gannent's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Hard to believe that many of the events of the book took place 20 years ago. A great snapshot into that time of China. It's fascinating how Hessler connects the then-present to the past, and how a reader today can connect our present to the past of this book.
kmacke's review
5.0
Hessler is a jou318 rnalist who has lived in China most of his adult life as of this writing (2006). (You should also read his first book, River Town.) His genre is narrative non-fiction, and this book ties together the search and discovery of ancient Chinese artifacts with the unfolding lives of various people Hessler comes to know. He presents these threads in a way that led me to a vastly greater understanding of the history, geography and 20th century politics of China.
As the persecution of the Uighurs has become more prominent in the U.S. news, Hessler's friendship with Polat, a Uighur trader, particularly informative. Polat ends up as an asylum seeker in the U.S. in 2001:
"But asylum was the wild card of American immigration. Unlike refugees, who arrived in the United States under government auspices, candidates for asylum found their own way to the country. Their numbers were low: in 2001, only 20,303 people were granted asylum. (That year, the United States admitted a total of 1,064,318 legal immigrants.) It wasn't uncommon for asylum applicants to use bogus documents, or sneak across borders, or lie to U.S. immigration officials. None of these acts was held against a candidate who was deemed worthy. This created an odd moral environment: Polat's first act of American soil was to deceive officials, but nevertheless he could apply for asylum without worrying about the ramifications of his deception. And the asylum program was notorious for false stories - many Chinese applicants often cited the planned-birth policy, knowing that Americans were concerned about abortion." pp.237-238
This passage jumped out at me, having just read Dina Nayeri's 2019 "The Ungrateful Refugee", where she speaks at length about the need for refugees and asylum seekers to purposefully craft their stories, mingling truth with untruth as to tailor their narratives to fit what is the current vogue among accepted applications.
As the persecution of the Uighurs has become more prominent in the U.S. news, Hessler's friendship with Polat, a Uighur trader, particularly informative. Polat ends up as an asylum seeker in the U.S. in 2001:
"But asylum was the wild card of American immigration. Unlike refugees, who arrived in the United States under government auspices, candidates for asylum found their own way to the country. Their numbers were low: in 2001, only 20,303 people were granted asylum. (That year, the United States admitted a total of 1,064,318 legal immigrants.) It wasn't uncommon for asylum applicants to use bogus documents, or sneak across borders, or lie to U.S. immigration officials. None of these acts was held against a candidate who was deemed worthy. This created an odd moral environment: Polat's first act of American soil was to deceive officials, but nevertheless he could apply for asylum without worrying about the ramifications of his deception. And the asylum program was notorious for false stories - many Chinese applicants often cited the planned-birth policy, knowing that Americans were concerned about abortion." pp.237-238
This passage jumped out at me, having just read Dina Nayeri's 2019 "The Ungrateful Refugee", where she speaks at length about the need for refugees and asylum seekers to purposefully craft their stories, mingling truth with untruth as to tailor their narratives to fit what is the current vogue among accepted applications.
ocean_cactus's review
4.0
I think I'm going to hold off on a full review until I finish the other books in this series. My review may go up - I read the ebook / Overdrive version, and I felt like it was a little choppy with images / artifacts, so I always felt like I was missing something.
I started this because I've loved his writing in The New Yorker (New York Person?) and because as someone who lived in Japan ten years ago and now finds herself living in Japan again, I was looking for a way to think about the changes I'm noticing. Chief among them, the larger presence of Chinese scholars, Chinese tourists, and Chinese-language signage.
I will say that I think Peter Hessler is probably responsible for my favorite line about foreign language teaching EVER - something to the effect of "my English class in the village hadn't covered how to make death threats."
I started this because I've loved his writing in The New Yorker (New York Person?) and because as someone who lived in Japan ten years ago and now finds herself living in Japan again, I was looking for a way to think about the changes I'm noticing. Chief among them, the larger presence of Chinese scholars, Chinese tourists, and Chinese-language signage.
I will say that I think Peter Hessler is probably responsible for my favorite line about foreign language teaching EVER - something to the effect of "my English class in the village hadn't covered how to make death threats."
gitanjali's review
4.0
Hessler reads like a Dalrymple to me. Foreign guy with a strong interest in a big Asian country. Interesting stories about local people, lots of historical stuff. In all, a great read. I'll keep an eye out for more of his books.
All that being said, I'm uncomfortable with the shades of white privilege I see throughout. Emily says it best:
"I always enjoy talking with you, you are the one who knows my everything... But every time you went back to Beijing (after reporting in Shenzhen), I felt the panic of hollowness. As if I had given everything out but gotten nothing in return."
All that being said, I'm uncomfortable with the shades of white privilege I see throughout. Emily says it best:
"I always enjoy talking with you, you are the one who knows my everything... But every time you went back to Beijing (after reporting in Shenzhen), I felt the panic of hollowness. As if I had given everything out but gotten nothing in return."
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
4.0
Parts of this book I loved and parts I wasn’t interested in at all. Hessler wanders all over the place, talking to people in China, average people, oddball people. Hessler showed me things about China I’d never thought existed, including ethnic minorities and the slow economic changes occurring.
jameseckman's review
4.0
A friend recommended this book to, partially because of my interest in China and my very nerdy obsession of carving seals, many using the oracle bone script(甲骨文). It's a fun narrative history that covers a wide variety of topics from the mass migration of workers, the cultural revolution, Falun Gong and of course the bones. Most of these are the stories of individuals caught in the waves of change, your not going to find the traditional objective? (and boring) analysis that afflicts some China books.
One character I found interesting was Polat, a Uighur dissident who wound up as a black market money changer in Beijing and later made his way to the US and was granted asylum. Hessler visits Polat often both in Beijing and Washington DC, Polat is having a tough time in the US, but he studies English and is getting better jobs and improving his living conditions.
This book has some overlap with the work [b:Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China|2635587|Factory Girls From Village to City in a Changing China |Leslie T. Chang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320406400s/2635587.jpg|2660297] but it covers a much broader range of people and places. A good read.
Horse deer aka baka (idiot)
One character I found interesting was Polat, a Uighur dissident who wound up as a black market money changer in Beijing and later made his way to the US and was granted asylum. Hessler visits Polat often both in Beijing and Washington DC, Polat is having a tough time in the US, but he studies English and is getting better jobs and improving his living conditions.
This book has some overlap with the work [b:Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China|2635587|Factory Girls From Village to City in a Changing China |Leslie T. Chang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320406400s/2635587.jpg|2660297] but it covers a much broader range of people and places. A good read.
Horse deer aka baka (idiot)
hybridpubscout's review
5.0
When I sit here and think about trying to write about my experiences in China, I always am hampered by the idea that, anything I try to do, Peter Hessler has already done better and more thoroughly. He is a born feature writer--able to insinuate himself quietly into the lives and stories of a very secretive and sensitive people and culture to unveil very compelling and sometimes heartbreaking stories. His patience and sensitivity with the Chinese culture and language is admirable, and his presentation of the different individuals make the book breathe. I liked Oracle Bones is better than River Town because it is more extroverted and less focused on Hessler's personal experiences, instead highlighting the experiences of Chinese people in a variety of societal positions with a lot of grace, and just enough first person narrative to answer any logistical questions the reader might have.
More...