Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip

Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip

by PeterHessler (Author)

Synopsis

In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler, the long-time Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, acquired his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years he travelled the country, tracking how the automobile and the improved transport system were transforming China. Hessler writes movingly of everyday people - farmers, migrant workers and entrepreneurs - who have reshaped the country during one of the most critical periods in its history.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 448
Edition: Main
Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd
Published: 04 Mar 2010

ISBN 10: 1847674364
ISBN 13: 9781847674364

Media Reviews
Modern China has seldom been better explained than by Peter Hessler in this imaginative and illuminating book, one that gives us a steering wheel-up view of the country's giddying economic and social transformation. -- Tim Butcher, author of BLOOD RIVER
Funny and brilliantly written. I have not read anything quite like it before on China. -- Chris Patten
[An] extraordinary survey of contemporary China . . . really quite unforgettable. * * Observer on ORACLE BONES * *
An extraordinary, genre-defying book . . . Beautifully constructed . . . Hessler's reportage is vivid. * * Daily Telegraph on ORACLE BONES * *
A brilliant tapestry of ancient and modern China. * * Spectator on Hessler's RIVER TOWN * *
A masterly, learned, entertaining, kind and endlessly fascinating panorama of life in 21st-century China. -- Jan Morris
Hessler's account superbly captures the spirit of a country. * * Sunday Times on Hessler's ORACLE BONES * *
Both entertaining and eye-opening. Hessler's enthusiasm for discovery is infectious . . . by the end, you too will have woken up to Chinese life beyond Beijing and may just find yourself pining for a road trip. * * Wanderlust * *
From Beijing to rural Sancha village, Hessler constructs a patchwork of experiences - from helping a village boy get hospital treatmnet to working in a bra factory. In the process, he draws a fond portrait of this crucial but enigmatic country. * * Lonely Planet Magazine * *
A former Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker Magazine and author of two previous books on China, he is well equipped to be our guide. -- Tatiana Lau * * Wall Street Journal * *
Through the lives of the ordinary Chinese he gets to know so well, he explains the country's complexity, insecurities and tentions better than many of the more analytical workd that have appeared in recent years. * * Economist * *
This warm-hearted book . . . is full of wonderful close observations . . . the broader picture is of a culture being simultaneously destroyed and created before our eyes . . . [Hessler] continues to take us to places that others never seem to reach. -- Kevin Rushby * * Guardian * *
Author Bio
Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as the Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, and is also a contributing writer for National Geographic. He is the author of River Town, which won the Kiriyama Book Prize, and Oracle Bones, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He won the 2008 National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting.