Lin Yutang (林语堂) was a major figure in the development of twentieth-century Chinese modernity. He was a scholar, inventor, educator and translator, as well as a writer who explored themes of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism in books disseminated widely in China and the West. Born into a Chinese Presbyterian minister’s family in the province of Fujian, Lin Yutang was educated in comparative literature and philology (including doctoral studies) at universities in Shanghai, Boston (Harvard) and Leipzig. As a professor at Peking University (1923–1926) and university administrator in China (1926), Lin became renowned for promoting Western literature, thought and technology, whilst also working to disseminate classic Chinese literature in the West.