Customer Reviews

Letter From China

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This is a poignant account of Froning's year of teaching English to Chinese university students. I liked it for its humor, but also because I got to know what appears to be an extraordinary man. I learned a lot about society in current China through his descriptions of various encounters with the system and everyday people. I loved how he included his students in the book; his descriptions were so vivid, you felt you got to know them. This is truly a remarkable book; I found I couldn't put it down once I started reading.

A great introduction to China circa 2002 through the eyes of an observant, humble, funny, newly-minted English teacher in Beijing.

Peter James Froning did not go to China to study their culture or spy on them or find harmony or anything else like that. He wanted to get away from it all. So he ended up in China, teaching English. And he wrote home about it, using e-mail. The resulting book is full of love for his students and for China in general. Of course he also complains about it - prices for some things are too high, it is dirty, loud, so on. But China is made up of people and Peter was, lets face it, a people person. Also he understood that the students needed, and wanted, more than just learning words. He give them culture, music, and he also gave them a image of a friendly, loving, teacher who taught them about the world. Not just America, but the outside world.
Sadly, he would never return to China. The last part of the book is letters from his students mailed to his family. Not to spoil anything but he died shortly after leaving China and even as a person who only knew him from the book I can feel the grave empty space his passing must bring to the world, not just to his family and his students.