Lin Huiyin (1904–55)

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This chapter is in the book The Flowering of Modern Chinese Poetry

Lin Huiyin was born in Hangzhou. Her father was a graduate of Japan’seminent Waseda University who served in the senate, courts, and diplo-matic service of the Guomindang government. He was an advocate ofwomen’s education and began his daughter’s schooling when she was four.In1916she enrolled in a British-run secondary school where she becamefluent in English. At sixteen she accompanied her father to England, whereshe enrolled in St Mary’s College, Cambridge. Here began her lifelong in-terest in architecture. In Cambridge she met Xu Zhimo, who proposedmarriage. Her father disapproved of their attachment; Xu’s wife was liv-ing in London. He took his daughter back to China where she became en-gaged to Liang Sicheng, son of prominent reformer Liang Qichao. XuZhimo’s poems “Coincidence” and “Go” reputedly represent his poeticfarewell to Lin Huiyin. Her “Do Not Forget” could be read as a reply to“Coincidence,” repeating as it does Xu’s image of passing ships.In1924Lin accompanied her fiancé to America. Because the Universityof Pennsylvania architecture department did not admit women, she had toenroll instead in the fine arts department and attend architecture classesas an external student. After graduation, she studied set design at the YaleSchool of Drama. Lin and Liang married in Canada, then returned toChina in1928. Lin Huiyin is recognized as China’s first female architect.During the1930s, while she was raising a family, she designed buildingsand traveled throughout China to study ancient monuments for a historyof Chinese architecture which she and her husband coauthored.The high-water mark of her poetic production was1931, when shewrote poetry and stream-of-consciousness short stories while recoveringfrom tuberculosis in a sanitarium in the Fragrant Hills, west of Beijing.When the Japanese occupied Beijing in1937she and her husband left thecity and lived a nomadic existence until they eventually settled in Kunming.Harsh living conditions exacerbated her lung condition. In1946they re-turned to Beijing, where Lin took up a post at Qinghua University. HereLin Huiyin(1904–55)

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Lin Huiyin was born in Hangzhou. Her father was a graduate of Japan’seminent Waseda University who served in the senate, courts, and diplo-matic service of the Guomindang government. He was an advocate ofwomen’s education and began his daughter’s schooling when she was four.In1916she enrolled in a British-run secondary school where she becamefluent in English. At sixteen she accompanied her father to England, whereshe enrolled in St Mary’s College, Cambridge. Here began her lifelong in-terest in architecture. In Cambridge she met Xu Zhimo, who proposedmarriage. Her father disapproved of their attachment; Xu’s wife was liv-ing in London. He took his daughter back to China where she became en-gaged to Liang Sicheng, son of prominent reformer Liang Qichao. XuZhimo’s poems “Coincidence” and “Go” reputedly represent his poeticfarewell to Lin Huiyin. Her “Do Not Forget” could be read as a reply to“Coincidence,” repeating as it does Xu’s image of passing ships.In1924Lin accompanied her fiancé to America. Because the Universityof Pennsylvania architecture department did not admit women, she had toenroll instead in the fine arts department and attend architecture classesas an external student. After graduation, she studied set design at the YaleSchool of Drama. Lin and Liang married in Canada, then returned toChina in1928. Lin Huiyin is recognized as China’s first female architect.During the1930s, while she was raising a family, she designed buildingsand traveled throughout China to study ancient monuments for a historyof Chinese architecture which she and her husband coauthored.The high-water mark of her poetic production was1931, when shewrote poetry and stream-of-consciousness short stories while recoveringfrom tuberculosis in a sanitarium in the Fragrant Hills, west of Beijing.When the Japanese occupied Beijing in1937she and her husband left thecity and lived a nomadic existence until they eventually settled in Kunming.Harsh living conditions exacerbated her lung condition. In1946they re-turned to Beijing, where Lin took up a post at Qinghua University. HereLin Huiyin(1904–55)

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