UH Manoa Confucius Institute Public Lecture Series presents Peter Hessler on March 5

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Cynthia Ning, (808) 956-2962
Center for Chinese Studies
Posted: Feb 27, 2007

HONOLULU — The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Confucius Institute presents Peter Hessler as its first distinguished lecturer on March 5. Hessler is the China correspondent for The New Yorker Magazine and a nominee for the National Book Award in 2006. The free public lecture titled, "Boomtown: Life in a Chinese Factory City," will be held at 4:30 p.m. on March 5 at the Center for Korean Studies Auditorium on the UH Mānoa campus.

"Boomtown: Life in a Chinese Factory City" is an illustrated lecture on Lishui, a city in Zhejiang Province, that tracks its development over the course of a year, with a special focus on the interactions between bosses and workers, and the special culture that develops in factory towns like Lishui.

Hessler obtained his undergraduate training at Princeton University (BA, 1992), and was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford. He subsequently earned a second BA in English at Oxford in 1994. His connection to China was forged in 1996—1998, when, as a Peace Corps volunteer, he taught English and American literature at Fuling Teachers College in Sichuan.

Hessler is a frequent contributor to National Geographic Magazine and is also the author of the following prize-winning books:

Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China‘s Past and Present (2006, HarperCollins)—finalist for the National Book Award 2006; named a "Notable Book of 2006" by The New York Times and one of the year‘s best books by The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune; named Best Asian Book of 2006 by Time Magazine‘s Asian edition; translated into Chinese, German, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese.

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze(2001, HarperCollins)—winner of the 2001 Kiriyama Prize; short listed for the 2002 Th omas Cook Travel Book Award; listed as an outstanding book of 2001 by The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times; translated into Chinese, Thai, Korean, and Hungarian.

Hessler is currently working on a third book in his China trilogy.

The Confucius Institute at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is a part of the University‘s Center for Chinese Studies. For further information, contact CI-UHM co-director Dr. Cynthia Ning at 808-956-2692 or cyndy@hawaii.edu.

This first event in the Confucius Institute's public lecture series is co-sponsored by UH Mānoa‘s Journalism Program, School of Communications, and the East-West Center.