From the highly praised author of "The Last Days of Old Beijing", a brilliant portrait of China today and a memoir of coming of age in a country in transition.
Book Release: The Road to Sleeping Dragon
In 1995, at the age of twenty-three, Michael Meyer joined the Peace Corps and was sent to a tiny town in Sichuan. Knowing nothing about China, or even how to use chopsticks, Meyer wrote Chinese words up and down his arms so he could hold conversations, and, jumped into teaching his students about the Enlightenment, the stock market, and Beatles lyrics.
With humor and insight, Meyer puts readers in his novice shoes, winding across the length and breadth of his adopted country --from a terrifying bus attack on arrival, to remote Xinjiang and Tibet, and his future wife's Manchurian family, and headlong into efforts to protect China's vanishing heritage at places like "Sleeping Dragon," the world's largest panda preserve.
In the last book of his China trilogy, Meyer tells a story both deeply personal and universal, as he gains greater - if never complete - assurance, capturing what it feels like to learn a language, culture and history from the ground up. Both funny and relatable, The Road to Sleeping Dragon is essential reading for anyone interested in China's history, and how daily life plays out there today.
To RSVP call 412-624-7308.
For more information about this and other events, visit the College of General Studies website.
Location and Address
Assembly Room, William Pitt Union