Peter Hessler returns

In the January 3 & 10 print issue of The New Yorker, Peter Hessler writes about correspondence and visits with middle-aged Chinese we first met as 1990s college students in his classic River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. Despite being only a tiny slither of mainland experience, this update on his students' lives does a remarkable job of capturing the entire country's changes and development over the past few decades. It's highly recommended reading.