I finally finished the book Country Driving by Peter Hessler this morning. The reason why I used the word finally is because of the slow speed of my English reading. This isn’t a very large book, but I have been using 1 to 2 hours every day for almost 3 weeks on it.
Country Driving consists three parts, The Wall, The Village and The Factory. Each of the parts reflects an aspect of China, the bizarre country I live in.
Peter Hessler drove following the Great Wall of China built by different dynasties. He passed the Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi etc. Most parts of the Great Wall except the section in near Beijing have been destroyed, or even stolen by villagers. They use the bricks to build houses or just a stove. Peter Hessler met several villagers who had great interest in the Great Wall and had already done some sort of research things.
The second part describes the life of him in the village named Sancha, which is close to Huairou. He met Wei Ziqi there. Wei Ziqi is the character which Peter sketched the most in this part as a typical figure to express the status and life of the village of China. The great change of Wei Ziqi who started as a farmer becoming a successful businessman is just like the great change of China those years. Nothing will remain as it was in China, and the change is happening all the time.
In the third part, The Factory, Peter went to a factory in Lishui Development Zone producing bra circles which belonged to Boss Wang and Boss Gao. Recently I admire businessmen in Zhejiang very much, not because of the book, but other things I knew. Anyway, they all have bravery and talent, but they are cunning as well.
There isn’t too much I want to say besides the outline of the book. So, just it, another English book I have read.
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