Lin Yutang
Lin Yutang 林語堂 (1895 - 1976) was a Chinese writer whose original works and translations of classic Chinese texts became very popular in the West.
Lin was born in Fujian province in southeastern China, near Xiamen. 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.
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 left Harvard early however, moving to France and eventually to Germany, where he completed his requirements for a doctoral degree (in Chinese) at the University of Leipzig. From 1923 to 1926 he taught English literature at Peking University.
Dr. Lin was very active in the popularization of classical Chinese literature in the West, as well as the general Chinese attitude towards life. He worked to formulate a new method of romanizing the Chinese language, and created an indexing system for Chinese characters. After 1928 he lived mainly in the United States, where his translations of Chinese texts remained popular for many years. His many works represent an attempt to bridge the cultural gap between the East and the West. He was frequently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
His first two books, My Country and My People (吾國吾民) (1935) and The Importance of Living (生浩的藝術) (1937), written in English in a charming and witty style, brought him international fame. Others include Between Tears and Laughter (1943), The Chinese Theory of Art (1967), and the novels Moment in Peking (1939) and The Vermillion Gate (朱門) (1953).
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Referenced By
Chinese literature | Chinese people | Chinese writer | Gwoyeu Luomaatzyh | Gwoyeu Romatzyh | List of China-related topics 123-L | List of Chinamen | List of Chinese authors | List of Chinese people | List of famous Chinese | List of famous Chinese People | Literature of China | Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II (1928) | National Phonetic Alphabet II
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