A New York Times Notable BookWinner of the Kiriyama Book PrizeIn the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. Hessler taught English and American literature at the local college, but it was his students who taught him about the complex processes of understanding that take place when one is immersed in a radically different society.Poignant, thoughtful, funny, and enormously compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.

纽约时报》知名图书桐山图书奖得主在中国四川省的中心地带，在长江流域的梯田山地中，有一个偏远的小镇--涪陵。像这个不断发展的国家的许多其他小城市一样，涪陵正走在一条新的变革和增长的道路上，当彼得-海斯勒作为和平队志愿者来到这里时，这一点变得异常鲜明，标志着半个多世纪以来，这个城市第一次有了美国居民。海斯勒在当地大学教英语和美国文学，但正是他的学生让他了解到，当一个人沉浸在一个完全不同的社会中时，会发生复杂的理解过程。"河镇 "是一个令人难忘的城市的写照，它正在寻求理解它的过去和未来。