LIN YU-TANG
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LIN YU-TANG
This is a
Chinese name; the
family name is Lin (林).
Template:Chinese Lin Yutang (October 10, 1895 – March 26, 1976) was a
Chinese writer, translator, linguist and inventor. His informal but polished style in both Chinese and English made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, and his compilations and translations of
classic Chinese texts into English were bestsellers in the West.
CONTENTS
1 Youth2 Academic career and Shanghai intellectual world3 Career after leaving China4 Lin's reputation and scholarship on Lin5 Family6 Works in Chinese or published in China to 19357 Works in English by Lin Yutang8 Works in English by Liao TsuiFeng and Lin HsiangJu (wife and third daughter)9 Works in English by Adet Lin (first daughter)10 Works in English by Lin TaiYi (Anor Lin) (second daughter)11 References12 Further reading13 External linksYOUTH
Lin was born in the town of Banzai,
Pinghe,
Zhangzhou,
Fujian. This mountainous region made a deep impression on his consciousness, and thereafter he would constantly consider himself a child of the mountains (in one of his books he commented that his idea of hell was a city apartment). His father was a Christian minister. His journey of faith from
Christianity to
Taoism and
Buddhism, and back to Christianity in his later life was recorded in his book From Pagan to Christian (1959).
ACADEMIC CAREER AND SHANGHAI INTELLECTUAL WORLD
Lin studied for his bachelor's degree at
Saint John's University in
Shanghai, then received a half-scholarship to continue study for a doctoral degree at
Harvard University. He later wrote that in the
Widener Library he first found himself and first came alive, but he never saw a Harvard-Yale game.
[1] He left Harvard early however, moving to work with the
Chinese Labor Corps in France and eventually to Germany, where he completed his requirements for a doctoral degree in Chinese philology at the University of Leipzig. From 1923 to 1926 he taught English literature at
Peking University.
Enthusiastic about the success of the
Northern Expedition, he briefly served in the new
Nationalist government, but soon turned to teaching and writing. He found himself in the wake of the
New Culture Movement which criticized China's tradition as feudal and harmful. Instead of accepting this charge, however, Lin immersed himself in the Confucian texts and literary culture which his Christian upbringing and English language education had denied him. His magazine Lun Yu (Analects) attracted essays and readership, and Lin maintained friendship and debate with
Hu Shi,
Lu Xun, and
Zhou Zuoren, key figures in the Shanghai literary scene of the 1930s. He was a key figure in introducing the Western concept of
humor, which he felt China had lacked. In 1933, however, Lu Xun attacked the journal Analects for being apolitical and dismissed Lin's elegant xiaopin wen 小品文, or small essay as "bric a brac for the bourgeoisie.".
[2]Lin's writings in Chinese were critical of the
Nationalist government, to the point that he feared for his life. Many of his essays from this time were later collected in With Love and Irony (1940). In 1933, he met
Pearl Buck in Shanghai, and she introduced him and his writings to her publisher, Richard Walsh, head of
John Day publishers, who published Lin's works for many years.
[3]Lin's relation with Christianity changed over the years. His father, of course, was a second generation Christian, but at Tsinghua, Lin asked himself what it meant to be a Christian in China. Being a Christian meant acceptance of Western science and progress, but Lin became angry that being a Christian also meant losing touch with China's culture and his own personal identity. On his return from study abroad, Lin renewed his respect for his father, yet he plunged into study of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, and did not identify himself as Christian.
[4]CAREER AFTER LEAVING CHINA
After 1935 Lin lived mainly in the United States, where he became known as a "wise and witty" popularizer of Chinese philosophy and way of life. Lin's first best sellers were My Country and My People (
simplified Chinese: 吾国与吾民;
traditional Chinese: 吾國與吾民) (1935) and The Importance of Living (
simplified Chinese: 生活的艺术;
traditional Chinese: 生活的藝術) (1937), written in English in a charming style. Others include Between Tears and Laughter (啼笑皆非) (1943), The Importance of Understanding (1960, a book of translated Chinese literary passages and short pieces), The Chinese Theory of Art (1967). The novels
Moment in Peking (
simplified Chinese: 京华烟云;
traditional Chinese: 京華煙雲) (1939), A Leaf in the Storm (1940), and The Vermillion Gate (
simplified Chinese: 朱门;
traditional Chinese: 朱門) (1953) were well received epics of China in turmoil, while Chinatown Family (1948) presented the lives of Chinese Americans in New York. Partly to avoid controversial contemporary issues, Lin in 1947 published The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo, which presented the struggle between
Su Dongpo and
Wang Anshi as parallel to the struggle between Chinese liberals and totalitarian communists.
Lin's political writings in English sold fewer copies than his cultural works and were more controversial. Between Tears and Laughter (1943) broke with the genial tone of his earlier English writings to criticize Western racism and imperialism. After Pearl Harbor, Lin traveled in China and wrote favorably of the war effort and
Chiang Kai-shek in Vigil of a Nation (1944). American
China Hands such as Edgar Snow criticized these works.
[5]Mechanics had been a long time avocation. Since Chinese is a character-based rather than an alphabet-based language, with many thousands of separate characters, it was difficult to employ modern printing technologies. Many doubted that a
Chinese typewriter could be invented. Lin, however, worked on this problem for decades and eventually came up with a workable typewriter which was brought to market in the middle of the war with Japan. The Mingkwai "Clear and Quick" Chinese-language typewriter played a pivotal role in the Cold War Machine Translation research
[6] Lin also invented and patented several lesser inventions, such as a toothbrush which dispensed toothpaste.
In the mid-1950s, he served briefly and unhappily as president (or chancellor) of the
Nanyang University which was newly created in
Singapore specifically for Chinese studies as parallel to the English-oriented
University of Singapore. He did not, however, choose to continue in that role when the faculty resisted his plans for structural reform and Nanyang (South Seas) University became a focus of the struggle for control of Singapore between the Communist-directed left and the liberal, social democratic right. He felt he was too old for the conflict.
After he returned to New York in the late 1950s, Lin renewed his interest in Christianity. His wife was a devout believer, and Lin admired her serenity and humility. After attending services with her at the
Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church for several months, he joined the church and announced his return to the faith.
[7] His 1959 book, From Pagan to Christian explained this move, which many of his readers found surprising.
With his facility for both Chinese and English idiom, Lin presided over the compilation of an outstanding Chinese-English dictionary, Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage (
simplified Chinese: 林语堂当代汉英词典;
traditional Chinese: 林語堂當代漢英詞典) (1972), which contains a massive English index to definitions of Chinese terms. The work was undertaken at the newly founded
Chinese University of Hong Kong.
His many works represent an attempt to bridge the cultural gap between the East and the West. He was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature several times in the 1970s.
[1]Dr. Lin was buried at his home in
Yangmingshan,
Taipei,
Taiwan. His home has been turned into a museum, which is operated by Taipei-based
Soochow University. The town of Lin's birth, Banzai, has also preserved the original Lin home and turned it into a museum.
LIN'S REPUTATION AND SCHOLARSHIP ON LIN
Although his major books have remained in print, Lin is a thinker whose place in modern Chinese intellectual history has been overlooked until recently.
[8] Lin themed conventions have been organized in Taiwan and Lin's native Fujian, and in December 2011, the International Conference on the Cross-cultural Legacy of Lin Yutang in China and America was held at City University of Hong Kong, with professional and private scholars from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, the United States, Germany and Slovakia. The organizer of the conference was Dr. Qian Suoqiao, whose book, Liberal Cosmopolitan: Lin Yutang and Middling Chinese Modernity (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2010) was the first (and still only) full length academic study of Lin in any language.
[9] Jing Tsu's Sound and Script in Chinese Diaspora (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010) gives a detailed account of Lin Yutang's typewriter and its role in the context of late 19th century script reform, Chinese national language reform in the early twentieth century, and the fascinating story of his typewriting keyboard and Machine Translation research during the Cold War.
FAMILY
His wife, Liao TsuiFeng (廖翠鳳), was an author, who, along with her daughter Lin Hsiang Ju, wrote three cookery books which popularized
Chinese cuisine in the English speaking world. Dr. Lin wrote introductions which explained the historical background and relevance for American life.
His first daughter Adet Lin (林鳳如; also known as Lin Rusi 林如斯) (1923–1971) was an author who also used the pseudonym Tan Yun.
His second daughter Lin TaiYi (林太乙) (1926–2003) was also known as Anor Lin in her earliest writing, and had the Chinese name 玉如. She was an author and the general editor of Chinese
Reader's Digest from 1965 until her retirement in 1988. She also wrote a biography of her father in Chinese (林語堂傳), which shows some signs of her father's literary flair.
His third daughter Lin HsiangJu (林相如) (1931-), was referred to as MeiMei in childhood. She was co-author of cookbooks with her mother, and was a biochemist at Queen Mary hospital in Hong Kong.
The daughters all had names containing the character 如 (Ju): Adet 鳳如, Anor 玉如, and HsiangJu 相如.
WORKS IN CHINESE OR PUBLISHED IN CHINA TO 1935
(courtesy Lin Yutang House [3])
(1928) Jian Fu Collection (Shangha: Bei Hsin Book Company)
(1930) Letters of a Chinese Amazon and Wartime Essays (Shanghai: Kaiming
(1930) Kaiming English Books (Three Volumes) (Shanghai: Kaiming)
(1930) English Literature Reader (Two Volumes) (Shanghai: Kaiming)
(1930) Kaiming English Grammar (Two Volumes) (Shanghai: Kaiming)
(1931) Reading in Modern Journalistic Prose (Shanghai: Oriental Book)
(1933) A Collection of Essays on Linguistics (Shanghai: Kaiming Book)
(1934) Da Huang Ji (Shanghai: Living)
(1934) My Words First Volume (Sing Su Ji) (Shanghai Times)
(1935) Kaiming English Materials (Three Volumes) co-written by Lin Yutang and Lin you-ho (Shanghai: Oriental Book Co.)
(1935) The Little Critic: Essays Satires and Sketches on China First Series: 1930-1932 (Shanghai: Oriental Book Co.)
(1935) The Little Critic: Essays Satires and Sketches on China Second Series: 1933-1935 (Shanghai: Oriental Book Co.)
(1935) Confucius Saw Nancy and Essays about Nothing (Shanghai: Oriental)
(1936) My Words Second Volume (Pi Jing Ji) (Shanghai Times)
WORKS IN ENGLISH BY LIN YUTANG
(1935) My Country and My People, Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc., (A John Day Book)
(1936) A History of the Press and Public Opinion in China, Kelly and Walsh
(1937) The Importance of Living, Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc., (A John Day Book)
(1938) The Wisdom of Confucius, Random House, The Modern Library
(1939)
Moment in Peking,
The John Day Book Company(1940) With Love & Irony, A John Day Book Company
(1941) A Leaf in the Storm, A John Day Book Company
(1942) The Wisdom of China and India, Random House
(1943) Between Tears & Laughter, A John Day Book Company
(1944) The Vigil of a Nation, A John Day Book Company
(1945) Between Tears and Laughter, written during World War II, as a bitter plea for the west to change its perspective of the world order. Published in London by Dorothy Crisp & Co Ltd.
(1947) The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo, A John Day Book Company
(1948) Chinatown Family, A John Day Book Company
(1948) The Wisdom of Laotse, Random House
(1950) On the Wisdom of America, A John Day Book Company
(1951) Widow, Nun and Courtesan: Three Novelettes From the Chinese Translated and Adapted by Lin Yutang, A John Day Book Company
(1952) Famous Chinese Short Stories, retold by Lin Yutang,
The John Day Book Company, reprinted 1952, Washington Square Press
(1953) The Vermilion Gate, A John Day Book Company
(1955) Looking Beyond, Prentice Hall (Published in England as The Unexpected island, Heinemann)
(1957) Lady Wu, World Publishing Company
(1958) The Secret Name, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy
(1959) The Chinese Way of Life, World Publishing Company
(1959) From Pagan to Christian, World Publishing Company
(1960) Imperial Peking: Seven Centuries of China, Crown Publishers
(1960) The Importance of Understanding, World Publishing Company
(1961) The Red Peony, World Publishing Company
(1962) The Pleasure of a Nonconformist, World Publishing Company
(1963) Juniper Loa, World Publishing Company
(1964) The Flight of Innocents, G. P. Putnam's Sons
(1973) Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage, Hong Kong Chinese University
WORKS IN ENGLISH BY LIAO TSUIFENG AND LIN HSIANGJU (WIFE AND THIRD DAUGHTER)
(1956) Cooking with the Chinese Flavor, Prentice Hall
(1960) Secrets of Chinese Cooking, Prentice Hall
(1972) Chinese Gastronomy, Pyramid Publications; 1977 reprint: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (introduction by Dr. Lin Yutang)
(1996) The Art of Chinese Cuisine, Tuttle (a retitled edition of 1972 Chinese Gastronomy)
WORKS IN ENGLISH BY ADET LIN (FIRST DAUGHTER)
(1939) Our Family with Anor Lin (New York: John Day).
(1941) Dawn over Chungking with Anor and MeiMei (HsiangJu) Lin (New York: John Day).
(1943) "Flame from the Rock" (New York: John Day).
(1961) "The Milky Way and Other Chinese Folk Tales" (New York: Harcourt Brace).
WORKS IN ENGLISH BY LIN TAIYI (ANOR LIN) (SECOND DAUGHTER)
(1939) Our Family with Adet Lin. (New York: John Day).
(1941) Dawn over Chungking with Adet and MeiMei (HsiangJu) Lin. (New York: John Day, rpr. Da Capo, 1975 ).
(1943) War Tide (New York: John Day).
(1946) The Golden Coin (New York: John Day).
(1959) The Eavesdropper (Cleveland: World).
(1960) The Lilacs Overgrow (Cleveland: World).
(1964) Kampoon Street (Cleveland,: World).
(1965) translated,
Li Ju-chen Flowers in the Mirror (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965).
FURTHER READING
Jing Tsu, "Lin Yutang's Typewriter," in Sound and Script in Chinese Diaspora. Harvard University Press, 2010, pp. 49–79.
Suoqiao Qian. Liberal Cosmopolitan: Lin Yutang and Middling Chinese Modernity. Leiden: Brill, Ideas and History Series, 2011. 271p. .
Jianming He, “Dialogue between Christianity and Taoism,” in Ruokanen, Miikka, and Paulos Zhanzhu Huang, eds. Christianity and Chinese Culture (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2010), pp. 138-143.
Rain Yang Liu, “Lin Yutang: Astride the Cultures of East and West,” in Carol Hamrin and Stacey Bieler, eds, Salt and Light: More Lives of Faith That Shaped Modern China (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011), 158-175.
EXTERNAL LINKS
Internet Archive (scanned books original editions)
List of Lin Yutang's publications
Lin Yutang Biography & Photograph Collection
Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage
Patent for Lin Yutang's Chinese typewriter
Lin Yutang's house (Taipei)
"History of a 'Scribal Machine'", The Harvard Gazette (April 2, 2009)
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