In Hersey's first book with a Chinese background, A Single Pebble (1956), a young American engineer, determined to build a dam on the Yangtze, goes up the river on a junk, an experience David Treadup also has in The Call. The book is an allegory using a river journey as a means of self-discovery. The engineer, like David Treadup, comes to recognize a grandeur in an ancient way of life, and to admire the patience of China's common people. He ends his journey with the realization that China possibly should not be changed too rapidly.

Hersey's second book featuring China is another lengthy allegory. The story of a white minority enslaved by the Chinese, The White Lotus (1965), is really a commentary on black-white relationships in the United States during the 1960s.