In 1996, when Peter Hessler arrived in China, almost all of the people in his classroom were first-generation college students. By 2019, when Hessler arrived at Sichuan University, he found a very different China, as well as a new kind of student-an only child whose schooling was the object of intense focus from a much more ambitious cohort of parents. At Sichuan University, many young people had a sense of irony about the regime but mostly navigated its restrictions with equanimity, embracing the opportunities of China's rise. But the pressures of extreme competition at scale can be grueling, even for much younger children-including Hessler's own daughters, who gave him an intimate view into the experience at their local school. In Peter Hessler's hands, China's education system is the perfect vehicle for examining the country's past, present, and future, and what we can learn from it, for good and ill.