22 Facts About Lin Yutang

Lin Yutang was a Chinese inventor, linguist, novelist, philosopher, and translator.

Lin Yutang was born in 1895 in the town of Banzai, Fujian.

Lin Yutang studied for his bachelor's degree at St John's University, a Christian university in Shanghai.

Lin Yutang found himself in the wake of the New Culture Movement which criticized certain ancient traditions as feudal and harmful.

Lin Yutang was one of the figures who introduced the Western concept of humor.

Lin Yutang used the Analects to promote his conception of humor as the expression of a tolerant, cosmopolitan, understanding and civilized philosophy of life.

Lin Yutang's father was a second-generation Christian, but at Tsinghua, Lin asked himself what it meant to be a Christian in China.

On his return from study abroad, Lin Yutang renewed his respect for his father, yet he plunged into study of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism and did not identify himself as Christian until the late 1950s.

Lin Yutang wrote My Country and My People and The Importance of Living in English.

Lin Yutang vehemently criticised Churchill for refusing to extend the right to self-determination to Britain's colonies under the Atlantic Charter and quipped that 'all you need to do to make an Englishman a gentleman again is to ship him back west of the Suez Canal'.

However, Lin Yutang worked on this problem for decades using a workable Chinese typewriter, brought to market in the middle of the war with Japan.

From 1954 to 1955, Lin Yutang served briefly and unhappily as president of Nanyang University, which was newly established in Singapore by Chinese business interests to provide tertiary education in Chinese studies in parallel with the English-medium University of Singapore.

However, according to CIA agent, Joseph B Smith, Lin clashed with founder Tan Lark Sye and the board of trustees on the direction of the new university.

Lin Yutang accepted a dismissal fee of $305,203, entirely contributed by Tan Lark Sye, to prevent depleting the university's funds.

Lin Yutang's wife was a devout believer, and Lin admired her serenity and humility.

Lin Yutang continued his work until his death in 1976.

Lin Yutang's home has been turned into a museum, which is operated by Taipei-based Soochow University.

Lin Yutang's wife, Lin Tsuifeng, was an author, who, along with her daughter Lin Hsiang Ju, wrote three cook books which popularized Chinese cuisine in the English speaking world.

Lin Yutang's first daughter Adet Lin was a Chinese-American author who used the pseudonym Tan Yun.

Lin Yutang was an author and the editor-in-chief of Chinese edition of the Reader's Digest from 1965 until her retirement in 1988.

Lin Yutang wrote a biography of her father in Chinese.

Lin Yutang graduated with a Doctor of Science in Biochemistry from Harvard University and later co-authored Chinese cookbooks with her Mother including Chinese Gastronomy for which her father wrote the foreword.