Departing River (Peter Hessler Collection 06, Latest Work 2025)

Other Rivers: A Chinese Education

【Peter Hessler's Latest Work in 2025, the Only Chinese Edition Globally】

【A New Chapter After Returning to China to Teach】

Over twenty years ago, Peter Hessler taught by the "River Town," documenting a rapidly developing China.

Over twenty years later, Peter Hessler returned to his "second home," picking up the chalk again.

These past years have seen the rise of Xi Jinping, the US-China trade war, intensifying involution, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Peter Hessler will tell us what has remained unchanged and what has changed in China, through his eyes.

"Many contradictions in China are like this: everything has changed, yet nothing has changed." — Peter Hessler



When it comes to contemporary Chinese reportage, we absolutely cannot overlook Peter Hessler. In 1996, Hessler went to China as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English at a teachers' college in Fuling, a small city by the Yangtze River in Sichuan. That year, Hessler was twenty-seven, had two degrees, was single, and had no steady job, jokingly calling himself a "stay-at-home." He only had immense teaching passion and a pen in his hand.



In 2001, "River Town," which chronicled his three years living in Fuling, was published. Not only did Hessler himself not expect it, but many American publishers who had rejected his manuscript also didn't expect "River Town" to become a window for readers in America, Europe, and many other countries to understand China. In 2006, "River Town" was translated into Chinese, letting readers in the Chinese-speaking world know that there was an American who lived in China for three years and wrote down his observations and experiences.



In 2019, Hessler returned to China. This time, he taught a "nonfiction writing course" at a joint institute established by Sichuan University and the University of Pittsburgh. At the same time, he and his wife also enrolled their twin daughters in a local public elementary school in Sichuan, where they were the only Westerners in their class.



Twenty years ago, when Hessler first arrived in China, most of his students at Fuling Teachers' College came from impoverished rural areas. Their parents had limited resources to give their children, and they strived to escape poverty. Although life was tough, they were still full of hope for the future. Later, some of these students became teachers, some started businesses, and some went to work abroad. Most of them are now married with children. Hessler calls these Fuling students the "Reform Generation," the best reflection of China's economic takeoff in those years.



Twenty years later, in his new book "Other Rivers," Hessler describes encountering a group of university students born after 2000. These students almost all come from cities, and due to the one-child policy, most are only children, carrying many resources and "earnest expectations" from their parents. Competition for higher education and jobs is also fiercer than ever, and even more "involutionary." Hessler calls them the "Xi Jinping Generation"—very smart, very opinionated, but because the state tightly controls society, these college students in the prime of their youth "have old souls. They understand the way things are and the flaws of the system," but they have no illusions about the future and are unwilling to resist the existing system.



From "River Town" to "Other Rivers," it reflects the changes in two generations and the trajectory of China's development over the past two decades. But as Hessler says in "Other Rivers": "How can a country experience such significant social, economic, and educational changes, yet its politics remain stagnant, or even regress?" Everything has changed, yet nothing has changed.



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Endorsements



Peter Hessler is widely recognized as one of the most inspired and insightful writers on China over the past three decades. From the classic memoir "River Town," to the ambitious "Oracle Bones," and "Country Driving," which depicts China's period of rapid development, to finally "Other Rivers," which records contemporary China with a melancholic touch, Hessler has chronicled the rise of China through the stories of ordinary people often overlooked in grand national narratives. However, what makes his work enduring is not just his keen observations, but his deep, structural approach to studying China. This is why his books possess more vitality than the instant news works or policy analyses that emerge annually attempting to predict China's trajectory. While the term "classic" is often overused, it is perfectly apt for his precisely reported and brilliantly written works. — Ian Johnson, Author of "Wild Grass: China's Silent Defiance" and "The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao"


For China, Peter Hessler's eyes are always full of a benevolent willingness to understand. As a young man, he witnessed China at the starting point of the expressway of rapid modernization and capitalization. Twenty years later, returning to his China, he once again wrote down his observations of China and its people, comparing past and present, seeing how the rivers of history surge and branch out across this ancient land. Between the lines, he may be reluctant to criticize, but as readers, we must not forget his concerns. While politics can fabricate myths, the truth of history is ultimately written by real people, their lives, and their stories. — Ching-Fang Hu, Writer



In my mind, Peter Hessler is the best nonfiction author writing about contemporary China. Although he is not a documentary filmmaker, he possesses the eyes of a chronicler who is both meticulously observant and broadly insightful, always able to untangle clear and interesting story threads from seemingly chaotic, even mundane, real-life scenes. He presents compelling and meaningful character relationships and constructs grand and exquisite narrative structures, thereby ultimately extracting universal values and meanings, and conveying human emotions and warmth. Of course, there is also sharp critique and profound introspection regarding totalitarian politics and the human predicaments it causes.

What is most captivating and admirable is that all of this is achieved because he unreservedly and for long periods immerses himself at the grassroots level of life, placing himself in the sphere of ordinary people, allowing himself, others, and even the entire era to resonate genuinely. This enables his work to remarkably break through the boundaries of foreignness and identity, presenting a "sculpting time" magic usually found only in cinematic art. On this point alone, he is far removed from some resident China correspondents who conduct superficial interviews with colored glasses, Western sinologists who conduct cursory field research with dogmatic, empty theories, and those so-called China observers and commentators who stand aloof, dispensing advice based on rumors, gossip, and conspiracy theories. If there is any nonfiction author who most closely embodies the spirit and method of Chinese independent documentaries, it is undoubtedly Peter Hessler. His works are splendid paper documentaries that write about "the complex China." In contrast, many so-called nonfiction works by local Chinese authors are like official "dragon-marked movies," even if not complicit with evil or numb, they are certainly evasive and superficially ornate, and inevitably become uninteresting and fleeting, failing this era. — Zanbo Zhang, Chinese Independent Documentary Filmmaker, Nonfiction Writer


"Other Rivers" not only portrays "another River Town" but also represents Hessler's revisit, continuation, and farewell to "River Town." Here, with a sensitive yet peaceful touch, the author blends personal life biography with the transformation of China's state-society relationship, reflecting on a twenty-year encounter and revealing a perplexing and anxious China. — Fang Peng, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taipei University



Peter Hessler's "China Trilogy," consisting of "River Town," "Oracle Bones," and "Country Driving," meticulously depicts the market transformation and contradictions of Chinese society, becoming an important text for the West to understand the grassroots conditions of contemporary China. In 2019, he returned to Sichuan to record the life struggles of the "Xi generation" college students in "Other Rivers." However, during the COVID outbreak, he was allegedly forced to leave his teaching position due to an informant, returning from the Yangtze River to the Colorado River. This book marks a stunning and regrettable conclusion to this period of US-China cooperation in the Trump-Xi Jinping era, offering a deeply empathetic observation of China by an American expert on China. — Tsung-Hung Lin, Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica



As an English writer, Peter Hessler's most valuable quality is his consistent focus on the fate of individual Chinese people. He portrays the joys and sorrows of ordinary Chinese, their struggles, efforts, and humor. He doesn't view Chinese people as cold geopolitical pawns, nor does he rigidly explain China through the framework of American culture. This is what this era needs. Regardless of political inclinations, we must treat every person as a human being. — Li Yuan, Journalist



From Fuling to Chengdu, Peter Hessler, through two teaching experiences in Sichuan spanning nearly thirty years, captures the faces and voices of two generations of Chinese youth: one emerging from the ruins of the Cultural Revolution into reform, and another coming of age in the Xi era. "Other Rivers" is both an intimate narrative of ordinary people and places, a microcosm of China's dramatic changes, and his farewell to China. He witnesses immense difficulties yet retains warmth: beyond the main current, there is always another river. — Jieping Zhang, Journalist, Founder of independent bookstore "Nowhere"



International Acclaim



Peter Hessler is the best-known American writer on contemporary China… Any book by Hessler on China is inherently fascinating, and fortunately, he arrived just before the Covid pandemic… "Other Rivers" is a valuable record of life in China during a turbulent time. — Asian Review of Books



With "Other Rivers," Peter Hessler completes a full circle, bringing his blend of memoir and keen observation back to a classroom in Sichuan... This stay in China filled him with confidence in young Chinese people but also led him to a sober conclusion: he believes the Chinese system itself needs fundamental changes. — The Wall Street Journal



This is the fourth book on China from the writer and journalist, who has long been one of the most perceptive and empathetic foreign observers of the country… Hessler’s students, though young, have “old souls.” — Financial Times



With fluid prose and keen observational detail, Hessler chronicles the lives of three generations of Chinese students: his former Fuling students, now middle-aged; his current students at Sichuan University; and his daughters' classmates. This recent history unfolds through everyday concerns such as jobs, studies, marriage, and raising children. But the underlying transformations are profound. — China Books Review (Annual Best Books)



In "River Town," Hessler described his experience teaching English and learning Chinese in Fuling. Twenty years later, returning to China, many things have changed… Throughout the book, Hessler continues to quote his students, sometimes curious, sometimes skeptical, sometimes weary and wise, essentially a meditation on teaching and learning from students. — Booklist (Starred Review)



Hessler paints a vast panorama of China… The result is a fascinating portrait of China’s development and its costs. — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)



With witty and insightful observations and deep empathy, Peter Hessler sketches a picture of modern China through the experiences of his Chinese students and his own daughters in local schools. Hessler avoids sweeping conclusions because he believes that the true story of China emerges from micro-histories, daily conversations, and interesting vignettes of everyday life. "Other Rivers" is the most humanistic journalism, and for readers like us who are not China specialists, it is an excellent introductory book to understand the real China. — Pamela Druckerman, Parent-child Author



Engaging, riveting. "Other Rivers" is an extraordinary piece of foreign reportage and memoir, stemming from Peter Hessler's twenty-five years of direct and in-depth observation. With profound empathy, humor, and seriousness, he portrays the stories of several generations of Chinese people experiencing dramatic social, political, and economic changes, and how these experiences echo and reflect our own world. — Philip Gourevitch, Author of "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families"



The most daunting and important challenge in writing about China is to render the vivid individuality of the people who make up China. Peter Hessler has once again done this brilliantly. The stories of the students in "Other Rivers" are humorous and serious, idealistic and cynical, hopeful and resigned, and unforgettable. They are China's next generation, and we are fortunate to meet them in this book. — James Fallows, Journalist, National Book Award Winner



Behind the news of strategic confrontation and military tensions with China are countless real stories of people striving to live in a complex country… Hessler tells the students' stories with empathy and enthusiasm… providing valuable insight into real life in China today. — Kirkus Reviews

2025-10-01

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