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My Country and My People, 2019 Edition

In spring 2019, a group of freshmen at Duke Kunshan University set out to write a “2019 Edition” of Lin Yutang’s classic introduction to Chinese culture, My Country and My People. This book is the result: a lively crash course in the habits, values, ways of thinking, and cultural touchstones that define Chinese culture in 2019, written from the humorous and up-to-date perspective of 35 Chinese 18-year-olds.

Edited by Austin Woerner and printed with support from the DKU Language and Culture Center.

Copies are available for purchase in CC1070. To buy one, visit CC1070 during business hours and pay (21 RMB per copy) via WeChat QR code.

Not on the DKU campus? Email Austin at austin.woerner@dukekunshan.edu.cn to inquire about ordering a copy.

Cover design: Wu Tong and Austin Woerner


Read an excerpt:


See photos from the book launch:

Photographs by Zhu Ying of the Duke Kunshan University Library. April 26, 2019.


Banner image: The Ming Kwai, one of the first Chinese typewriters, invented by Lin Yutang