Books

In 2019, Wendy Bashant, a burned-out college dean, quits her job to teach two hundred students in the ancient, walled city of Xi’an, China.

 

The year turns extraordinary when tensions between China and the U.S. escalate: first tit-for-tat tariffs. Then a worldwide pandemic. Finally lockdowns, closed consulates, and expelled journalists. All the while, accusations are lobbed back and forth, like flaming arrows launched over the Pacific.

 

Wendy tries to teach a class in American culture against this background of aggression. Instead, she learns about 21st-century China. One student grew up on the edge of the Gobi desert on a military base with her family. She describes a remote land of camels, dust storms and vast grasslands. When factories turn Xi’an’s air into pea soup, the students explain the country’s environmental challenges. Covid breaks out, and the students with parents on the medical frontlines worry about the durability of the healthcare system.

 

The Same Bright Moon is thus a collaborative memoir – the story of the lives of China’s newest generation told during a remarkable year to the teacher who is assigned to teach them. Their vibrant voices will challenge, inspire, and bring hope for the future.