“But in other ways that’s a good thing because I didn’t have any preconceptions or any ideas about what China should be, so I just sort of accepted what was there.” “In some ways it was very hard because I didn’t have a background in Chinese studies and I hadn’t read a lot of history,” he says. During his first year on the Yangtze, he was one of only two foreigners living in a city of 200,000. He had come to China under the auspices of the Peace Corps, an American organisation that sends volunteers to work in developing countries. Hessler first went to live in China in 1996, arriving in the city of Fuling to teach Beowulf and Shakespeare sonnets to students whose English was far from fluent. These tests may not be the best preparation for navigating Chinese roads, but they’re not a bad introduction to the daily absurdities of life in China. “We literally went half a block and that was it.” The examiner told him he was a very good driver. There were no other cars or pedestrians to deal with, and he didn’t have to make a single turn. It wasn’t like a functioning, normal neighbourhood,” he says.

“On the outskirts of Beijing they had a whole little neighbourhood set up for people to drive in. When Hessler applied for his own Chinese driver’s license in 2001 there was no written test for foreigners. According to author Peter Hessler, “One of the answers is ‘keep it for yourself,’ and another is ‘call the person and demand a reward.’ It’s really stupid stuff.” What should you do if someone leaves something in your car? The Chinese driver’s license test offers multiple choices.

Country driving by peter hessler