. He is teaching English to highly motivated young engineering students. He is not making tons of money but he likes his job, has a beautiful apartment and busy social life with Chinese friends.

Older son was making good money in Paris, but wanted to re-stimulate his creative juices. He is moving to Mexico City tomorrow with his girlfriend. They can always move back to Paris (or maybe some day he will return to the States.)

We live on a smaller planet these days, and the experiences we have can enrich our lives and broaden our careers.