Description: When Peter Hessler joined the Peace Corps, he expected to spend a couple of peaceful years teaching English in the town of Fuling along the Yangtze River. But what he experienced -- the natural beauty, cultural tension, and complex process of understanding that takes place when one is thrust into a radically different society -- surpassed anything he could have imagined. Hessler observes firsthand how major events like the death of Deng Xiaoping, the return of Hong Kong to the mainland, and the controversial construction of the Three Gorges Dam have sent tremors large enough to sweep through China and reach the people of Fuling. Poignant, thoughtful, and utterly compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city caught mid-river in time, much like China itself -- a country seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.

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