Title: Hessler knows China
Review: While this book is excellent for people unfamiliar with China, it is also highly recommended for those with a more in depth knowledge. I myself have spent time in Taiwan and China and was often struck by how accurate Hessler's observations were.The section on Chinese photo albums and the rather bizarre photo culture there was hilarious, as was the section on the English names Chinese people take. I also identified with Hessler's alternate personality, his self in Chinese, Ho Wei. Anyone who studies Chinese has this other personality...kind of dumb, illiterate, and not at all erudite or funny. This book will make you laugh out loud, but it also has a serious side, discussing issues such as the sky-high rates of suicide among women in China, the educational atmosphere in a system tightly controlled by the CCP, and the death of Deng Xiaoping.
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