PETER HESSLER HAS come a long way since his bold immersion into China as an English teacher with the Peace Corps.
Hessler arrived in the rough and tumble Sichuan town of Fuling, on the banks of the Yangtze, in 1996, determined to fulfil his ambition of living abroad, learning a language and honing his writing. A decade later, he has achieved all three: he is The New Yorker's man in Beijing and a contributor to National Geographic, and has two published books under his belt and is writing a third. He also speaks Putonghua. 'I'd never describe myself as speaking fluent Chinese,' he says. 'I'm comfortable with the language and I don't need a translator.'
Not a linguist, perhaps, but a writer, nonetheless. While teaching English for two years and travelling China's hinterland, from the North Korean borderlands to Shenzhen, either on assignment or on a whim, he wrote freelance articles and essays for a variety of publications. Now he's feted as one of a handful of so-called New China Hands, describing the mainland vividly, through younger, less jaded eyes.
His latest book, Oracle Bones, the much anticipated follow-up to his acclaimed debut, River Town, lays bare a rapidly evolving China through his often bizarre encounters with the engines of its social change - not the politicians, but ordinary people, from corn-starch entrepreneurs to his army of students from Fuling.
'I've always believed that somebody like William Jefferson Foster [a former student of Hessler's who Anglicised his name] is more interesting and has more to say about China than Hu Jintao. And he may even have more 'power', in a certain sense.
'I'm not sure how much somebody like Hu is in charge. It seems that the Party is simply following a track established by Deng Xiaoping, and the high-ranking leaders are just trying to survive. Young people like Willy, on the other hand, make big decisions about their lives. They decide where to live and how to work and what to do about their families. When you see somebody making decisions, you understand their values and concerns.'