Archive - August 26, 2024

Review — Other Rivers – spotlight on Generation Xi An American’s view of life in China during the tumultuous Covid years Reviewed by Amy Hawkins The Guardian 21 Aug 2024    When Peter Hessler (China 1996-98), the celebrated chronicler of Chinese society, arrived at Sichuan University in the autumn of 2019, he was expecting to take a break from writing. Hessler made his name as a journalist documenting the lives of everyday people during China’s boom years in the early 2000s. But he first got to know the country as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Sichuan in the mid-1990s – an experience that formed the basis of his first book, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, a bestseller that introduced a generation of readers to a rapidly changing China. Nearly a quarter of a century on, he had planned to focus his energies on teaching. But events were about . . .