Peter Hessler

In his new book, Oracle Bones: A Journey between China's Past and Present, Hessler, who has lived in China for the past nine years and is the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, looks at the country through a kaleidoscopic lens of history, archeology, language, and contemporary culture.The title Oracle Bones refers to the earliest known writing in East Asia, inscriptions from the Shang dynasty more than three thousand years ago. As Hessler follows contemporary events, he returns again and again to these fragile first records of history in China, exploring the tension between a nation's troubled past and its determination to look to the future. His narrative follows individuals who make their way through a changing China. By following these stories, and interweaving them with portraits of archeology and history, Hessler gives the reader a new perspective on the dramatic transformation of today's China.... (from WGBH public television in Boston)

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This is a link to a speech Hessler gave in Boston on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at
The Boston Athenaeum

You may also read TIME's Asian Journey that Hessler wrote about his journey back to Fuling, the setting of his first book RIVER TOWN.