A Journey Through Time: Observations of Change in China

In 1996, when Peter Hessler began his teaching career at a modest college in Sichuan Province, the demographic landscape of his classroom was strikingly different. A staggering 90 percent of his students hailed from rural villages. Standing at 5 feet 9 inches, Mr. Hessler towered over his students, who often appeared petite in comparison. Many of them owned just a single outfit: a blue suit jacket or perhaps a replica of a Chicago Bulls jersey. One particular student confided to him years later that he could only afford to eat one meal a day, a stark reflection of their economic realities.

Fast forward to 2019, and Mr. Hessler returned to China, this time to teach at the Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute. The contrast was remarkable. All of his nonfiction writing students were now city dwellers, indicative of a sweeping demographic shift. Some of the women in his class were even taller than he was, and a few sported vintage Air Jordans that bore price tags in the hundreds of dollars.

The evolution he witnessed encapsulated a broader transformation within China over a generation. According to the World Bank, the nation’s population had transitioned dramatically from 70 percent rural to two-thirds urban dwellers. Economic output per capita had skyrocketed twentyfold during this period. A 2020 study published in The Lancet, a prestigious medical journal, reported that among 200 countries, boys in China experienced the most significant increase in height from 1985 to 2019, while Chinese girls ranked third in this remarkable growth.

However, despite these social and economic advancements, Mr. Hessler notes in his latest book, “Other Rivers: A Chinese Education,” that the political landscape remained unchanged. He reflects, “I still taught next door to the College of Marxism, and the university still hosted traditional Communist rallies.” This juxtaposition raises a poignant question: how could a nation undergo such profound social, economic, and educational transformation while its political system remained stagnant, or even regressive?

This conundrum also perplexes many Chinese citizens, foreign policymakers, academics, and journalists alike, myself included.