I am just finishing off this excellent book by Peter Hessler. I had never read his stuff before but I will go out and buy River Town his other book on life in China.

In Oracle Bones, Hessler has several themes running. He was an English teacher in Sichuan before getting a semi legal job in a press bureau in Beijing and then becoming a properly accredited reporter. He is also a Chinese speaker and that has allowed him to talk one to one to many different ordinary people. His love of Chinese as a language comes through very well.

He follows the subsequent life of two couples, three of the four people were his students in Fulin Sichuan. They head for Shenzhen and another small town in Zhejiang Province. Two become English teachers, another goes to work in a factory in Shenzhen.

He also follows the life of a Uigar called Polat who he met in a small restauraunt in Beijing near where Hessler lives. Polat is a wheeler dealer but eventually gets to emmigrate to the US via a semi legal backdoor. He stays in contact with Polat in the US and visits him there. He describes the life of a would be semi legal immigrant trying to settle in the US. As the book covers the period of 9/11 Hessler also provides an insight to the other Uigars who have gone to the US and how they are affected in the US at that time.

Another theme follows an archeological dig in Anyan. Linked to that are the oracle bones that give the book its title. Hessler traces back their modern translation to a group of scholars some of whom were persecuted in the 100 Flowers Movement and Cultural Revolution. One of the scholars committed suicide. That scholar Chen Men Jia was criticised in the CR over his stance on the simplification of Chinese characters.

Hessler also writes about himself; his arrest as he stumbles into a village holding an election, he was there by accident but that is no excuse as he admitted he was a reported by mistake.

Hessler on some levels writes like Bill Bryson, funny and witty, with great insight. He also writes of the sadness of the situations his students and the other real characters in his book find themsleves in, in both modern China and in China in upheaval.

I really rate this book. It gives some very good insights to life in China.

I read River Town about three years ago and really enjoyed it. Been waiting to read Oracle Bones... thank for the great review!

Thanks, SC.