From an American perspective, we jump to the negative consequences of the Three Gorges Dam without stopping to acknowledge the affected people's opinions. I think this book does an excellent job of highlighting what some average (for the Chinese, Sichuan is kind of a backwater place) citizens think of major issues in China. I talk about the building of the Three Gorges Dam as another example of China's coming out party which really starts with Deng's Reform and Opening Up. My students were not thesbians like the college students of Fuling. I was impressed by the insight of Peter's students as well as their confidence on the stage. I co-teach a World History course with an English teacher and they're working on Hamlet right now. This wasn't shocking or profound rather, it just had me thinking that for almost all of my life I have lived in an area where I am part of the majority (other than a few vacations/learning tours). When Peter's students were performing Hamlet, I was blown away. Also, there were countless people yelling "waiguoren" (outsider, foreigner) at him during the race, some with admiration and some with disdain. I was laughing as he described the race because I could envision the huge numbers of people falling behind after the initial sprint (maybe due to being out of shape or the weak lungs after smoking so many Magnificent Sound cigarettes). Earlier in the book, he and Adam had attempted to play basketball, but were called for so many fouls that they eventually gave up. At this banquet, Peter describes the social norms for drinking and the different rules you might invoke (a friend taking your drink for you) in order to avoid getting drunk too quickly.Another story I enjoyed was Peter's participation in a race. I enjoyed the chapter where he discussed how he was taken to a banquet merely to convince him to write an article about American literature. So many of Peter's stories were funny, insightful, or simply bizarre.
In many ways for me, it read like a novel despite being non-fiction.
The book is not a cut and dry history nor is it merely a straightforward autobiography. Much of the book highlights Peter learning social norms and his reflections on the culture of Fuling and his students. As Peter points out in the author's note, he tells stories of his experiences as a teacher in each chapter and then provides history/geographical information in little blurbs after each chapter. River Town tells the story of Peter Hessler's two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Fuling in the Sichuan province of China.
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