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Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present

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Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present

by Peter Hessler

HarperCollins, John Murray, $210

The maxim 'may you live in interesting times' - often cited as an ancient Chinese curse - works better as a blessing for teacher-turned-journalist-turned-author Peter Hessler.

Posted by the Peace Corps to a remote town on the Upper Yangtze river in the mid 1990s, the Missouri native moved with creditable fluency into the rhythms and manners of life in a part of China where he was one of a handful of foreigners. From there he shifted to Beijing, clipping news reports for the archives of an international newspaper and writing freelance articles.

He was most fortunate to be in China at a time when its development was accelerating beyond expectations, surfing the vicissitudes of so-called Reform and Opening. Oracle Bones - a Journey Between China's Past and Present is a reflection of these years - acutely observed, moving, frequently funny and a perspicacious X-ray of China's zeitgeist.

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