Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip [Paperback]

This book is based upon a car journey, but more important it reflects on how there got to be roads and cars in China. Its therefore a tale about modernisation and how people cope with it.

They cope with it remarkably well, given the circumstances and one conclusion might be: everything is fine. Of course, it isn't and the list of problems is huge: exploitation of workers, pollution, corruption, destruction of a way of life, destruction of heritage etc. It "works" because farmers are incredibly resourceful, the aspiration for wealth is high, disputes are absorbed (rather than dealt with) and, most important, the Communist Party retains absolute power.

Don't be mislead by the title. This book delves deeply into the politics, economics and society of China today.

This is the third, latest, and perhaps the best, of Peter Hessler's books on China. River Town started his mission to China with an account of his experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in a small town on the Yangtse. Oracle Bones hung its narrative around some scholarly and antiquarian research. Now here he is, a decade or more older and having that much more knowledge and experience of China, with three more stories to tell, only one of them about country driving.

There is not much autobiography left in this book. It is all about China and those Chinese that he got to know in various phases of his long stay there. Of the three `books' as he calls the three sections, the first is the country driving mini-saga. Peter had hired a car in Beijing on the understanding that he would drive it within the metropolitan area. Somehow, he got as far with it as Mongolia, and the rest of us are the gainers from that. One lifetime, nine lifetimes, would not be enough to experience China anywhere near comprehensively, but we can get a long way by proxy through the eyes and tongue of a guide as gifted as this. He is not pursuing any rigid agenda, just curious to find out more and knowing to expect the unexpected. Chinese drivers, and Chinese roads, have different characteristics depending on where you are, although it all still feels like a bit of a novelty even in the capital, I can say from my own experience. Even as a pedestrian in Beijing you need to be careful what might be coming round any corner, regardless of the traffic lights. Out in the desert provinces a lot of the tracks can only be called roads by way of courtesy, but what seems to be the same everywhere is the written driving test with its multi-choice questions. Those who already know Peter Hessler's deadpan and understated sense of humour will know what to expect from his selections, always with an undercurrent of sympathy and free from mockery. As for the traffic cops and the various local by-laws and their enforcers, Peter has had to find out about them from practical experience.

In the southern city of Wenzhou Peter went to look at some of the new business enterprises, and perhaps from what I just said about his sense of humour you will understand why he focuses on a business manufacturing brassiere-rings, these being part of that garment's architecture in case you, like myself, had never noticed. A sense of detachment goes with Peter's writing style because simply it is part of the man himself. However it is downright astonishing just how freely people feel able to talk to him and live their lives in front of him, and we meet some interesting new acquaintances here. Right at the end, after an absence, he finds the business gone like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, and there is a real sense of sadness for The Human Condition about the way he tells it. In the country driving `book' he bypassed Dunhuang in Gansu, and I was left wondering what might have happened to the Dunhuang Luminous Cup Company whose fine frontage I saw and photographed in 2009. At least I understand what brassiere-rings are when someone tells me.

The central `book', slightly the longest, may make the biggest impression on you, but let me say that I speak from personal knowledge of the main parties concerned. That, given the narrative (which I also knew beforehand), disqualifies me as a detached commentator, and probably no bad thing either. Sancha is a hamlet in the mountains about 40 miles north of Beijing, the nearest town being Huairou. The Great Wall (unrestored at this point) lurks in the thick woodland right above Sancha, climbing to about 3000 feet. The enterprising Wei Ziqi and his hardworking wife Cao Chunmei have set up the Great Wall Hostel, and apart from the modest charges and Cao Chunmei's excellent cooking, this is where one can experience village life without enduring the most primitive shortcomings - e.g. my room had a flush toilet. The main narrative here relates how the couple's son Wei Jia was critically ill and how among them, with Peter as the driver in more senses than one, they improvised desperately to keep him alive. The setting makes this story unforgettable, and it is my great pleasure to inform readers that in 2009 I encountered a hale and lively Wei Jia, aged 12 and speaking a bit of English. I also encountered the Idiot, and from Peter's account I understand what brought him to the condition in which he has to live out his life. If you ever go there, you should now find a lively little business with real individuality, some very interesting and varied company, genuine friendliness, and of course The Wall for you to climb. I don't yet know the significance of the red armband that Wei Ziqi wore twice when I was there, once when he went to investigate a broken-down van, and once when he very kindly but quite unnecessarily came to meet me on my return from the Wall carrying a waterproof in case I got soaked in a small storm passing overhead. I can see it all like yesterday, with the workmen sitting along the low wall smoking and chatting, and the universal interest aroused when I handed over a few foreign coins that I had, explaining the British denominations but unable to get across where the United Arab Emirates might be.

I wish them all good fortune, and I hope I helped Cao Chunmei in her attempt to rise above a woman's condition of village life through showing her how to pronounce English from the primer that I did not know she had.

When I saw Peter Hessler had written another book I couldn't wait to read it. I have read both his other books 'River Town' and 'Oracle Bones' and I enjoyed them both very much. This book is even better. I have visited China a few times and learned the language and Peter's experiences have rang true with me and my own encounter with China. I found it humorous and educational, and I couldn't put it down.

I thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in China and all things Chinese.