First published 2014
Peter Hessler moves to Beijing as China opens to the world. He watches ordinary people navigate massive change. Polat, from a forgotten ethnic minority, seeks freedom in America. William Jefferson Foster rises from an illiterate family to become a teacher. Emily works in factories as cities transform around her. Chen Mengjia studies oracle bone inscriptions, the earliest East Asian writing, before tragedy strikes during the Cultural Revolution. All are displaced people, far from home, caught in historical forces they cannot control. Hessler traces their stories across time and continents. He uncovers how ancient oracle bones connect to modern lives. The book moves between past and present, East and West, as China becomes one of the world's most dynamic regions. These personal stories reveal the human cost of transformation in a country changing before the world's eyes.
Genres: historical-fiction, china, non-fiction, 21st-century, cultural, academic
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: displaced-people, fish-out-of-water, personal-narratives
Setting: America, Beijing, China, East, West
Period: Cultural Revolution, Modern
Paperback · Dumont Reise Vlg GmbH + C