Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution that Made China Modern (Riverhead Books, 2022)

Saturday, September 24, 2022
11:30 AM
Rollins Community Center and Lewes History Museum

Presented in partnership with the Chinese American Community Center (CACC).

About the book
China today is one of the world’s most powerful nations, but just a century ago, it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few. As the world underwent a massive technological transformation that threatened to leave China behind, several bold innovators led the fight to make the formidable Chinese language accessible to the modern world of global trade and digital technology. Without their advances, China might never have become the dominating force we know today.

About the author
Jing Tsu is the John M. Schiff Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature and chair of the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale.  A Guggenheim Fellow, she has held fellowships and distinctions from Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton institutes.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
With the help of our presenting sponsors—Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I PenFed Realty—as well as our community partners and volunteers, the 2022 History Book Festival was full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.

Special thanks to Lewes Public Library, for venue and assistance with event promotion; to Browseabout Books in Rehoboth, our official bookseller; and to the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Mark your calendars for the 2023 History Book Festival. Join our authors, interviewers, and other attendees at live events throughout the weekend of September 29, 30, and October 1.