Peter Hessler on His Chinese Hutong

Hi Michael,

Can you offer a link to this feature story? Many thanks!

David with http://www.kanxiqi.com/

David, the story isn’t available online.

Yes, great story he wrote in NYKer. But one thing strikes me, he is communist China, where many people are behind bars because of the gobt oppression and repression, and not one word about this in his essay story this week. I mean, imagine an American writer living in Hitler’s Berlin and writing a beautiful story for the NYKer about his wonderful romantic life there, on some pretty side street, and the wonders of Berlin, and not one word about the Hitler regime in the entire article. Could that have happpned back then? Maybe it did, because at the time, maybe people were not aware of what Hitler was doing. But surely Peter is aware, and his NYKer editors are aware of the bullying facist communist tactics of a dictatorship in China, and yet not ONE WORD in his entire story about WHERE IN FACT he is living. It doesn’t have to be all political, or even very political, but at least one word or two to let the public know he knows and we know what is going on there, in reality. No?

A new friend in China didn’t quite agree with my post above, which I emailed directly to him,  and he sent me a polite email, which I liked and want to post here:

Dear Danny Bee,

Frankly, I guess you have been behind bars somewhere in the world for at least 20 years…how can you use the words “facist communist” “dictatorship” in talking about today’s China?

I’m not a Communist PC member and I have no any connection with CPC authorities, and I don’t like many things here, ...but I’m happy with the changing China and Communist rule.

China is on the right track…I strongly suggest you pay a visit to China someday soon - it’s time for you to shake off your odd, time-old illusions toward this country.

With best regards,

I ACCEPT THE POINTS HE MAKES AND AGREE: Time to visit China. And see for myself. STILL: how can the world remain silent when we hear of people being arrested for web logs the authorities don’t like, and things like that?

I do hope my correspondent is correct and China is changing. It surely is. Still, a few things need to be said, no?

A friend of mine who used to live in communist China writes to me: “Peter Hessler lives a stone’s throw from where I lived. A
stone’s throw. And I had excactly the same feeling
reading his New Yorker piece recently that you did.”