Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip

China trilogy #3

by Peter Hessler

After living in China for five years, and learning the language, Peter Hessler decided to undertake an even more complicated endeavor: he acquired his Chinese driving licence. An eye-opening, often hilarious, at times maddening challenge, it enabled him to embark on an epic journey driving across this most enigmatic of countries. Over seven years, he travels to places rarely explored by those outside China, into the factories exporting their goods to the world and into the homes of their workers.

Full of extraordinary encounters and details of life beyond Beijing, it is an unforgettable, unique portrait of the country that will likely shape all our lives in the century to come.

Genres: China, Nonfiction, Travel, Asia, History, Memoir, Cultural

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as Beijing correspondent from 2000-2007, 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.

Reviews

[Adina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish this one as I could not read more than a few pages at the time. The information was interesting but many times too much detail was given. There were also some funny bits that I enjoyed.

One thing is for sure. I will forever bee afraid of Chinese tax-drivers from now on. Not that I did not find them incompetent already.

A more in detail review might come...or not.

[Daren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Hessler's third in his China trilogy, and this third book is a story in three parts. They are quite distinctive parts too. Overall this is a fairly long read, at circa 550 pages, and it is a book that dwells in the minutiae, but it was minutiae that was interesting to me.

Speaking fluent Mandarin, as well as reading and writing do little to hide his foreignness, but offer him insights that others will never have. He is clearly a person who builds trust quickly as people are inclined to spill their life stories to him! He must have a way of quick connection and must have developed suitable questioning techniques for the Chinese psyche.

I will keep it brief, and stay away from the details, but the parts of the book consist of:

Part one - The Wall. Driving the small roads ostensibly following the Great Wall in it many fragmented parts. China is also undergoing a massive development in automobile ownership and development of industries around cars and roads. Using Sinomaps (the only Chinese map book that makes an effort) Hessler attempts to follow small roads, visit small towns, look around the Great Wall fragments. On the way he picks up hitchhikers, meets other people and shares their short stories, find historical points of interest and manages to layer in some basic history and context for where he is and who was there before him. Obtaining a Chinese driver's license provides pages and pages of entertainment, hiring a car provides ongoing amusement with the reportage of every far visit, every breakdown and every damage causing incident.

Part two - The Village. Hessler and a friend seek a 'writers refuge' - a house in a small village near Beijing, but beyond the suburbs in which to embed themselves (sharing but mostly separately). After searching they find a simple house in a simple village on the brink of modernisation. His landlord, wife and son become the key interface for this section of the book. In Sancha, Hessler makes friends and enemies, he helps and hinders the locals and writes about it all. Local government politics, the Communist Party and its involvement in village decisions, the system of land ownership, the hospital system, the police, Falun Gong, religion, farmers becoming businessmen, house alterations, family relationships. Little is sacred and Hessler reports it all.

Part three - The Factory. In this section Hessler visits an industrial area being established in advance of a new motorway. This is Chinese development on a large scale, described and removing mountains and filling valleys to make development land. Here he finds a factory in the very origins of setting itself up and he ingratiates himself with the owners and picks up the personal stories of them, their foreman and a group of workers. The factory makes two metalwork items, the underwires for bra's and the rings that make strap adjustment possible on bra's. Again he weaves in lots of information about land development, motorways & factories (manufacturing in general) as well as the personal stories of those noted.

So three quite district storylines, Hessler says researched over the period 2001 to 2009, during which a great many things in China changed. No doubt it has all continued to evolve and change at a great rate.

For me this equaled his first book and was superior to the second.
5 stars

[Vladys Kovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many books written about China's economic miracle. There are many studies published every year for the last thirty years predicting impending collapse of China. Don't read those books, ignore these studies, read Peter Hessler instead.

The books attempting to capture 'the big picture' of the economic transformation of China invariably miss out on the role played by individual choices that drive this transformation. Hessler starts from a very different position. He travels, he talks to people, he makes friends, he observes what individuals strive for and how they accomplish their goals. Initially disjointed personal stories soon form a pattern, little streams converge into mighty rivers, hundred million former farm hands rush into cities, head to factories in the south to make 'China's economic miracle' not only possible but inevitable. Formed by individual choices, 'the big picture' arrives all by itself, without the need to tweak economic theories that failed to predict it.

Peter Hessler starts out like most westerners arriving in China would. He is intrigued by history, he attempts to drive along the entire Great Wall. As he observes the quickly changing world around him, his interest in the past gives way to the fascination with the present. Hessler realizes that he is witnessing a historical event of unique proportions not only for China but for the whole world. And he rushes to document it as a good journalist would, focusing on individuals he meets, armed with keen powers of observation and not encumbered by stereotypes or political dogmas. He carries no baggage of preconceptions, he is humble and open, full of the appreciation for the people he meets and the culture he learns about. This approach is what makes the book successful.

Hessler begins with sketches of hitchhikers 'petting an invisible dog' on the side of the road during his long drive along the ancient walls. He moves on to more detailed portraits of members of a family in a struggling village of Sancha. He follows the story of Wei Ziqi over the course of several years and records his transformation from a reluctant farmer into a successful businessman. Wei Ziqi's son, who calls the strange foreigner living in their house 'Uncle Monster', forms a strong bond with the author. Hessler finishes his story in the southern province Zhejiang, where he follows a small factory from its creation to eventual moderate success. He first meets and describes the bosses, documenting the essential ingredients for entrepreneurship in China, then switches to more endearing stories, fortunes and aspirations of several factory workers.

Peter Hessler's writing style is unadorned, economical, very easy to read. He combines well the main story line with some historical snapshots and throws in quite a few amusing anecdotes from his travels.

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, a journalist and old China hand, describes life on the road in a rural China that is rapidly developing, with new roads and factories being built every year. At 420 pages, the book’s scope is much wider than the simple comedy of renting a car in a heavily bureaucratic society that nevertheless has a vibrant under-the-table economy, or the perils of driving in a country where most people behind the wheel have had very little training and eschew wipers and lights. Hessler rents a house in a village, and describes one family's gradual rise to political and financial success. He follows the Great Wall, visits an artist community in Lishui, and follows the creation, rise, and struggles of a bra-ring factory, and the workers who live in it.

So the title is only partially descriptive of the book, but so what? Hessler’s breadth of knowledge, empathy, sense for the human side of the story, and clear, witty writing make all his subjects interesting. He unfolds the drama of an ill village boy, and the disjunct between his own Western eyes and China’s traditional medicine coupled with xenophobic doctors. He shows the great cultural divide between East and West (citing “group impulse” twice to explain some Chinese behavior), but also zeroes in on the emotions and frustrations that all humanity share. He keeps encountering a sort of superficiality in Chinese economic life, where appearance is more important than content, and where bribes and lies are a part of life, but explores the deeper currents that motivate the players. Hessler is a gifted reporter of cultures, and this is a thoroughly fascinating look at a modern but still changing China.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

County Driving is really three books in one. The first, about Hessler's road trip along the Great Wall and about driving in China generally is entertaining, but ultimately the least interesting of the three. Although the episodes of his road trip are interesting, it fails to add up to anything more than shaggy-dog story.

In the second part about life in a small village outside Beijing that undergoes huge transformation in just a few years as it is discovered by road-tripping Beijingers, Hessler stays put and takes the time to allow the full, rich story to unfold. The details are personal and insightful, at times emotionally touching and at times academically fascinating.

The third part, about a new industrial district in the south and a factory there, shows the same power of observation and insight as the second part. Through the experiences of one factory and one district, Hessler fills out a detailed picture of the modern Chinese economy and how it is changing.

The first part of the book is worth reading, but the second and third parts make it truly fascinating and enjoyable.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is superlative! The author is engaging and gives us wonderful and sometimes heart-rending insights of the people in China; and at other times he is hilarious in describing the odd situations that pop-up now and again in a country that is vastly different from Western society. But this country, at the same time, is producing a wide variety of the goods used by Western society.

Page 294 (my book)

There was nothing more terrifying than a drive through the city’s coastal suburbs. Fifteen years ago, this region was all farmland... Now you judged transitions by advertisements on the side of the road... First I cruised through a neighborhood where virtually every billboard displayed hinges, and then I began to see signs for electric plugs and adaptors. Soon they were replaced by plastic light switches; next came fluorescent bulbs... At last I came to the district of Ru’an, which according to the local government was home to exactly 1,208 manufacturers of automobile engine accessories, brakes and steering systems.

The author is fluent in Mandarin (spoken and written) so he is able blend in and take in the activities around him, like family squabbles, business deals... China is a country undergoing massive transitions. Rural people have moved in the millions to urban areas to work in factories and do construction. The landscape is being physically flattened for the making of these factories and the vast network of roads surrounding them. Many of the people moving have little education (many are illiterate) – their life is in upheaval, but possibilities are endless.

Businessmen (mostly men) network with others. Part of this social process involves the handing out of cigarettes. There are hundreds of brands of cigarettes which signify the class of the person; for example there are cigarette brands smoked by people in rural areas – and more expensive types smoked in urban areas. By handing out a particular brand signifies who you are, or aspire to be, in this changing world.

Young girls are leaving home to move and work in the cities and manufacturing sites. They are becoming more independent. The author provides a stunning account of a fifteen year old girl who gets jobs at a factory for her entire family (she masqueraded as an 18 year old to do this).

The book is in three sections. The first is a road trip along the Great Wall. The second takes place in a small rural village that undergoes, within a few years, the transition to a more urban lifestyle due to the entrepreneurship of the villagers. Lastly the author spends time with workers and managers in the start-up of a factory that is making bra hooks and bra wires – by the thousands in whatever colour desired for the hooks, and all sizes for the wires!

This is a great book about a country on the move.

Page 362

“Going to a new job is like gambling.” Master Luo explained. “You leave and you hope that the new factory does well. If it doesn’t, then you probably can’t go back to the old job and the old life. What’s in the past stays in the past.”

[Ms.pegasus · Rating 4 out of 5]

To many Westerners, the Great Wall symbolizes China: An ancient symbol of China's sense of otherness. Parts of it date back to the Period of the Warring States (200 BC); most of it was completed during the Ming Dynasty. Author and journalist Peter Hessler begins his narrative by fulfilling his long-held desire to drive the length of the Great Wall.

Our first inkling of the difference between China and America is the attitude toward the ancient wall. Over time, much of it is little more than a mud ridge, the bricks and stones having been recycled into houses and domestic repairs. In the 1920's one government plan proposed that the wall be converted into a roadway. At one point in his journey, a local man guides Hessler to the Great Wall – literally. When he stops he finds that he has parked his car atop the ancient relic! The guide cheerfully assures him that it's not a problem.

The book falls into 3 parts: An entertaining roadtrip filled with geographical and historical detail interspersed with hilarious observations about driving in China; village life (the author rents a domicile in a rural village (Sancha) and gradually becomes caught up in the flow of both endurance and change there); and finally, the factories spawned by the ambitious road-building program resulting from government modernization plans. Despite the title, the feel is intimate and nuanced. Hessler becomes closely involved with the lives of Wei Ziqi, his wife Cao Chunmei, and their son Wei Jia during his stay at Sancha. He is a close observer of human nature. Admiration for Wei Ziqi's curiosity and ambitions for economic improvement are balanced with Hessler's recognition of Cao Chunmei's increasing sense of isolation and loneliness. “The longer I lived in China, the more I worried about how people responded to rapid change....I understood why people were eager to escape poverty, and I had a deep respect for their willingness to work and adapt. But there were costs when this process happened so fast....In the West, newspaper stories about China tended to focus on the dramatic and the political....But from what I saw, the nation's greatest turmoil was more personal and internal. Many people were searching; they longed for some kind of religious or philosophical truth, and they wanted a meaningful connection with others. They had trouble applying past experiences to current challenges. Parents and children occupied different worlds, and marriages were complicated – rarely did I know a Chinese couple who seemed happy together. It was all but impossible for people to keep their bearings in a country that changed so fast.”

COUNTRY DRIVING highlights many bizarre yet human aspects of Chinese life. There are detailed physical requirements in the Chinese rulebook. A truck driver must be at least 155 cm. tall (a shade over 5 feet). Passenger car drivers must be 150 cm (4' 11”) – which would disqualify me! It all seems to reveal a fascination with metrics, regardless of how irrelevant. In Subei, a city in Mongolia, the author is badgered by the police about his exact education level as a pretext for detaining the foreigner. A traffic management scheme in Baotou substitutes plastic statues of traffic police for real police officers in answer to the sudden boom in road building and traffic. The idea seems to be that numbers compensate for the lack of a trained workforce in this chaotic transitional period.

Throughout, there are tantalizing hints of an unbreachable linguistic gap. Slogans which sound ridiculous to us are casually accepted as part of the background noise of ordinary living. A SMOOTH ROAD BRINGS PROSPERITY AND DRIVES AWAY POVERTY. In 40 foot tall characters across a mountain in Inner Mongolia is the sign: EVERYBODY WORK TO MAKE THE GREEN MOUNTAIN GREENER. Hessler notes wryly that the mountain is not green, and the site devoid of a single working person. Perhaps the attachment to slogans represents optimism. Slogan piled on slogan will, perhaps, create a social “nudge” in the desired direction. Or, perhaps the slogans only seem bizarre to the outsider. After all, does anyone in America stop to analyze what “COKE IS IT” or “JUST DO IT” (Nike) means?

In contrast, there is a stoic candor to many of the axioms that persist. Shan gao huangdi yuan (The mountains are high, the emperor is far away); Mei banfa (Nothing can be done) or Wo bu guan (I don't control it). When Cao Chunmei sets up statues of Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy) and Kaishen (the God of Wealth) the author asks in typical Chinese fashion, how much they cost. She replies: “'We don't say that we 'bought' something like this,' she said. 'We say that we 'invited' the statues to come here. I invited them here because I thought they would help our household.'”

Hessler focuses on the cultural differences between China and America that paradoxically highlight our similarities. Much of the material for COUNTRY DRIVING was gathered for articles which appeared in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and the NEW YORKER. The result can at times be disjointed. This is a minor quibble. With his knowledge of the language and journalistic curiosity, he has created an entertaining and eye-opening account of recent change in rural China.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book that I quite enjoyed. However, to me it’s not quite as substantial as Hessler’s prior two China books, and I strongly recommend reading them in order, beginning with River Town.

This book is divided into three very distinct parts—all related to cars in some way, if loosely—rather than weaving together various threads as Hessler did in Oracle Bones. As it turned out, my interest and appreciation increased as it went along.

The first part covers two road trips Hessler made across northern China in 2001/2002, and the people and places he encountered along the way. This section is quite good travel writing—it’s interesting, insightful and sometimes funny (that driver’s exam! crop threshing by throwing them in the road for cars to run over!)—but it’s much less interesting than writing about places he got to know.

The second part focuses on a village about two hours from Beijing, where Hessler and a friend bought a long-term lease on a house as a writing retreat. When they first moved, the village was difficult to access and felt incredibly remote; young people had abandoned the place, and only one child remained. As roads improved and car ownership grew over the early 2000s, however, the place increasingly became a weekend destination for city people and the village transformed. This is a very interesting section, particularly as Hessler became closely involved with the landlord and his family—giving him a window into schooling and medical care for rural children, treatment of the developmentally disabled, and local politics. The landlord at one point tries to take over the position of village Party Secretary from the rare woman holding the office, and the author winds up with an insider view of how the local system works.

The third part follows the fortunes of a bra ring factory, also over several years in the early 2000s. Improved roads allowed the town of Lishui, in the interior of Zhejiang province, to turn itself into a development zone, which happens almost overnight as construction and factories come in. Hessler observes the development of the city itself (an almost entirely private-business endeavor, as government officials do little but occasionally demand bribes, and civil society is nonexistent), and follows the fortunes of the factory, getting to know the bosses, skilled upper-level workers, and a family of migrants who work on the assembly line. This section particularly fascinated me, from the workers’ lives (when interviewing for jobs, the migrant workers sought out ones demanding as many hours as possible; when leaving, one skilled worker makes a practice of vanishing on the pretext of a family emergency to avoid wages being withheld, and changing his phone number) to the funding strategies.

Chinese cities at the time largely made their money by exploiting differences in land ownership laws: city land could be privately owned, but rural land was owned by the villages as a collective…. which were nevertheless required to sell it at set, low prices to cities in something like eminent domain. Cities with development goals thus only had to annex surrounding farmlands and engage in land speculation in order to raise capital (an American city would issue bonds, but this was forbidden in China). The displaced farmers Hessler meets, however, aren’t focused on the big picture; by setting highly detailed rules for how to value one’s property, the government redirected grievances to the smallest and most individual concerns.

There are also some great little asides in this section: the family of traveling performers (they know their act sucks, that’s why they’re traveling) and the government-sponsored “artists’ colony” in which people paint endless reproductions of European masterworks or random photographs to be sold on the foreign market.

As always, I loved Hessler’s close observation and thoughtful analysis. It’s also nice to read about difficult parts of the world in ways that focus on how people live their lives and get ahead, rather than misery tourism. (Though of course a lot of that has to do with who the writer focuses on—Hessler isn’t in Tibet or Xinjiang, and focuses much more on men than women, presumably because these are the social connections more available to him.) I definitely got a lot out of reading this book, and if I loved it a little less than Hessler’s first two, it’s probably just that there was less novelty remaining by this point. He left China in 2007, but apparently returned shortly before the pandemic and spent two more years, which I hope will result in another China book someday soon!

[LenaExplorer · Rating 5 out of 5]

5++++
又一次绝棒的阅读体验！敢信吗，我通过一个美国人队中国的观察了解中国。跟River Town一样，Peter依旧humble，unbiased and humorous! 我跟reading buddy天天互甩搞笑段落的划线截屏，评论“哈哈哈哈哈”😅

Peter对社会现象和文化的观察也细致入微，比如烟酒在中国business中的作用，乡镇政府在征地获利中的政策等等。

双手双脚推荐（除了长没别的毛病😅😅）

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Country Driving by Peter Hessler

This book covers much of the author's decade living in China and his attempt to learn about the people and culture there. Most of the chapters center around his attempts to drive around the country and explore, often surreptitiously. Many incidents involve the police coming to his room and asking him to leave town because he is an unregistered journalist.

But despite his propensity to get into minor trouble with the local authorities, Hessler also comes to know many of the people and to appreciate different aspects of Chinese life including an admiration for their education system and their curiosity and desire to succeed.

I did appreciate the early sections on the history on the Great Wall of China. Of course it is not one wall but many such structures built over two millennia by different dynasties including the most recent section built by the Min dynasty just a few centuries ago.

Hessler is a prize winning writer and journalist and there is real depth to his insights. I feel that China is changing so rapidly however that this book - already a decade old - will feel like a relic in another decade or so.

I have yet to visit mainland China but plan to do so. This book should be a good resource as well.

4.5 stars

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this for the August Book club - but we didn't get a chance to discuss it because of schedule conflicts. I liked the book overall. It had a bit more detail than the ususual expat book because it was outside of Shanghai and Beijing. The one thing I kept thinking of while I was reading it was whether it was already all out dated. The book was published in 2010, but much of it was based on his research and trips from the early 2000's. So much changes so fast in China - everything is another whole generation past what he experienced. Here are some of the items I found most interesting or thought provoking, or were new insights considering I've already read about 5 expat memoirs/thinly veiled novels.

1. I never knew the use of headlights was banned in Beijing until the 1970s. That explains alot to me.
2. The old man who asked him if he was Chinese - "I thought you weren't Chinese!" That made me laugh.
3. I really wish some of the sections on the great wall had pictures. He is fine at describing things, but it is hard for me to really imagine things from his descriptons.
4. In the part where he talked about the differences between the three country brothers and the Beijing kids - he said, "I never saw kids like this in Beijing --in the capital, nearly everybody is an only child, coddled and spoiled from birth" It really evoked the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for me - and it really is like that in China, how much the people in the cities have, vs. the subsistence life styles in the country.
5. I didn't know the bus drivers were paid on a percentage of ticket sales, that explains why the bus was so overstuffed in a long haul bus accident I heard about a few months ago.
6. Unbelievably -- it is the second time I have heard a story of the office paper from the US/UK sent to China for recycling - it was also in a book about Chinese quality.
7. I really liked the stories in the Village where he slowly befriended the towns people, I think that was the most engaging section of the book. It was interesting to see the families changing with the influx of money and the opportunities.
8. Also to see how they tried to navigate the politics - shows me why I am so bad at it here.
9. I think the stories of the people who work in the pleather factories are tragic.

Overall I really liked the book.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Hessler is the best kind of journalist, and the opposite of a sensationalist. He just hangs out with local people and conveys their struggles to completely change things. He must be a friendly guy to be allowed such access to people's family and business lives. They let him listen in as they conduct job interviews, discipline kids, handle tax inspectors, plan factories from the ground up, or have dinner with their families.

Part of the book concerns road trips. But most of it is about getting to know groups of ordinary people. Their intense pragmatism and determination to improvise give Hessler his opening to learn. We see how development areas are funded, how factories are thrown together, how police buy shares in speed traps, and traveling circus shows operate outside the law. Mostly, Hessler shows us common people taking huge risks, flying by the seats of their pants, making mistakes that are both dangerous and hilarious, clawing their way to a slightly better day.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my top read of the summer. I found myself laughing outloud, and searching for opportunties to read tid-bits to whoever was around to listen. Hessler has an engaging writing style, and an ability to effortlessly jump from an emotional, moving description that almost brings you to tears to a hilarious depiction so absurd you can't imagine it to be true. When he said he got on the new highway in China and couldn't get off for two hours because the on and off ramps hadn't been built, I about died.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Hessler’s writing never ceases to amaze me. I am blown away by how much detail and nuance he is able to include in his characters and settings. I suppose it comes from being hyper-observant, but to embed such details smoothly into a narrative that covers an extremely transient and complex place takes an unusual amount of talent. The level his Mandarin must be at to understand such detail makes what he does all the more amazing.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally finished this book, from sheer willpower more than anything else! Others may find his stuff fascinating, but for me as a reader he fails to "connect" - with stories that should seem personal coming off as detached. Moreover, the narrative is often bogged down with details (such as those concerning Chinese bra parts manufacturing). The first third of the book, traveling by car through China in days when passenger cars were rare, held my interest the most.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I vividly remembered the author's 2007 New Yorker article about driving in China and about the Chinese becoming a society of drivers. This contains the same material but a lot more; it's roughly divided into three sections. The first is about exploring the Great Wall by car; the second is about a village north of Beijing, Sancha, where the author has a second home; the third is about a factory outside Wenzhou that makes bra rings (you know, the little rings on the straps that make the bra adjustable).

While I was reading this, there seemed to be a newspaper article every day that directly related to it or that was explained by it. What's covered here is great for understanding the news about China, but it's somehow very personal as well, because of the author's fluency in Chinese. Just his ability to hop into a rented car and drive around and chat with people makes him unusual among Westerners. The best section is the most personal one, dealing with Hessler's friendship with a family in Sancha.

My only complaint is that there are passages where the pacing of this book is a bit torpid--like a pleather factory in July? I think it could have been cut a bit. Still, I'll add his earlier books to my list.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't finished (listening), but I *can* write a comment now. This is a wonderful book. Hessler is a wonderful and brilliant writer. He has a deep and serious understanding of culture (as such), as well as of Chinese culture in particular; he is intelligent, observant, has emotional range, a sense of humor -- and, most importantly, he is writing about something important. The emergence of China is a world-historical event, and this book -- much of which takes place in rural China in 2002-2006 -- it is like reading Braudel.... or Hobsbawm's description of the emergence of modernity in late 18th cen Europe -- modernization of transport, of communications, of values... all taking place before his eyes -- only condensed from 50 years into 5. This book, and Oracle Bones (which is even better), will thus have value as a permanent record -- an on-the-ground reportage -- of events that historians will spend the next 50 years digesting.

And most importantly, reading or listening to Hessler is just so damned entertaining -- that it's a treat.

Well..., let me qualify that -- NOT most importantly...

.... but all the same... these books ARE a pleasure.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Hessler is a master of explaining national trends through the lens of everyday, normal people. What struck me most about the book was the depth of friendship Hessler built with members of the communities he visited, a testament to his grasp of Chinese and willingness to enter into their lives. I got the sense they became genuine friends, and were not just characters to be researched for a book. Would love to sit down with him and hear more stories from his life in China.

[Birgitte Bach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg havde forventet en spændende rejsebeskrivelse, men bogen bød på så meget mere end jeg havde forventet, hvilket var meget overrumplende. Den var meget tungere end jeg havde forventet især i det sidste afsnit af bogen. Men formidlingen var helt i top og meget interessant og letforståeligt

[Evan Puschak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why, but I got the urge to learn more about modern China. After researching a bunch of books about The Party, about Xi Jinping and geopolitics, I came across some glowing reviews for Peter Hessler's Country Driving, which presents China in the opposite way: from the bottom-up. Despite the boring title, this book was a great introduction to the Chinese people's perspective on their country, through the eyes of a subtle observer and writer.

The book is broken up into three parts: in the first, Hessler drives the length of The Great Wall, documenting the surrounding countryside; in the second, he rents a home in a small town called Sancha and lives for some years among the rural residents; and in the third, he documents the growth of a boom-town and the launch of a factory that manufactures bra rings. In all the book took the better part of a decade to write, and that patience offers depth, a depth you're not going to find in articles or headlines about China's latest this or that.

But what makes Country Driving really special is the people Hessler presents to the reader. As a foreigner in parts of China not used to seeing many, he has a talent for blending in, stepping aside and making local citizens feel comfortable enough to share their stories. In the course of hearing about these rich, changing lives, you learn so much about what it's really like to live and work in China. Every challenge, every milestone, every part of a daily routine speaks to a larger trend or philosophy, and Hessler is great at working in these contexts. By the end you have learned a lot about geopolitics and economics, not in an abstract way, but through the experience of people who are actually living the rapid changes in Chinese society.

And those changes (the book takes place from 2001 to 2007) are profound. You can see the effects a decade later: China is an economic powerhouse that grew (and is growing) much faster than many expected it could, while The Party still retains an authoritarian grip on power. Though political dissent is essentially impossible, the Chinese people -- even those from rural regions -- are not powerless. The chance for upward mobility in the new economy is everywhere for those who work hard and can manipulate their situation. Hessler has a deep admiration for these people, but he's not wearing rose-colored glasses. He can't help but see the Chinese culture through American eyes, no matter how much he learns. He often experiences things that shock him, and they shocked me too, but he's doesn't judge and that encouraged me to do the same. The result is a feeling of sympathy for complex people facing a new world rushing toward them.

I'm sure I'll get to the top-down, zoomed-out books about China eventually, but I'm glad I started with this instead. It's not as boring as the title, just the opposite. Promise.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and informative book about economic development in China in the early 2000s through the lens of a roadtrip west, life in a country village, and the dramas within a struggling bra-hook factory. Laughed out loud many times reading this. One star off for a few random factual errors and repeated commentary on how “pretty” some underage female characters were.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually first read this book about 10 years ago in the hardback version at the same time that I read the other two of peters China books. I seem to have erased prior evidence as I have read it again just recently by using the audible and Kindle versions.

This book has three well-defined segments, the wall, the village, and the factory.

The wall section of the book is about driving along The wall. You will get a view of the wall which you have probably only mostly seen as a rather imposing structure. It turns out that there are many variations on the wall theme in China. The interesting point of view about the wall is that it was predominantly unsuccessful in its effort to keep people out and yet has become very successful as a tourist attracting part of China in the present day. Peter does a good Job giving us a view of the reality of the wall in the current day China. In some places you need to have a knowledgeable local person to help you find the wall. Peter specializes in finding people on the ground! His ability to speak the language and his persistence in exploring the countryside are admirable qualities.

His experience in the village is an actual life experience of living in a village over an extended period of time and becoming a friend of some of the people there. He gives you a good idea of the reality of life over a period of time where change in China was the dominant experience.

The factory experience shows us how farmland became factory towns almost literally overnight. He explains the complexity of the Chinese developmental process. How city after city specializes in One product per city replicated in dozens of factories making the same thing. He gives you a sense of the communist party organization within the country without being didactic or simplistic. He gets to know real people and writes about their lives. He gets to know real people by becoming a part of their lives in a very human way.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Country Driving is Peter Hessler’s third book about China, and it might be the best one to convey the sense of rapid change in the country he knows so well. The book is in three parts, each covering personal experiences that Hessler had over the course of several years.

In a series of road trips following the Great Wall across northern China, he visits villages barely hanging on as their residents depart for cities. Hessler has an eye for the contradictions and ironies that abound. I love the cover photo, which is from this journey. A statue of a policeman looms over the highway to remind people to drive safely, but the driving is uniformly dreadful.

In the second part, he records the modern transformations in a single village near Beijing. His touchstone is a peasant family which has entrepreneurial vigor. The son of this family may be the most memorable character of the book. A wiry mountain kid who bounds through his wide-open environment turns before our eyes into a plump kid all Westerners would recognize — when he acquires television and packaged foods.

Finally, Hessler explores China's frenetic factory scene by way of a bra-parts factory which is typical of the hastily established get-rich-quick enterprises in a Special Economic Zone. The young women who know how to weasel themselves into a job are amazing.

I understand that Hessler has returned to the US to live. His three books have been memorable because he knew people so well and left me with indelible images of China. Welcome home — I guess — but will we have more books on China?

[Dominik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Świetna lektura, choć nieco nierówna. Pierwsza część, "Mur", jest niemrawym wstępem, i zapewne zniechęci wielu czytelników. Druga opisuje społeczność Sanchy, małej wioski położonej blisko słynnego odcinka Wielkego Muru Mutianyu. Hessler wrósł w nią na tyle, że perypetie bohaterów tej części są naprawdę angażujące i ciężko nie podchodzić do nich emocjonalnie. Amerykańskiemu reporterowi udało się obserwować Sanchę w przełomowym momencie historycznym, przez co z jego historii pobrzmiewa pewna epickość, na szczęście bez żadnych patetycznych wspomagaczy, które mogły tu kusić. To zdecydowanie najlepsza część książki, przyćmiewająca nieco tę trzecią, poświęconą prowincjonalnej strefie ekonomicznej w Chinach Południowych. Hessler jest wnikliwym obserwatorem i skrupulatnym badaczem, a do tego wie, jak w przystępny sposób i bez niepotrzebnego zadęcia (i zakłóceń poznawczych typowych dla obcokrajowców) opowiadać o współczesnych Chinach. 

Najciekawsze fragmenty, które na długo zapamiętam i które dowodzą wszechstronności autora to ten o savoir-vivre związanym z papierosami, opisy poszczególnych etapów powstawania SSE, przekrój historii robotników migracyjnych, opis złożonych relacji wpływów i zależności w chińskiej wsi. Bardzo są one pouczające, wiedza na takie tematy nie jest łatwo dostępna, a są to szalenie ciekawe zagadnienia. Dzięki takim smaczkom z pewnością będę jeszcze wielokrotnie do tej książki wracać. 

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author / journalist Peter Hessler is one of my Top Favorite authors: He writes very well, he notices and finds "the interesting" in just about everything (and then makes you interested in these things as well), he is clearly fascinated by China and human nature, and observes and writes about both enormously well, and, on top of it, he's just an all around decent guy with whom it's fun to spend a lot of reading time. "Country Driving" is his third book about China, written while living there, and written without much more of an agenda other than relaying what he observes and making the Chinese and the country overall human and interesting. ANYONE with ANY interest in China, or in human nature in general, MUST read this book! I also highly recommend his other two books: "River Town" (book #1) and "Oracle Bones" (book #2). This third book and book #2 in particular have helped me understand so much better the news about China that I read / hear from any other source. Mr. Hessler has written for "The New Yorker" and "National Geographic", and that all makes sense: His style is news-y and accessible; interested in the world and in its inhabitants; and able to see the humor in situations but without denigrating his journalistic subjects.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, but long, account of the author's life in China for about 10 years, where he worked as a reporter for The New Yorker. In three parts, it includes a drive across China at the Great Wall, life in a small village, and investigation of the expanding industrial zone in the south. The theme of the entire book is the ever-changing nature of this country, where there is a massive migration from the rural areas into urban areas to work in what is China's exploding industrial revolution.

I started reading this before I visited China in the fall of 2017 and finally picked it up again over the last couple weeks; everything that he talks about in the book (published in 2010) is happening even more so now, as you can see the absolutely massive new building projects going on in cities that are home to millions of people.

The great thing about the book is getting the behind-the-scenes view that is only barely visible to travelers who are well-monitored and only allowed to see certain things. The Chinese culture is incredibly different than the west's, and it shows up in everything from how people drive to how communities are built. Excellent...and highly recommended if you want to invest the time.

[Keenan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book that got me to love travel writing so many years ago! Since then I've read far too many books and stories and essay collections from Brits and Americans going to far-off exotic places, and I managed half a dozen trips to China in the years since I read this for the first time. Perhaps on first read there was an element of disbelief at the sheer speed and scale at which China was developing, that everyone could be on the move and upwardly mobile and itching to be part of something big, and years later it's still hard to contemplate. Hessler's writing goes beyond facts and figures and funny anecdotes and explores the psyche of this hard-to-understand place in his breezy, cheeky, I write for the New Yorker style, and I see it as one of the crucial books for trying to understand the country in this century.

[Seamus · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In any case, a foreigner often feels most foreign while witnessing the early education of another culture. It's truly the foundation--everything begins in places like Shayu Elementary school. The classroom reflects the way people behave in the streets, the way village governments function, even the way the Communist Party structures its power."

I learned a lot from Hessler about places that I did not know much about. It gives me trepidation about the future of China--it seems like an unsustainable blend of capitalism and authoritarianism.

[Alex Kudera · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Peter Hessler, if you aren't familiar with his writing from China, I suggest beginning with a couple pieces you can find online at The New Yorker: "The Middleman" or "Walking the Wall." If you're ready for an entire book, I'd try River Town first.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the ethnographic style, and ultimately, human focus. At times a crude liberalism comes through, which led to probably unhelpful exaggerations and sweeping statements. But these were few in number. I wouldn’t read this book alone - particularly as a Marxist critical of capitalist China - but gives an excellent grounding on 2000s China to read alongside other sources, such as Chuang, Hinton, etc. for greater context. 4.5/5