OTHER RIVERS A Chinese Education

Peter Hessler arrived at Sichuan University in 2019 to teach nonfiction writing just in time for the first wave of Covid in nearby Wuhan. Hessler's performance is a pleasure to listen to--authentic, engrossing, and often wry. He speaks Mandarin, so the multiple Chinese words, names, and phrases are naturally interspersed. Hessler's experience teaching in China more than 20 years earlier while in the Peace Corps gives him a unique perspective on the changes in Chinese society since then. His former students viewed education as a tool to escape rural poverty; his new students are more jaded. Hessler's twin 9-year-old daughters attend a Chinese public school, and his observations of their struggles and successes are charming and insightful. A.B. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2024]