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River Town
Peter Hessler’s *River Town* delivers an intimate, unfiltered account of his two years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Fuling, a remote Yangtze River town in 1990s China. As one of only two foreigners in the city, Hessler navigates constant cultural missteps—from misjudging local etiquette to grappling with students’ rigid political education—while forging deep connections with his pupils. Their stories, from a boy clinging to a female name after his military dream shattered to students reimagining *Hamlet* with Sichuan opera flair, reveal a generation caught between China’s turbulent past and rapid modernization. He documents Fuling’s unique landscape of steep stone stairs, hardscrabble bangbang porters, and the looming shadow of the Three Gorges Dam, which threatens to submerge centuries of history. Through his journey learning Chinese, navigating bureaucratic hurdles, and witnessing small-town life, Hessler crafts a vivid, human-centered narrative that bridges cultural divides, offering a rare look at a China rarely seen by Western eyes.
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