River Town

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze is a travel memoir by American writer and journalist Peter Hessler. It’s the first book in Hessler’s China trilogy and describes his journey through Fuling, China and the changes this river town is going through. It was published by Harper in 2001 and won the Kiriyama Prize for Nonfiction in the same year. At the time the book was published, Hessler served as Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker. He won the 2008 National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting, and he’s a contributing writer for National Geographic.

Fuling, Sichuan, is part of the Chongqing municipality. Hessler first visits Fuling on a Peace Corps teaching assignment in 1996, and it’s during this time that he journals what life in Fuling is like. Fuling is a small city close to the Yangtze River and is known for a quiet, rural way of life. Like the rest of China, Fuling is undergoing many changes, and Hessler’s book explores the tensions between remaining true to the past and fear for the future.

When Hessler arrives in Fuling, it’s the first time the city has an American resident in decades. He teaches English and American literature at a local college, and he’s welcomed although his ideologies are completely different from the students there. These are students who want to learn and expand their horizons. At the time, the students are familiar with doctrines such as China’s one-child policy, and they tell him how their parents pay fines for any siblings. However, punishments for third and fourth children are more severe—families may have their houses burned down.



This is a China where young people don’t plan their own futures and instead await job assignments from the central planning bureaucracy. The young people follow Communist Party teachings although they now question them, and Hessler describes how fascinating it is to see how this affects their interpretations of American and English writings. The students teach Hessler more about China and the realities of rural life than he can ever teach them about literature.

Fuling is on the brink of reform, and Hessler feels privileged to be there. He watches students wrestle with conflicting ideas and look at the future as something they can shape for themselves instead of a forced doctrine. He asks the students for their opinions on economic and political policies and revolution, and he enjoys debating with them. This teaches the students to think for themselves, but it also teaches Hessler lifelong lessons about a China few get to experience.

Hessler is honest about problems the students—particularly the female students—face. He learns that many girls have illegal and unsafe abortions because they can’t have more than one child or because they don’t want the shame of having a child outside marriage. Some of these girls even commit suicide, which saddens Hessler because he can’t do anything to help them.



There’s also a cultural revolution taking place in Fuling. Much of its history has eroded over time, and some of it is lost forever. However, increasingly more people want to preserve this history and cultural landmarks such as underwater museums are in their infancy. When a landmark at Baiheliang known for its carved fish disappears because of the flood at Three Gorges Dam, the people can’t do anything about it at first because there’s not enough money. However, cultural investment in China improves with each passing year, and it’s not long before plans are in place to restore and preserve these carvings, which are over 1200 years old.

Hessler sees this as a desire to remember and respect the past while moving forward and embracing a new future for China. Near the end of his teaching assignment, Hessler turns 29, and he comments that he feels much, much older and wiser after spending so much time here.

Although, it’s not always easy for Hessler to communicate with the students or locals. He’s taught Chinese, but the people of Fuling are wary of outsiders, particularly foreign ones. This is part of the Communist Party doctrine, and it’s something Hessler struggles with for his whole assignment. However, he learns far more about China than most foreigners can ever expect to in part because Hessler goes out of his way to learn about Fuling and show respect for the locals.



For example, he doesn’t stay in the school compound all the time and instead dines in local restaurants and explores the city. He goes travelling around the area during the vacation months and stays in hotels along the old Silk Road, which are generally forbidden to foreigners. Hessler approaches everyone with a respectful tenacity and manages to live “like a local.” He encounters many different residents, most of whom can’t speak English, but those who can share poignant stories with him.

Everything Hessler says at the school gets reported back to the Communist Party, which even opens his mail. Regardless, Hessler perseveres and uncovers a Chinese youth far more hopeful for their future than their predecessors, and he leaves feeling confident in their ability to shape China for the better.