Much has been written about China's rise in the world, as the socialist authoritarian regime is trying to build a market economy and has set a goal of becoming a global political player. But, in the meantime, ordinary Chinese people are encountering mounting difficulties as they go about their daily lives and readjust to new realities. Not much is known about them. Peter Hessler, a former American Peace Corps member and English teacher in China, has now somehow bridged the gap between the official version of China's economic and political rise and the realties of the people in this vast country. Hessler started out as an assistant at the Wall Street Journal's Beijing bureau. He soon became the correspondent for the New Yorker, because of his ability to relate to the ordinary people who were overlooked by most international media. Covering China and its constantly changing landscape is a challenge. This book, a work of non-fiction aptly named Oracle Bones, draws readers closer to China. Hessler's experiences from 1999 to 2002 encompassed important world events, including the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, the collision of a US reconnaissance plane and a Chinese jet fighter in the South China Sea, and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the US. The three events had a profound emotional impact on the Chinese people. A fourth event was the selection of Beijing to host the Summer Olympics Games in 2008. Hessler was in China when it began campaigning for the honor to hold the games.

Hessler sets out to show that China's past and history is extraordinarily rich. At an archeological site in Huanbei in the ancient city of Anyang, which dates back to the 14th and 13th centuries BC, scientists and researchers uncovered thousands of bones with inscriptions that are considered the origin of the Chinese language. Anyang is the cradle of ancient Chinese civilization. For centuries, people were planting crops on the surface of the site without knowing the treasure underneath. When the Chinese Communist Party took over the mainland in 1949, Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan with priceless ancient treasuries and artworks, including the oracle bones. In 24 chapters, Hessler paints in words his encounters with people, workers, students, academics and money changers. His insightful knowledge of Chinese civilization and history allows him to expose the contemporary life of the people still living under an authoritarian regime.

In the pursuit of the oracle bones, Hessler tried to find out what happened to a respected oracle bones scholar, Chen Mengjia, who died during the Cultural Revolution, some said he committed suicide. The scholar was accused of being a rightist during the Cultural Revolution, a charge that destroyed his academic career and life. Hessler met with Li Xueqin, who was close to 70, at the famous Tsinghua University. Li was an assistant to Chen Mengjia, but he strongly criticized his boss for writing wrongly about the oracle bones. Hessler reported that Li was angry and defensive when questioned about the life of his former boss.

The workers in Shenzhen listened at night to a phone-in show called "At night you're not lonely." One of them, named Emily, was a secretary in a jewelry factory owned by a Taiwanese. Here the complex working and living conditions of immigrants from other provinces and the interaction among co-workers are laid bare. Hunanese workers banded together to demand higher pay, which troubled the Taiwanese boss, who in turn went to seek help from other Taiwanese investors in Shenzhen. Emily had published in a local English paper her own family's background. She was born in 1976, the year Mao Tsetung died and the Cultural Revolution ended. Hessler tells her life story the same way he does with other people he met in China, including students at his English classes. In the chapter titled "Wonton Western" he befriended a man in Urumqi, in Xinjiang, a northwestern province inhabited by immigrants and Moslems. The man is a friend of Polat, which is not his real name, who succeeded to move to the US with the help of fake personnel papers and a fake passport.

At the beginning of 2001 when China intensified its campaign to hold the Olympics Games, Hessler says the idea captured the imagination of all Chinese that the games would bring prestige to their nation and make it look at least richer than other countries that could not organize the international sports events. Taxi drivers for example received English lessons and those who show language skills would be rewarded. For a while the Olympics would make people forget how polluted Beijing is. The book is rich in details on contemporary China and reviewers rave about "Oracle Bones." Hessler had a best-selling book entitled "River Town," which depicts the life in a small town along the Yangtse River.