"In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler, the long-time Beijing correspondent for the for the New Yorker, acquired his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years he travelled the country, tracking how the automobile and the improved transport system were transforming China. Hessler writes movingly of everyday people - farmers, migrant workers and entrepreneurs, who have reshaped the country during one of the most critical periods in its history." -- From the publisher