Peter Hessler (born June 14, 1969) is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of three acclaimed books about China …

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze 2001

Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China’s Past and Present 2006

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory 2010

Amazon

I read his third book while in China. It’s excellent. Hessler does a terrific job of painting a picture of how China has changed since he first arrived 1996 with the Peace Core.

Emulating the USA, China built many roads before the population had cars to drive them.

Surprisingly, the stories of what happens to him while driving rent-a-cars across the new roads of the emerging nation are fascinating and informative.

Every Province is different. Every town within a Province is different. And every Chinese citizen he meets is a unique individual with their own story.

So different than the simplistic stereotypes assumed by myself and most other westerners.

In 2011, Hessler received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in recognition and encouragement of his “keenly observed accounts of ordinary people responding to the complexities of life in such rapidly changing societies as Reform Era China.

Those 3 books are highly recommended for anyone visiting China.

Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, in 2010, posted a review of all the writing by foreigners who have lived and traveled in China. She rates Hessler high.