Book Study
NCTA Alumni Online Book Discussion Group: Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler
Other Rivers: A Chinese Education, is Peter Hessler’s fourth book about China and reflects his deep understanding of the Middle Kingdom, drawn from over twenty years of reporting for National Geographic Magazine and The New Yorker. In Other Rivers, Hessler explores the ways in which changes in China’s university system and population provide a window into both economic and social developments over the past several decades.
“More than two decades after teaching English during the early part of China’s economic boom, an experience chronicled in his book River Town, Peter Hessler returned to Sichuan Province to instruct students from the next generation. At the same time, Hessler and his wife enrolled their twin daughters in a local state-run elementary school, where they were the only Westerners. Over the years, Hessler had kept in close contact with many of the people he had taught in the 1990s. By reconnecting with these individuals—members of China’s “Reform generation,” now in their forties—while teaching current undergrads, Hessler gained a unique perspective on China’s incredible transformation.”