Behind the Wheel in China by Hessler.Reviewed by Jonathan Yardley

"Country Driving": A Journey Through China From farm to Factory by Peter Hessler,author. Harper. 438 pp. $27.99

"Peter Hessler got his Chinese driver's license and set out to explore the country.

It is about a small factory at the city of Lishui in suthern Zhejiang Province.(Wu dialect is being spoken by circa 80 million folks in Zhejiang,Jiangsu and Shanghai area.) Hessler clearly came to love China in the more than a decade he spent there, and he was endlessly surprised, amused and delighted by it. He has highly developed taste for oddness, incongruity and just plain weirdness, all of which he describes with not a scintilla of condescension.

"Country Driving" is a wonderful book about China that also happens to be a terrific book about the human race." Conclusion by Jonathan Yardley,the distinguished reviewer.

Chinese language is spoken by most humans in the world as China is the most populous nation on earth.

"A Glimpse of the Chinese Language" in English is available at www.rand.org free of charge in pdf format as public service.

Francis Shieh a.k.a. Xie Shihao,the blogger for www.Sino-American Economics. According to the Chinese way,the last name appears first.Shieh meaning Thank in Chinese. my Last Name Shieh(Hsieh from Wade-Giles system of romanization but Hsieh is difficult for Westerner to pronounce so it was changed to Shieh as the phonetic equivalent of my Last name in Chinese.

However, it should be Xie in the official Pin Yin system of romanization. Shihao is my personal name in Chinese meaning hero of poety. My first name Francis in English is derived from "Francis" Scot Key in honor of his authorship of the National Anthem aprops of the lines "Land of Free Enterprise(added) and Home of the Brave Bureaucracy(added) as a lifelong student of Private and Public sectors of the economy. However, I am not a poet but a lifelong learner of economics since my arrival at the United States in 1947 for graduate studies at the University of San Francisco and Georgetown University Graduate School in late 1940s.

The following Pin Yin system of romanization in the Chinese language is designed to pay tribute to the lover of China. To Wit the following 16 Chinese characters in phonetic equivalents of the Pin Yin system of romanization.

1. "Qian yang hou he" In English connotation: the insinuation of an ever-changing China with supporting coordination.

2. "Jing shen dou zou" Salutation in English: The upbeat spirit of the author/reviewer.

3. "Sui xin suo yu" Good wishes in English: Do it your way! As your heart desires.

4. "Zi qiang bu xi" Words of wisdom in English: Strong in your own right with fortitude.

Francis Shieh a.k.a. Xie Shihao on Monday, March 1, 2010 at 10.12 a.m.