First read Peter Hessler's Country Driving a year ago. Love it! Checked out River Town and Oracle Bones. Can't help getting hooked by his writing style, humor, and adventurous personality.

Some of the stories are about his experience in Beijing working for Wall Stree Journal. The stories, historical events, and the places sound so familair. I was there too, working for Finnish Broadcasting Company. I was a little envious of Hessler and his book. However I know that I was not ready when opportunities were there for me. Later googled his background. He graduated from Princeton, later did his graduate study in Oxford. However, I can sense that his writing is heavily influenced by his sociology professor father. Individuals' stories are embedded in greater social, cultural and historical background, which makes the stories in the books so powerful. His mother is a history professor. He lived only one mile away from University of Missori Campus when he was growing up. A literature professor, who happened to be his neighbor, read his manuscripts and provided feedbacks before publication. Behind a successful writer, there are so much social capital that prompt him up. His wife, Leslie Chang, also came from a distinguished academic family, with her father later becoming the Dean in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I wonder what my kids will be able to acheive in their lives. A lot of times, I feel that this is as far as I can go as for moving up the social ladder. Coming from a mostly rural background from a small city in China, I was the first one in my whole extended family to go to college. I was the first one to study abroad, and to get a doctorate degree, and the first one to be in academic. I married a nonacademic American husband. So much of my life is in constant conflict. It has been a hard road to adjust, to compromise, and to figure out. I was all alone! With the years passing by, however it has become slightly easier. I start to be assimilated to my academic life, American life, to my role as a mother, wife. Yet, occasionaly I still struggle with the daily routine of my American way of living, and working. I'm hoping my children, especially my daughter never has to go through the pain I went through. With me laying the foundation for her, she will sure have a much easier time living and enjoying her life in this country.