River Town

Name: River Town
ISBN: 9787532756728

彼得·海斯勒 / 李雪顺Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaMar 2015

4.5

Word count: 288K words
Chapters: 20
ISBN: 9787532756728

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Summary

In late August 1996, on a warm, clear night, I set out from Chongqing and traveled downriver by slow boat to Fuling. Fuling had no railway and had long been an impoverished area of Sichuan; its roads were terrible. Wherever you wanted to go, you had to take a boat—but mostly you went nowhere. For the next two years, this city was my home. At times I was an observer; at times I was immersed in local life. This dual closeness and distance constituted part of my two years in Sichuan. By 2001, when this book was published in America, a highway to Chongqing had opened and a railway was under construction; almost no one took boats to Fuling anymore. The city is developing rapidly; over the past two decades, that feeling of relentless transformation has been the essence of China. In 2003, after the first stage of the Three Gorges Dam was completed, rising waters would gradually submerge the riverside cities, which saddens me somewhat. This is not a book about China, but about one small place during a specific period. In 1996–1998 I learned to love Fuling. It feels good to be back on the Yangtze, even if its old torrents live only in my memory.

Editor's review

Solar is a work of nonfiction by American writer Peter Hessler (Chinese name He Wei) and the opening installment of his acclaimed "China trilogy." Drawing on his experience from 1996 to 1998 teaching as a "Peace Corps volunteer" in Fuling, Sichuan (now part of Chongqing), the book paints a richly detailed portrait of life in a small inland Chinese city during a period of transformation. Hessler's perspective is distinctive: he is at once an acute insider observer and a culturally detached outsider who retains his clarity and curiosity. The Fuling he depicts is not merely a river town in the geographical sense but a superb window onto the dramatic social changes of 1990s China—from the upheavals brought by the Three Gorges Project to the daily lives and inner worlds of ordinary citizens, students, and officials, all recorded with human warmth and humor.

The book's value lies in its exemplary status as narrative nonfiction. Hessler sets aside preconceived biases and records what he sees and hears with sincerity; his prose is understated and restrained yet full of power. He chronicles not only changes in the external environment but also engages deeply with enduring themes such as cultural collision, identity, and the tension between tradition and modernity. For today's readers, River Town is not only a valuable sociological archive that helps us look back at a particular historical cross-section, but also offers a methodology for understanding a foreign culture and for conducting deep observation and reflection. Its literary quality and documentary value are balanced just right, making for a reading experience that has both the beauty of an essay and the weight of history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

History and social science enthusiasts interested in China's social transformation in the 1990s
Readers who enjoy narrative nonfiction, especially detailed and immersive documentary works
Chinese readers who hope to re-examine and reflect on Chinese culture and society through an outsider's perspective
Writers and content creators interested in cross-cultural writing and narrative technique

Not a good fit for

Entertainment-oriented readers seeking fast-paced, plot-driven fiction
Readers expecting a single, clear value judgment on Chinese society

Reading tips

Read it alongside Hessler's later books Country Driving and Oracle Bones to form a more complete picture of his observations of China.
Keep a map at hand to locate Fuling and the Three Gorges; this will help you better understand the environment and changes described in the book.
Pay attention to shifts in the author's position as narrator, and notice how he moves between different roles (teacher, friend, foreigner, chronicler).

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
中文版序
作者说明
第一部
第一章顺江而下
第二章有中国特色的莎士比亚
第三章跑步
第四章大坝
第五章鸦片战争
第六章暴风雨
第二部
第七章暑假
第八章中国生活
第九章钱
第十章农历新年
第十一章又一春
第十二章溯江而上
致谢
回到涪陵
译后记

FAQ

Is the tone of this book critical or friendly?

Hessler's tone is generally friendly, curious, and willing to understand. He is not making a political or ideological critique; rather, he strives to record the real lives and emotions of ordinary people from an equal footing, presenting a complex and pluralistic social picture that includes both gentle criticism and sincere praise.

Can foreign readers who have never lived in China understand this book?

Absolutely. Hessler's writing is precisely intended to build a bridge of understanding. He explains in detail the cultural phenomena and social context he encounters, and his personal experiences and universal emotions (such as homesickness, adaptation, and growth) give the story resonance beyond its specific locale.

Does this book still have relevance for China today?

Very much so. Many of the social dynamics, urban-rural changes, and cultural psychology depicted in the book have roots and repercussions that continue to this day. It helps us understand the origins of certain features of contemporary China, and also serves as a baseline against which we can measure the changes that have occurred since. It is a mirror that reflects not only the past but also the present.

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About the author

彼得·海斯勒 Author

Peter Hessler is a writer of literary reportage best known for his work on China. Public biographical information about him is limited, but the five titles held in the collection indicate the direction of his writing. He tends to observe Chinese society through long stays and on-the-ground travel, writing about the everyday people and affairs of a small river town, about journeys from countryside to factory, and about reporting from both East and West. His work leans toward social-science reportage, emphasizing concrete scenes, interviews, and accumulated detail rather than grand pronouncements, and is therefore read by Chinese-language readers as a reference for understanding contemporary China's transformations. Representative works include River Town, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory, and Strange Stones: Dispatches from East and West, and his books are commonly classified under social science, literary reportage, and classic works.

李雪顺 Author

Li Xueshun: public information about this author is limited, and no clear record of his identity or career is available. Judging from the twelve works held in the library, however, he is mainly active in the translation and compilation of social science, documentary literature, and foreign literature. His representative works include the Selected Collection of Shanghai Translation University Translation Series (26 volumes), The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family, River Town, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory, Strange Stones: Dispatches from East and West, and Foreigners Record China (8-volume set). These works mostly involve overseas authors' observations of Chinese society and daily life, as well as the introduction of documentary writing. The revised edition of American Way of Death and the 2020 edition of the Translation Documentary Collection also reflect his continued involvement in documentary publishing. According to the available materials, his work emphasizes selection, translation, and the integration of book series, with a plain style that stays close to the original texts, providing Chinese readers with fairly systematic reading materials for understanding social and cultural issues from external perspectives.