It was one thing moving to China three months ago with my family in tow and in the knowledge we were to be among a community of 100,000 fellow expatriates in Beijing.
But it took real courage to do what American writer, Peter Hessler, did in 1996. He and his friend Adam Meier became the first Westerners to live in the remote city of Fuling, West China, without the language and with no support network. Hessler arrived in Fuling, on the River Yangtze, as a Peace Corps volunteer to teach English literature in a local college. While he anticipated a quiet, reflective two years, it was anything but. The cultural tensions, the frustrations of a radically different society coupled with Fuling's natural beauty surpassed anything he could have imagined.
Hessler was in Fuling for two momentous events - the death of China's great leader of two decades, Deng Xiaoping, and the return to Chinese rule of Hong Kong after a century and a half of British presence.
Through anecdotes, travelogues, and sensitive writing, Hessler draws a compelling picture of a place on the one hand caught in time, but on the other hand bursting to become part of the new, emerging China.
Hessler offers a detailed and fascinating account of his "big nose goes East" experience in this book. His attention to detail and carefully logged observations are what make it special. River Town chronicles his conversations with students, farmers, and even prostitutes and paints a wonderful picture of contemporary China complete with all its contradictions.
At first life was very difficult for Hessler and many things got him down; the way the local people stared at him, the heroic drinking required at every formal dinner, and his poor Chinese. By the end of his two-year stint, however, Hessler could read and speak Chinese, drink his Chinese friends under the table, and the locals had got tired of staring at him.
In private, Hessler found himself acting as a counsellor to local people and his students. They came to him to discuss everything from politics to their marriage problems. But in public it was not always easy. His mail was opened, and the local party officials were constantly vetting his teaching material.
Through Hessler's eyes we are transported through Fuling, a city with no bicycles because it is built on various levels with steps everywhere. We are introduced to quaint, old houses built on cobbled streets leading up from the Yangtze, cramped, without running water and toilets.
Hessler was living in a town that was to be dramatically affected by the controversial multi-million dollar "Three Gorges Dam" project across the Yangtze. When the dam is complete in 2010, two million people will have been displaced including thousands from Fuling.
He describes how red lines have been painted on buildings to show how high the water will go when the dam is finished. Apart from the displacement of people, the project will cause huge environmental damage. What amazed the author was the acceptance by the community of this change.
AS A waiguoren, or foreigner, Hessler and the only other Westerner in the city, his fellow teacher and friend, Adam Meier, were a huge curiosity. He described how he was stalked at one stage for several weeks by a middle-aged woman clearly not in her right mind.
His salary was only 1,000 Yuan, or approximately £110, a month. Yet this was still twice the salary of an average Chinese family. He writes about how for him, as an American, money lost its meaning. He had more than enough to live on.
Hessler worked hard at Chinese and learnt to speak and read pretty well. He hiked for days in the hills, and took boat journeys down the Yangtze during term breaks. He brings to life his travel experiences through his wonderful descriptive powers.
The heavy pollution in Fuling took its toll on Hessler's health. During his two-year stint he suffered a burst eardrum, TB, dysentery, acute sinusitis and an eye problem. But that did not deter him.
He became a local hero when in his first spring in Fuling he won a local long-distance race. He was known in the town as the waiguoren who could outrun the Chinese. But there was a lot of resentment at his success.
Hessler had very good relations with his trainee teacher students and he quotes extensively in the book from their writings.
The bond Hessler developed with Fuling and its people was evident from one story he tells about how he met two European tourists in his favourite noodle restaurant. The boat on which the tourists were travelling was being repaired and they had some hours to kill. Hessler writes about how he was almost resentful of their intrusion into his adopted city.
Hessler made many Chinese friends in his two years in Fuling. He was clearly patient and tolerant enough to understand the people and their ways. One friend, Father Li Hairou, was an 83-year-old priest attached to Fuling City Catholic Church . We learn how French missionaries converted Li Hairou's great-grandfather to Catholicism in the early 1800s.
His description of the priest is powerful. "Father Li stands well under five feet tall. Usually he wears a soft black beret atop his white-haired head. He has a long, proud nose - an Italian nose for a Chinese Roman Catholic priest. His eyes are black and sometimes they flicker and flash and show emotion when his voice, which is low and raspy, does not."
Just a taste of what to expect in this engaging, humorous, and sometimes sad account of life in a city on the Yangtze: a city off the beaten track and struggling to come to grips with a period of momentous change in China.
Miriam Donohoe is Asia Correspondent of The Irish Times. She moved to Beijing to take up the post in January