Oracle Bones : A Journey Between China's Past and Present
by Jing Liu ~ May 5th, 2006. Filed under: Readings.The author, Peter Hessler, talked about the background of his new book today on campus. He made a friend, the Uighur trader, whom he wrote about in this book in Yabaolu, where I lived in Beijing. Can’t wait to read this one.
From Booklist
Hessler, who has lived in China for the past nine years and is the Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker, has written a fascinating and frequently moving account of life in modern China as seen through the eyes of an eclectic group of people, including a minority Uighur, who operates on the fringe of legality, a factory worker, a teacher, a film director, and a scholar who was destroyed by the Cultural Revolution. All of them seem to function as outsiders as they struggle to cope with a nation that is undergoing monumental change. Hessler seamlessly interweaves their stories with the broader context of Chinese contemporary events, and he ties those events effectively with examinations of history, archaeological excavations, and the Chinese struggle to redefine national identity. This is an important and informative work offering a unique perspective on where China may be headed. Jay Freeman
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