Lin Yutang: A Literary Legend Who Bridged East and West

Today, we’ll talk about Lin Yutang, a celebrated writer and lexicographer, who masterfully bridged Eastern and Western cultures through his literary works and his pioneering efforts in compiling a Chinese-English dictionary, leaving an enduring legacy as both a literary figure and a cultural ambassador.

Transcript

Lin Yutang: A Literary Legend Who Bridged East and West

Today, we’ll talk about Lin Yutang, a celebrated writer and lexicographer, who masterfully bridged Eastern and Western cultures through his literary works and his pioneering efforts in compiling a Chinese-English dictionary, leaving an enduring legacy as both a literary figure and a cultural ambassador.

2025 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Lin Yutang, one of a few contemporary Chinese writers known for being proficient in English writing, alongside Hsiung Shih-I and Jiang Yi, whom we have discussed in previous podcasts.

In 1895, Lin Yutang was born into a large family in Zhangzhou of southeast China’s Fujian Province. His parents had six sons and two daughters, with Lin being the fifth son among the boys. The family lived harmoniously, maintaining good family order. And in such an environment, Lin enjoyed a happy childhood.

Lin’s father, Lin Zhicheng, was a rural Christian pastor, and according to Lin Yutang, was also a bit of a dreamer as well as sharp, imaginative, humorous, and tireless. Lin’s father was determined that he learn English from an early age and had high hopes for him, dreaming that he would one day study abroad. Because of his father’s influence and arrangements, Lin Yutang attended church schools throughout his primary and secondary education. This background made him open to Western culture from a young age. He became familiar with Jewish stories and developed a strong interest in Western literature. Naturally, these educational experiences laid a solid foundation for improving his English skills.

At the age of 18, Lin entered St. John’s University in Shanghai. It was here that he changed his name from “Lin Hele” to “Lin Yutang.” Shortly after entering the Christian university, Lin’s English skills improved significantly, and he even served as the editor of the English publication ECHO during his first year. During his time at St. John’s, Lin’s favorite place was the library, where he read extensively, including Jewish myths, theological books, and various Western secular works. This period of intensive reading gave Lin a preliminary understanding of the world especially with regard to the culture of the Western world and its social views, which proved to have a profound impact on his choices later in life. During his university years, his English proficiency grew rapidly. He won a medal in the school’s English debate competition, wrote numerous articles and stories in English, and also translated several English works.

After graduating from St. John’s University, Lin moved to Beijing and was hired to teach English at Tsinghua University, where he served as an instructor in the Department of Western Languages. During his time at Tsinghua, Lin began extensively reading Chinese literary works and studying Chinese culture, which he had not deeply explored before. At that time, Beijing was in the midst of the May Fourth Movement, a cultural and intellectual revolution that advocated for a break with tradition, Confucianism, and classical Chinese literature. Lin actively participated in this movement, writing and expressing his viewpoints.

After three years at Tsinghua, Lin married Liao Cuifeng. In August 1919, the couple sailed to the United States, where Lin entered Harvard University to pursue a master’s degree. However, a year later, the scholarship funding from Tsinghua was abruptly cut off, and Lin and his wife were forced to change their plans and head to France, intending to take courses at the University of Paris to make up for the courses he had missed at Harvard. Later, due to the high cost of living, Lin decided to continue his studies at the University of Jena in Germany in January 1921. He quickly made up the missing credits and earned his master’s degree from Harvard University.

That fall, he moved on to further study at Leipzig University in Germany. Known worldwide for its expertise in linguistics and comparative philosophy, Leipzig University also had a Chinese Studies department, with many Chinese books in its collection, and students could even borrow Chinese books from the University of Berlin. At Leipzig, Lin studied Western culture, comparative linguistics, and Chinese literature, learning to apply Western academic methods to the study of Chinese literature. This was a perfect example of “applying Western learning to Chinese uses,” and in Lin Yutang, Western and Chinese cultures blended seamlessly and complementarily.

In early 1923, Lin received his PhD from Leipzig University. After successfully defending his dissertation, he returned to China with his then pregnant wife. That fall, he officially joined Peking University as a professor in the English Department.

After the shocking “March 18 Massacre” that stunned both China and the world, the Duan Qirui government, infuriated by public outrage, drew up a list of people to arrest, and Lin’s name appeared prominently on it. To avoid persecution by the warlords, Lin had no choice but to return to Xiamen, Fujian Province. In July 1926, through a friend’s recommendation, Lin took up a position at Xiamen University, which had been founded by the patriotic overseas Chinese businessman Chen Jiageng. Famous figures like writer Lu Xun and historian Gu Jiegang were also invited to teach there. After the success of the Northern Expedition and the establishment of the National Government in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Lin left Xiamen University and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the National Government as an English secretary, though he resigned a few months later.

At the end of 1927, with the establishment of the Central Research Academy in Shanghai, headed by Cai Yuanpei, former president of Peking University, Lin accepted an invitation from Cai to join the Institute of History and Linguistics at the Academy.

For the following years, Lin’s life was filled with a busy yet fulfilling schedule. He worked as a researcher at the Central Research Academy while also teaching and giving lectures at various universities. At the same time, he wrote English textbooks, started a journal, and contributed articles to major newspapers and magazines. The English textbooks he wrote were published by the Shanghai Kaiming Bookstore and became widely popular, earning him substantial royalties. Gradually, his main focus shifted to writing and publishing.

In September 1932, driven by a strong sense of justice, Lin took a different approach and founded the Lunyu magazine, which became the first humor magazine in modern China. Lin served as the editor-in-chief of this magazine. In its pages, Lin used humor as a subtle way to express his ideas, often employing a witty writing style to satirize the government. To his surprise, the magazine was an immediate success and its circulation rapidly increased. It is important to note that the word “humor” did not exist in the Chinese language before Lin, and he is credited with coining the Chinese version of this term.

The term that Lin introduced, pronounced You Mo幽默in Chinese, was a phonetic translation of the English word “Humour”. It first appeared in an article he published in the Morning Post supplement in his early years. However, at the time, the response was not significant. As Lin’s fame grew, especially with the Lunyu biweekly magazine he founded, which prominently featured humor, the impact of his work became more profound. Lunyu published a large number of humorous articles that satirized reality and criticized current politics, which helped spread the humor trend and gradually made it resonate with the public. In recognition of this, Lin was later honored with the title of “Master of Humor” in Chinese literary history.

In 1933, Lin met Pearl S. Buck, and under her encouragement, he began to write works that depicted Chinese cultural life, aiming to present a true image of China to the West. In 1934, Lin wrote My Country and My People in English, which was divided into two parts. The first part, titled “The Qualities of the Chinese People,” focused on the character, spirit, and ideals of the Chinese people. The second part, titled “The Life of the Chinese People,” covered topics such as women’s lives, social and political life, literature and the lives of artists, and the art of living. The book was written from a Western perspective, introducing the image of the Chinese people and Chinese culture. This was of immense significance during the 1930s, a time when the West had little understanding of China.

In this popular cultural history of China, Lin’s writing was vivid and lively, achieving great success. For instance, when discussing the character of Chinese people, he suggested a clever method: one could judge a person’s personality by their attitude toward two of the main characters featured in the Chinese classic Dream of Red Mansions, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. If someone preferred Lin Daiyu, they were an idealist; if they liked Xue Baochai, they were a realist. This humorous, witty, and vivid style made the book enjoyable to read, avoiding the dryness often associated with such topics. As a result, the book became an instant bestseller after its publication, and Lin became famous across the ocean. This success encouraged Lin to follow Pearl S. Buck’s advice and move to the United States for a time to focus on writing. Over the next 20 years, Lin collaborated with the Buck family, publishing a series of bestsellers, and forming a deep friendship with them.

At the end of August 1936, Lin and his family arrived in the United States and stayed with the Bucks. Initially, Lin intended to translate several classical Chinese texts to introduce traditional Chinese life, art, and culture to the West. However, after considering Pearl Buck’s advice, he ultimately decided to write a book that would reflect the art of living and the cultural spirit of contemporary Chinese life. This book, The Art of Living, was completed in four months and was officially published in 1937. Upon its release, it became another huge success, reaching the top spot on the American bestseller list. Lin became a household name in the United States. The book was eventually translated into more than a dozen languages and sold widely both in China and abroad, earning Lin enormous recognition and establishing him as a renowned figure in the global literary world.

In July 1937, with the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Lin, though residing in the United States, closely followed the situation in China. When he saw the underhanded actions of the US government supporting Japan, he took up his pen as a weapon and angrily wrote a letter to The New York Times, fiercely criticizing the American government. He was later interviewed by The New York Times, where he expressed his unwavering belief in China’s eventual victory and his determination to stand with his homeland. 

Shortly after, Lin and his family traveled to Europe and eventually moved to France. During this period, he published an article in The Times titled “Japan Cannot Conquer China,” exposing the crimes of Japan’s invasion of China. Lin once said, “If the country does not exist, how can the family?” He never distanced himself from the fate of his nation, always showing a strong sense of national consciousness and patriotism.

Due to the looming threat of World War II, in 1939, Lin returned to the United States with his family to continue his writing life. Soon after, Lin completed his English novel Moment in Peking, which he dedicated to the brave Chinese soldiers. This novel, written with deep patriotism and love for his country, became one of Lin’s most famous works. In the following decade, he wrote several other works, including Ode and Satire, The Sound of the Crane’s Call, The Biography of Su Dongpo, and The Gate of the Zhu Family.

In 1966, after reaching his seventies, Lin moved with his family to Taiwan, where he settled. The following year, he was appointed as a research professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he oversaw the compilation of the Lin Yutang Contemporary Chinese-English Dictionary.

Compiling a Chinese-English dictionary was one of Lin ’s significant contributions in his later years. For a long time, Lin had dreamed of creating such a dictionary, and finally, in 1965, with the help of the president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he had the opportunity to realize this wish. In 1967, the Chinese University of Hong Kong appointed Lin as a research professor to oversee the compilation of the Chinese-English dictionary. He spent six months determining the structure of the dictionary, and then began the actual work. This project was pioneering, with an enormous workload every day, but Lin found joy in it. Lin believed that compiling a dictionary was “like cattle and sheep roaming on the hills, searching for food and discovering truth, with its own kind of pleasure.” After four years of hard work, the first draft of the dictionary was completed. In 1972, it was officially published as Lin Yutang’s Contemporary Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage, which became a milestone in the history of Chinese-English lexicography.

In March 1976, Lin passed away in Hong Kong at the age of 80. His body was buried at his home in Yangmingshan, Taiwan. Lin had been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twice. Throughout his life, Lin witnessed some of the most significant periods in modern Chinese history, from the fall of the Qing Dynasty to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It was precisely because he lived through these great moments that he was able to write those profound literary works.

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Lü Weitao, translator Du Guodong, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.