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Product Reviews:
Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China (P.S.) |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: Insights to China -
Comments: Peter Hessler originally came to China as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1996, and taught English. Since then he has remained, serving as a free-lance correspondent and writing3books, of which "Oracle Bones" is one. During this time Peter learned to speak and read Chinese, married a Chinese woman, and experienced life visiting and befriending locals. Much of the book is taken up with descriptions of 'oracle bones' (turtle undersides, oxen shoulder blades) dating from about 2,000 B.C. and largely found near Anyang. They were heated to high temperatures - the resulting crack patterns supposedly foretold the outcome of important ventures. The Chinese also wrote short scripts on the bones with a bronze pin. Why Hessler devoted so much of the book to this topic is a mystery to me.
Hessler's narrative begins just after the May, 1999 accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing there Chinese. Intense protests rose across China, lasting about2weeks, and at least surreptitiously encouraged by the government. When not writing about oracle bones, Hessler is usually writing about the lives of a number of his former English students. In the process it becomes clear that fraud is extensive in China - animal food, education, job salaries, fake greats and documents, etc. Similarly, we also are reminded of America's distasteful crime and violence, using guns.
Hessler took a trip to Dandong, on China's border with North Korea to get a sense of what North Korea was like. From across the river it was clear that there were no lights in North Korea at night, armed soldiers patrolled the river's edge, and the areas factories seemed abandoned.
'Special Economic Zones' (SEZ) were established by Deng because China's leaders did not want to test radical change (eg. selling state-owned enterprises, giving tax breaks) in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where mistakes would be politically disastrous. Deng saw attracting Hong Kong and Taiwan investment into these zones as also being a way to bring them closer to the mainland; Chinese opponents saw the SEZ as a means to exploit Chinese labor.
Intellectuals had been purged and re-educated during Mao's time because they were seen as having a tendency to follow Capitalism. The Chinese suicide rate for women is about 5X the world average, with a large proportion coming from rural areas and having some education. Hessler muses that perhaps the glimpse of a better life depressed them -
The education curriculum in China is standardized and regulated, with standard exams at the end of middle and high school. Teachers try to get test questions in advance, and teach to the test.
Closing, Tessler notes that people in the U.S. and China are both nationalistic. |
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: Great Glimpse into China
Comments: This book was endorseed to me before I studied abroad in China from the US. Although a little dull at points, it supplies a great way to get a 1st look into the Chinese culture and mindset from an American perspective. It also supplies an interesting and enlightening viewpoint of China's history intertwined with the author's own unique story. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Glimpse today's China in an immensely readable format.
Comments: I have traveled to China over a dozen times in the past few years, all as a tourist and friend of some Chinese. I have trouble expressing to those unfamiliar with modern life in China what the country is all about and how times have changed since the Red Guard and Cultural Revolution. The happiness, earnestness and capitalism pervasive in China are concepts foreign to almost all Americans' ears as a result of TV and newspaper commentators continuing to rant about "Red China" and "Communist-controlled China."
There are no modern analysts of China given airtime to balance the perceptions about China. We hear the Chinese steal our jobs by keeping the country's currency artificially low, they execute political prisoners, and they control the minds and thoughts of their people through press and internet censorship.
This is as if China is some all powerful force to destroy American industry while the people are child-like puppets believing ething their government tells them day in and day out. These rants give no credit to the Chinese people for having intelligent and discerning minds.
Of ething I have read on China as it exists today, Peter Hessler best points out the truths and contradictions, the energy and the frustrations. If you cannot go to China and spend time with the people throughout the country, Hessler's journeys take you there and lets you listen to the people. If you are over 50 like I, the future of China is a turn of history interesting to study and observe. For those under 50 years old, understanding the Chinese will be an essential element of being focused on the future.
I know of no better communication to bring the modern Chinese people to life for Americans 8,000 miles away. From the farm-field peasants living in what we regard as poverty to the Shanghai business and political communities riddled with corruption, Hessler's stories show that China is much more similar to American society than we ever could have imagined a decade or2ago. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Past and Present Intertwine
Comments: I loved how this book combined real stories, peeking in and out over time, including the author's own; scholarly digging into the past, both recent and distant; detective work and the resulting revelations; and a wry, underlying sense of humor. My favorite parts were experiences with2of his former students,1as an observer in a young man's classroom of eighth graders studying English and the other as he toured a wildlife area and tried to convince another former student, a female, to feed the last duck to the crocodiles. I will not tell you who won. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Great perspective on the current lifestyles in China
Comments: Hessler has used his Chinese language skills and local friendships to talk with a cross section of common people of China. That's a perspective that almost all of us who want to visit China and understand the lifestyle of the people who live there cannot achieve. His writing style is entertaining and readable. He skillfully weaves the vast history of the regions into current events with minimal judgement. I found the book to be a valuable introduction to Chinese culture. |
