Abstract

My Country and My People is a world-famous English work, written by Lin Yutang in 1936. It introduces the character of the Chinese people, the minds of the Chinese people, the political, social and literary life in China and so on. It was regarded as the best work to learn and understand the Chinese as it was first published in the Western world. In this paper, through the comparison between My Country and My People and Chinese Characteristics, Lin Yutang’s masterpiece is analyzed from the perspective of “The other” in Comparative Literature so that how Lin Yutang rebuilt the image of China is explored.
This paper is composed of five chapters. The first part is an introduction to Lin Yutang, My Country and My People and the writing background. It offers a basic knowledge for this paper. The second part states the early Chinese image in the West, and Arthor Henderson Smith’s Chinese Characteristics is taken as an example for this purpose. The third part states the late Chinese image in the West. The fourth part is the main part of this paper. In this chapter, how Lin Yutang remodeled the Chinese image is discussed from the perspective of “The other” in Comparative Literature. The last chapter is about the influence of this book. Lin Yutang is a famous Chinese writer, familiar with the Chinese and English cultures, and he made successful effort in changing the backward image of China in the West.
 The image of China in Lin Yutang's My Country and My People has greatly overthrown the backward and pedantic impression of China in the West, which not only made Lin Yutang a renowned Chinese writer in the Western literary, but also reputed this book as one of the must-read books in understanding China.

Key words: China’ image; Lin Yutang; My Country and My People; remodling

摘  要

《吾国与吾民》是林语堂于1936年所著的一本世界著名的英文作品，它主要介绍了中国人的性格、中国人的思想、中国政治、社会和文学生活等等。此书在西方国家一经出版，就被看作是认识和了解中国人的最佳作品。本文通过对《吾国与吾民》与《中国人的性格》的对比,从比较文学中“他者”视角来分析解读林语堂的作品,探寻林语堂如何重建中国形象。
本文总共分为五个章节。第一部分对林语堂，《吾国与吾民》，以及写作背景做了简要概述。第二部分讲述了早期西方国家眼中的中国形象，尤以史密斯的著作《中国人的性格》为例来阐述这一目的。第三部分则讲述的是晚期西方国家眼中的中国形象。第四部分为本论文重点，运用比较文学中的“他者”理论来分析林语堂如何重塑中国形象。最后一部分阐述了该作品的影响。作为“脚踏中西文化”的知名中国作家，林语堂在改变西方国家眼中的旧中国形象过程中成功地贡献出了自己的一份力量。
林语堂的《吾国与吾民》中展现的中国形象大大推翻了西方国家眼中迂腐落后的旧中国印象。这不仅使林语堂成为了西方文坛上知名的华裔作家，也使得这一本书被誉为了解中国的必读书目之一。

关键词：中国形象；林语堂；《吾国与吾民》；重塑