250-275

The way Peter Hessler describes the Chinese and the importance of money to them makes them seem somewhat humble even though money is talked about a lot. For instance when he says on page 260 about how people in Fuling talked about money a lot but not in a greedy way but in a generous way made me think of how in America if money is talked about a lot it is usually with a billionaire or someone struggling with money, and yet we mainly see it talked about generously on talk shows like Ellen DeGeneres. I found it interesting how Peter spent the majority of his money on things he didn’t need and how it collected dust in a corner. I think it would be nice to have a luxury of being in a place like Fuling where even though in America it is not a lot of money but to the Chinese in Fuling you can do so much with what Hessler makes. Growing up I never truly thought about money until the summer before fourth grade, when I found out we could not afford sending my sister and me to private school. After a few years in public school I realized a lot of people (mainly immature middle school kids) liked to assume things because of some ones religion. Being a Jewish white girl going to a predominantly black school, people just assumed since I was my religion that I was rich; and my sister told me to not let them think otherwise. I didn’t understand why we should act like something we are not, it is true that a lot of our family friends lived in a nice gated community and they took numerous trips out of the country and a lot of my friends parents were doctors, but I never wanted to think I was anything less than them.