Peter Hessler on his new book, "Other Rivers: A Chinese Education"

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Culture, China News, Hangzhou, Chinese, International Relations, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan, Currentaffairs, China, Politics, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China Economy, News, China Politics, Business, Film, Shenzhen

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2024

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week on Sinica, the highly-regarded writer Peter Hessler joins to talk about his new book, out July 9: Other Rivers: A Chinese Education. Over 20 years after teaching with the Peace Corps in Fuling (the subject of his first book, Rivertown, Pete returns to China to teach at Sichuan University in Chengdu. He writes about the two cohorts of students, with whom he has maintained extensive contacts, to offer fascinating insights into how China has changed across this momentous period with touching, deeply human stories.

3:47 – Why Pete couldn’t teach in Fuling again

6:56 – How Pete stayed in touch with his Fuling cohort

9:46 – Pete’s SCUPI [(Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute)] cohort

13:51 – Pete’s Fuling cohort

19:35 – Chinese rural values: pragmatism and modesty

23:08 – The physical and psychological differences between the Fuling and Chengdu cohorts

29:32 – “Educated acquiescence” in the Chinese education system

35:07 – The Hessler family’s experience with Chengdu Experimental Primary School

43:04 – The impending lack of “Country feel,” and Pete’s sense of humor

47:02 – Facing criticism over his reporting during the pandemic

52:13 – Pete’s experience being jǔbào’ed and teaching Orwell’s Animal Farm

59:01 – Pete’s take on the COVID origins debate

1:02:10 – Competition and authoritarianism in China, and the phenomenon of Chinese and Chinese American Trump supporters

1:06:57 – Serena’s investigation for Chángshì and why Pete’s contract was not renewed

1:15:28 What’s next for Pete

Recommendations:

Pete: Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux, a forthcoming novel about George Orwell’s time in Burma as a policeman; Burmese Days by George Orwell

Kaiser: the Meta Quest VR headset

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Audible brings your wildest adventures to life, delivering heart-pounding thrills at the touch
0:05.8	of a button.
0:07.0	Take Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club, where four retirees turned amateur sleuths
0:11.8	solve crimes in the most unexpected ways, brilliantly performed by Leslie Manville.
0:17.1	Ready to unleash your adventure aside, from pulse racing suspense to epic quests, from supernatural
0:22.6	chills to far-off romances, every story comes alive through world-class narration.
0:28.5	Explore exclusive audible originals, chart-topping new releases, and unforgettable bestsellers
0:34.4	that transport you from the very first word, because the next great
0:38.2	adventure is just a listener way.
0:40.8	Start your free 30-day trial at audible.com slash Wondery UK.
0:45.7	That's audible.com slash Wondery UK. Welcome to the Cynica podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China.
1:03.3	In this program, we'll look at books, ideas, new research, intellectual currents, and cultural trends
1:08.4	that can help us better understand what's happening in
1:10.9	China's politics, foreign relations, economics, and society. Join me each week for in-depth
1:16.6	conversations that shed more light and bring less heat to how we think and talk about China.
1:22.6	I'm Kaiser Guo coming to you from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cynica is supported this year by the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
1:31.5	a National Resource Center for the Study of East Asia.
1:35.1	The Cynica podcast will remain free, but if you work for an organization that believes in what I am doing with a podcast,
1:41.0	please consider lending your support.
1:43.2	You can get me at Cinecapod at gmail.com.
1:46.7	And listeners, please support my work on Substack at cinica.substack.com.
1:51.9	There you will find, in addition to the podcast, the complete transcript of the show,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kaiser Kuo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Kaiser Kuo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.