10-10-CL-0003 by Chinabooklink.eu

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The Lin couple in New York, ry37 @hotographer: Carl Van Vechten; Origin al size: rg.7cmxz4.zcm)

,irr Yutang stood in

front ofXu Beihong's painting The Horse in NewYork, about r94o. @ho tographer: Pix Inc orp

rate d; Origin al size: I g Scmx 2 4 3cm)

FOREWORD iäi PREFACE ON A SUNDAY MORNING

C'lrrpter i Hr$*

Six

NEW BNGLAND INTERLUDE

LIFE i *#"$ l, 'l'l lOllEAU AND CONFUCIUS i.$$ä; ll. NO APOLOGY FOR LIVING j.$ss I ll. 'l'l Ili JOYS OF COMMON LIFE i .$s*; lV. 'l'l I11 HEROISM OF COMMON TOIL i *#"i V. 'l'l IOREAU AND THE VAtr UES OF LIFE i sss i

(Irryxer.+itwen

Chapter One THE WISDOM OF LIVING : ##"ä I. THE SCOPE OF WISDOM i.$q]tr: II. THE PHILOSOPHERS' BLII,üDMAN'S BUFF III. THtr AMERICAN SENSE OF EACT ir;.rg'i i IV. THE DEMAND FOR EAITH i#'s,,8 ;

i#,{i*}

Chapter Two COUNSEL FOR

L ALL

IS RIDDLE j'#*{$

LIVING

irir?r.,r

(trqrter ll,ight LIBERTY

I. Wt{Y LIBtrRTY? i+sft

II. HEED THY PRIVATE DREAM ie.iär{r III. WHO IS THE DREAMtrR? :*rg*;i;

IV. WFIEI.{ LAUGHTER IS WISER'I-HAN TEARS Chapter Three OURANIMAL HERITAGE i#,sr,r'i I. MODERIü MAN PSYCHOANALY-ZED idi,+ä+iq i II. ADAM AND EVE i*ri;s i III. WE SIMIANS : *t]n;t:i; IV. WHAT ARE wE MAKII{G oF ouRSELVtrs?

ir,}+-q

I. "I)I'MOCRACY''

VERSUS "I)EMOCRATSKY"

ll. .l'l{Ii COMMON MAN

i H#:r

IV. 'I'I{E STATE AND THE INDIVIDUAL

V. .II|FFERSONIAN DEMOCRACY

ifr:n#

Chapter Four THE RFIYTHIVI OF I. WHERtr IS WOMAN? i,$${.};

II. TF{E RACE III. OLD AGE

OF LIFE

ir}#?-

LIFE

(llrapter Nine THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

I. 'fllFl BI-UE BIRD

ll. i{r-"*,,a;

'trs*

I'I{YSIOLOGICAL PEACtr iffid$s i OF WORK

I. -['[IE TONIC IIFFECT

i .?sd

IV. 'f[{E SECRET OF CONTENTMENT i tr## i V. FIOW TO BE S\A/EtrT THOUGI{ SOPHISTICATED

ii..+ti,'r,ä i

(llrnpter

Ten THE ARTS OF LTWNG i#yß I. TI{E ART OF DOII.{G NOTHING i,"t;ra I I. F RIENDSHIP AND CONVERSATION : äs{ lll. FOOD AND WINE ;ä#ft i

i$:ä.r,pii? i

IV. DEATH AI{D IMMOIT-IALITY

iäu$H

r:}r.+i} i

Chapter Five MAN AS SENTIMENT : rlir I. II{ADEQUACY oFf HE MATERIT\LISTICvIEw ir1:;:: II. THE srtIFF oF HUI\{AN trxPERIEI{cE i -**"r,, III. TFIE RIGHT TO ROMANCE iliiri,$ i IV. WHEN THE PRACTICAL MAN BECOMES A LOVER V. TIIE SOUL'S VITAL R\P-|URES i $;r:irl ;

V. TtrA AI{D TABACCO V. I{OBBItrS i ä$}? i

i rE**

t;.s,:+ i

ti.

it'

{il t-.

Chapter Bleven NATURE i*$'$ i I. SOCIETY AND NATURE i#.$ä i II. THIS SENSE-FILLED EARTH is{# III. THE WONDER OF IT ALL i ßpr i IV. THE POWER AND THE GLORY iss# V. PANTHEISTIC REVELRY i$4* i

Ghapter Sixteen THE SUMMING UP itr#{$ i l. 'l-O EVERY MAN HIS O\MN PHILOSOPHY jsr#; ll. JLJSTICE HOLMES'S CRtrDO i #,e't, I lll. FIINSTEIN'S INTIMATE CREDO irä*r i lV. A TOAST TO MODERATION i $.Rä

WADB-GILES TO PINYIN CONVERSIONTABLE is##i ENGLISH WORKS tsY LIN YUTANG i .*tr# i

Chapter Twelve GOD is#ffi I. A STRICTLY PRIVATE MATTER i $s{r i II. OUR LOW NOTIONS OF GOD ii*##; III. ESSAY ON BLACK i s#d IV. THREE GREAT RELIGIOUS NATURES V. THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY iäffiffi i i

Chapter Thirteen LOVE, i$ss i I. MARRIAGE i;*## II. GREAT MEN IN TROUBLE: FRANKLIN III. JEFFERSON IN TROUBLE, i#ä"$ü: IV. LINCOLN IN TROUBLE i.s;*# V. SEX AND MODESTY i,{.8.$ i VI. WHITMAN'S SEX DEMOCRACY I,r,ss i I

Chapter Fourteen LAUGHTER

I. HUMOR id#,e II. SATIRE i d,?d

{s$ie

I I

Chapter Fifteen WAR AND PEACE :-4#s I. WORLD GOVERNMENT i *.e##; II. WOODRO\M \MII,SON i,effd i III. WAR AND PEACtr :s*ä i

is.{3i,r

FORE\YORD

{:fuSe rrrrrung in r9o5, or the 3rth

yeau_

of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of

:@- Jqesw. rwo brothers set out by boat from their hometown Boa-ah, a rmnrnwlu.r-.n" hamlet in Fuiian Province on the southern coast of China, for the ::ml': :lrd- oiXiamen, some sixty miles away. The boys were full of excitement the younger one. Yutang waS ten years old, and today, he =rsrer. especially wu nn:ng leave of his hometo\Mn and going with his brother to study in Xiamen.

;lmilr

Fere sons of Pastor Lin Zhicheng, who was born in the poor village of

]ffi,'체Lxsh채-

Pastor Lin was sending his sons to free missionary schools in Xiamen.

not a follower of convention, so the boys did not wear mrxleres. Yutang was a little #y, deeply tanned, with a prominent forehe ad, a tr,i".'-' ,of sparkling eyes, and a narrow chin. Six miles lateq when the skiff came Tllre Pastor was

to a five-sail junk, and sailed toward Zhangzhou : c. \fest River. There were paddy fields and farmhouses on either side of ::e river, and tall mountains stood behind them, clad in grey-purplish -:ues. Yutang thought it inexpressibly beautiful. After a dat's journeY, the junk T-as tied up against the bank under some bamboo trees. Yutang was told to lie -": Xlaoxi, the boys changed

Jown, cover himself with a blanket and go to sleep.

But sleep was the last thing on the bo/s mind. The boatman sitting at the iunk's stern was sucking at his pipe, and bet'ween gulps of bitter tea, telling stories about the Empress Dowag체 Cixi, who ruled the court today, having

put the Emperor Guangxu under house arrest for supporting the reformers at the palace. Another junk was tied up on the opposite bank, brightly lit by lanterns. A soft breeze wafted sounds of merrymaking and music from a lute across the water. Oh, what a beautiful scene! Yutang thought, I must remember

lI . 7772 J%o^/ao-

,/-"n*A4-

this eveningwell, so that the sights and sounds will always be fresh in my mind

I recall this nig[rt, however old I might be. At the thought of going to school in Xiamen, his heart leapt with anticipation. He often went to watch the sunset behind the tall mountains when

which completely surrounded the hamlet. The mountain peaks were always shrouded in clouds. How did a person get out of this deep vallen he wondered.

What was the world like outside? Tq the north there was

a crack

in one of the

peaks, left there, it was said, when a fairy stubbed his toe on a rock. The wodd

was so big that it boggled his mind. Two years ago, his father told him the fust airplane had a successful test fight. "IVe read everything I could W hands on about the airplane," his father said, "but

dont know vrhether

should believe it."

^y I've never seen one, and I

llis father also told him that

the best

univer$ities in the wodd wcre the University of Berlin in Germann and Oxford University in England. :'You tnust study hard, young man," his father often said, sittine beside the boy's bed at night, turning up the oil lamp and smoking his

pipe. "Study hard, so that you can go to one ofthose universities. Acquire an

oY-"

,l relf-taught

man, communicated to his children a passionate zest thrt was new and modern from the \(/est, and decided that his sons 'Western educations. \7ith the help of one 9f brrn English and receive Grs and a loan, Yutang atrended St. John's Universiry

Shanghai,

emphasis was on English. Yutang also studied theolog)r, because he

to be a pastor like his father. But after extensive reading in science' to have doubts about Christian do gma, and changed his major to hy.

he graduated from St. John's

1916,

Yutang accepted a teaching

by einghua College in Beijlrg. Here, he found himself surrounded history, and he realized how srnall the confines of his Christian

tlon had been. He knew that Joshua's trumpet blew down the walls of but did not know the folktde of MengJiangn端, whose tears f,or her lost at the Great Wall caused a section of the wall to collapse and expose body. Determined ro make up for his inadequtcf t Yutang haunted s, asking shopkeepers what were the most important books to read' he was too ashamed to ask others.

education and become a famous man."

than 5o books and becarne a world-renowned author- The NeatTorkTimes sud at the time of his death, "Ljn Yutang had no peer as an interpreter to'Western

When he was not reading, Yut arrg tried to devise a better method for up characters in a Chinese diction ary than the prevailing Kangxi the bane of scholars and stud旦nts alike. At the age of 23, he published of tndex Systern fo, Chinese Cbaracters for which Cai Yuanpei, chancellor Universiry of Pekitg (Beida), wrote a preface. The work attracted

minds of the customs, aspirations, fears and thought of his people." Father was a novelist, essayist, philosopher, philologist and lexicographer. He also

ettention of scholars and was a catalyst for change. But Yutang was akeady ,l$rtisfied with his method, and he continued throughout his life to work on

invented a Chinese typewriter' "But he was more,?'wrote Prof' Nelson I"w'lr of 'W'ashington University in St. Lo-qis, Missouri. "FIe was a total man, stubbornly

lhprovements. These were finally incorporated in his monumental Chinese-

My father often repeated this story to me. As

sat in his study, surrounded

by bookshelves of his works, I,knew that Grandfather's words \端ere the inspiration of his life. In his 8o years, my father wrote and translated more

genius.tt

端n$isn diction ary published when he was 77 years old' r1:i Yutang taught at Qinghua for three years, then qualified to study in tmerica. He received a half-scholarship to major in modern languages at

Father was born in 1895, the

I{ervard Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. In rgr9, he married Liao Cuifeng from Xiamen, and took his bride with him to Cambridge, Massachusetts. At

going his own way through the criticisrn of lesser minds to become a qniversal

fifth of six sons of Lin Zlicheng.The Presbyterian

'N . /-/z

,/-on-t-.-^'L/ ula,Voa'+-/ao*

the end of the year, his stipend stopped coming, and he had not enough money to get his Master:s degree at Harvard.

'World War

was now over, China had sent some r5o,ooo laborers

to France, and Yutang accepted a job at the American YMCÄ [Young Mert's Christian Associationl to teach the laborers to read and write, The couple moved to I-;e Creusot, a small town in France.'When they had saved some rnoney, Yutang had taught himself German, and they went to the University ofJena in Germany because the living standard there was lower. Yutang took courses and transferred credit to receive his Master's from Flarvard. To the dean of Harvard Graduate School he wrote in r9zo, "I do not wish to plead for any special leniency in giving me the degree. Nor am I going to be intellectually

arrested myself after pfactical utility that degree

should get the degree.

is for the reason of great

I wish'to have this certificate. I

believe that the Harv-ard

will make my progress through the German University much quicker

and easier." lnr9z3, he received his Ph'D. in Philologr from Leipzig University, and returned to China-

The country was in turmoil. Politically, China was in the grip of feudal warlords whofought one :urother incessantly. Yutang,

professor in the English

Department of Beida, wrote articles and criticized the corrupt and ineffective government. The feuding warlords fought on. Duan Qirui ordered the arrest

of some io professors and newspapermen who criticized the government. Yutangts name was on the list. Two editors who were arrested were shot in the same night.

By now my parents had two daughters, my older sister and myself-

rüZe

left

for Xiamen, where Father joined the faculty of Xiamen University as dean of the College of Arts and Letters. But, university politics made it impossible for him to stay on, and a year later, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Wtrhan Government, because he admired Foreign Minister Chen Yuren, whom he had known in Beijing. When the Wuhan Government was toppled in Father quit his job, and we rnoved to Shanghai.

1927,

ry o/" / a7. 'Y

Englisb Books, , he began to write the enormously successful Kairning was adopted as textbooks for middle schools. I7ith hisfounding bi-monthty in t93z in Shanghai, Father made his reputation

. The magazine specialized in humor and satire, but

it was Father's

ions that most captured the readers. Pokitg fun at, soYernment [tC once said, "Although you afe at.'.fficial, )rou still look like a ma,,'" s lacerating wit earned him the reputation of enfant tertible and the ftlvlastef of Humor."

rg3,4 and rg35,

he started two,more magazines,

and Tbe Cosrnic\V'ind. Also at this time, Father was writing column called "The Little Critic" which appeared in China Critic 'W'orld

of the Concise , as well as editirrg a Chinese diction ary in the style Dictiondry. At the same time, he was translating English works into such as the biography of Flenrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw's

fua,And

he was translating Chinese

into English, the most notable

of which was Qitrg Dynasty author Shen Fu's Six Chapters of a FloatingLife,

in Shanghai in rgiS.The author wrote in a *the idyllic life he led with his wife'Yun, whom Father described story and äs "one of the loveliest of wornen in Chinese literature." The wes published in bilingual form

tion received wide attention.

"Little Critic" essays caught the attention of Pearl S. Buck, who in China, and whose nov el The Good Earth had won the Pulitzer ,+One evening the rwo writers met. They had been speaking of foreign in China, when Father suddenly said , "I should like to write a book 's

cxactly what

I feel about China."

it," Mrs. Buck replied enthusiastically. ther finished the book in ry35, and it was called My Country dnd W In the book, Father surveyed the mental and moral constitution and are the one to do

the Chinese people,

well as sociey,literature and the aft

o;{

living.

is too big a countA, and her national life has too many facets for her be open to the most diverse interpretations," he wrote. "I can lay barc

W' 7-1' Jryoo/".oo'

her troubles because

I have not lost hope."

The politic ally motivated writers lost no time in tearing the book apatt, but Father was not bothered. "If a man must be

a writer," he said, "he should

have some courage and speak his mind." He had nothirg but contempt for

literury prostitutes who owed their living to political bosses.

"The book burst like a shell over the

.Western

world:' accordirg to the

Neut Tork Tirnes. "A/Iy Country and A[y People is the clearest and most interesting

dissection and synthesis of China past and present that

I have read," wrote

Fanny Butcher in the Chicago Daily Ti,ibune. "One of the most important and satisfactory books yet written in English on the character, life and philosophy

of the Chinese peoplr," wrote 'W'. L. Langer in Foreign Affairs. "No one who wants to know either old or new China need go beyond the covers of W Country and A[y People... The whole gamut of matters Chinese is here treated with a deftness, a frankness, an intelligenc e , t subtlety seldom matched in any 'work," wrote

T F. Opie in Churcbman.

Father was 4r. Success did not change him.

am still a child, looking at

this extraordinary world with round eyes," he said. "There is so much learn; every1fuing arouses my curiosity.

must

have only one interest, and that is to

know more about life, past and present, and to write about it. I would not like

if it gets in the way." In ry36, our family, which now included three daughters, went to America, intending to stay only ayeaL But when the 'War of Resistance AgainstJapanese broke out the next yea\ we had to delay our return. Father \Mas horrified to learn the jz manuscript volumes of the Chinese dictionaryr he was editing, fame

which he had not brought to the States, had been destroyed.

In New York, Father began to write Tbe Importance of Living, one of his most famous books and a grand synthesis of his philosophy. It became the best-selling book in America in 1938, was translated into a dozen languages, 'West. and secured for him the position of a leading inte{preter of China to the

In comparing East and \7est, he found no difference so sha{p as the attitude

,t-a*+--.-A4-

/ ,7 Y'.

,/ att-t.

.V]I

,6wdnl oftl ;rgc. "I am still continually shocked by the Western attitude," he

ftltr, "l lrr.:rrtl an old lady remark that she had several gfandchildren,'but it f,cr

llr. lirsl onc that hurt.'Even with

the knowledge that Americans hate to

ol'as old, one still doesn't quite expect to have it put that way." I lrr rlrr. irlportance of the hOme, he wrote, "It has seemed to me that the hl,rl tr'.,t ol-lny civilization is, what type of husbands and wives and fathers l1r. r lrurrp,lrt

it turn out. Besides the austere simplicity of such a question' FvFty rlthr.r achievement of civilization-art, philosophy, literature and alrl lyrt ttut

c rta ,,1

lrt.r.s d<res

ng'-pales into insignificance."

tr. l,in has performed the inestimable service of distilling the philosophy

,rl gr.tr1r.;rli6ns of Chinese sages and Pfesenting it against a modern... [rr Lpr,rrlrrl, which makes it easily readable and understandable," said the

\atulry

lla'view of Literature.

in rg4o, was a novel of broad canvas which ln,6,rrr wir I the Boxer Rebellion in rgor and ended with the beginning of the \l'irr rrl l{t.sistance AganistJapanese. Like Tlte Inryortance of Living, it became hlttrtttttt in Pehing, published

c rr.llr tlorr of the Book-of-the-Month Club. It "may well become the classic 1,,r, Lp.trrtut<l novel of modern China", sudTirne magazir.e' l,,rtlrt'r.'s books were translated into Chinese and well-received, although

Irr wrr n()t always pleased with the translations. 'My regret is that I did not, tlrrlrrglr rrrost of my works, meet my readers face to face," he said toward the r lrl ul lris life, referring to the fact that most of his works' Chinese translations wr=rr rhrtc lly others.

llrrr hc was too busy creatively to translate. After the war ended, Father , rrrlrarLt.rl upon an adventure that was to wipe out all his assets and get him

,t r.lly in rlcbt. He decided to build a chinese typewfiter that anyone could use a string of wellw l ll ru t prcvious training. Because he had written and edited rr r Iivr.rl

lxroks, including TbeVisdonof Chinaandlndiaitt rg4z,he felt he could

,rllurrl rhis project. In fact, he had been trying to invent a typewriter ever since of tens of Irr= wrnl to Peking in the r9zos. Never mind that Chinese consisted

\fIil ' /7-z

uJmVba*-/ao*

Fan-t

,Far East Languages, Yale University,.said that "the finding system is

thousands of ideographs while English had only z6 letters of the alphabet, he

Gfficient yet devised, md

thought it could be done.

His solutio n Lay in finding

a better way

-a"./ ,7 oY" 7-a7' 'lX

may well be extended to dictionaries and

to classiry Chinese characters than

in r93r, when

yueh, manager of the Bank of china in New York, said, "I was not

he tried to have a model of his invention made in London. But he had run out

for anything so compact and at the same time comprehensive, so eafY end yet so adequate." And Father's good friend, the philologist Yuen

the

K*g.i

system. He thought he had the problem solved back

of funds and returned home with only 30 cents in his pocket. Now, working like a man possessed, Father was up at dawn and did not go

to bed until after midnight. He drew sketches, rearranged characters and redesigned his keyboard. In New York's Chinatown, he found a printer who could mold the characters. Then,, he located a small engineering firm to help him with the mechanics and a workshop to produce the parts. Problem after

T, I think this is iti "Frther was deeply in debt. One day I came home from Columbia where I was attending classes, and found Mother in tears. Although in touch with many rypewriter companies, we could not hope for ts. China was in the midst of.civil war, and the largest potential eimply said, "Y.

problem had to be overcoffie, and the bills mounted. Each of the thousand

uncertain.

with

parts was made by hand. But he had sunk so much money into the machine

later, when we were riding in a taxi'채rd Father was playrng

that he could not give up. As their savings vanished, Mother was horrified. But she knew her husband well. He was easygoitg about m채.ily. things, but

mockup of the keyboard, he said, "The crux of the invention is mechanical problems were not hard'" could you have just used this mockup to sell your invention? Was

obstinated about some things, 채nd inventing a typewriter was one of them.

Fortunately, Father had a friend in antique dealer:Loo.Chin-tsai, who loaned him tens of thousands of dollars to finish the model. Finally, in M*y 1947, we brought his invention home.

It was called the Mingkwai ('clear and

quick') Typewriter. The machine had 7z keys. To tlpe a character, one pressed the keys corresponding to the top and bottom parts 'of a characte! and those

with similar tops and bottoms appeared on a screen in the center of the machine. The qpist then pressed one of eight printing keys according to the position of the correct character on the screen, At a time when computers had

not yet become popular, his invention of a scanning screen was remarkable. The typefaces were molded around six hexagonal rollers. No larger than a standard typewriter, the Mingkwai typed 7,ooo whole characters and by

rny need to build the model?" I asked' boked at me for afew seconds. "I suppose I could have," he whispered, ,Gonldn't hetp myself. I had to make a real qlpewriter. I never dreamed it cost so much."

Mingkwai is never manufactured, because it was too costly to of the computer age' , 체rd China was in turmoil. But with the coming ical problems of a Chinese typewriter were eliminated. In 1985, tac Autornation Company <if Thiwan bought Father's "Instant Index ,' as his character classification is called, and made it the input system ,computers. ,,It is my leg acy to the chinese peopke," Father said.

in 1948 to be the head of the Arts and Letters Division IJnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was invited

combinations a theoretical total of 9o,ooo.

The typewriter was presented at a press conference held at home, and received great write-ups in the press. Dr. George A. Kennedy, director,

O) in paris. My parenrs sold their apartment in New York to pay some

trcir

debts, and sailed for France.

X. 7-1' J%on/ao*

At UNESCO; Father wrote memos, prepared reports and attended it frustrating and exhausting. ',There are two kinds of

ical change.

meetings. He found

Dictiondr! t which Father called the crownirg achievement of his

animals on earth," he once rvrote. "one kind minds his orpn business, the other minds other people's business. The former are vegetarians, like cows, sheep and

.was

published in October rg72 with great fanfare.

English dictionary ever compiled

thinking men. The latter are carnivordus, like hawks, tigers and men of action. I have often admired my colleagues for their administrative ability. I have

as "a milestone

It was the first by a Chinese scholar. The New hrk

in communication bet'rreen the world's largest

groups."

neoe. beJn interested in that."

his 8oth birthday, October ro, r97j, friends in Hong Kong organized

He quit his job and moved to the south of France. He loved the simple life-sitting at a caf6, and watching the fishermen's boats return with their

bration. An even bigger celebration was organi zed in Täipei. $7hen Jny parents at the Hong Kong airport upon their return, Father's eyes

catch, and going to market to shop for food. Life was more reasonable here than in NewYork. He grabbed Mother's hand and sqid, ,Never mind, we,ll start

with gladness. His cup was full. The only honor that he wanred and had

all over again. This pen of mine is still capable of earning a couple of dollars,,', tro rgi4, Father became the first chancellor of the newly founded Nanyang

ler" he once said. "'W'e must have an attitude of expecting neither

was the Nobel Pfize. But he was his philosophical self about

nor too little from life."

university in Singapore. But, politics forced him to resign in a few months, and he and Mother returned to Rance. Ire was 6o, but not feeling his age a bit. .,I do not long for spring nor am

sad

passed away in Hong Kong on March z6 the followingyear. Among

tributes he received was one by the

in the autumn," he said, "because my wife

. Wallace published a memorial

doesnt find me old."

Reader's Digesl's

founder, De$Vitt

booklet of Father's writing that had

over the years in the magazine. It was dedicated to the memory of "an

They lived so simply that they were like children. IIe was vrriting again, and she was growing potatoes on the balcony. They took deright in the simple joys of fresh food and long walks. Later, they returned to New york to be near

spirit of vast range and accomplishment-this man for all cultures enriched our lives. He considered his dictionary to be the 'crown' of :

my sisters. lnr965, Father turned 7o, ar..d decided it was time to retirrn to the East. A house was built for him on yangminshan in the outskirrs of räipei,

1969, Father was made president

United Daily News of Täiwan compared Farher's achievements in ing Chinese culture to the \Fest with that ofJesuit missionary Matteo

In an editorial, the Cbina

"Dr. Lin is the scholar ter who possibly made the greatest contribution in promoting Chinese internationally in the recent roo years. For some in the 'West who

of the Täipei

chinese center, International P. E. N. He was nominated for the Nobel prize for Literature in rgTz and ryry. At the tirne, he was working on the Lin Tutang cbinese-Englisb Diaionary of Modzm usage

Times of Täiwan said,

llot well-informed, they heard about Lin Yutang before they heard about End heard about China before they heard about the glory of Chinese

with a small editorial staff in Thipei.

The project was sponsored by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A new chinese-English dictionarywas urgently needed to meet the demands of social

To anyone who reads his works, it will be apparent that Lin Yutang's

had many jewels in it."

which he designed himself. He wrote a syndicated column in chinese called 'vhatever's on My Mind" ('wu suo BuThn) which was read by five million readers around the world.

it. "Let

on." '

took his body to Täipei to be buried in the garden of his home. It

has

X\/III . Oo 7 1z

//,r.--

latu y

2o^t t-, oa

read and absorbed into my being from my Chinese reading,

will, I am

surc,

be reflected in its emphases and preferences and enthusiasms. The Chinest' are always enthusiastic

problems

may say excited) about something, particularly thc

of daily living. You cannot tell them not to be. But I

suppose that

is all to the good. \7hen Christopher Morley talks about "The Last Pipe" or when David Grayson talks about the binding power of doughnuts, rich, brown,

with just a bit of white

sugar

to set them oft, or of

a deep, thick, golden-yellow

pumpkin pie, baked in a brown crockery plate, and exclaims, 'A wonderful pie!" we understand each other. Not faith, hope, and charity, but doughnuts,

hot muffins, and pumpkin pies will make the nations united, which is a unity considerably more real than that of the United Nations at present.

Lastly

I must thank Mr. Richard J. -Walsh,

Sr., for valuable advice and

criticism before the book went to press, and Miss Anne J. Smith, who has been so helpful in securing the books I wanted, from across the Atlantic.

L.Y.T Cannes, France

March 26, rg5o

PREFACE ON A SLJNDAY MORNINC

'nrilrcT:rr. r-ears

in the United States without daring to write a

;fu:}E-i,.J[IffY.Forthatmatter'eVenwithmyalmosttenyearS I oouldn't dare to write a book about New York, that dark, m*nsreious ciqF. I wouldn't dare to write even about Eighqf-fourth I durrm'i x.norn- enough about it. It seems a much easier task to write

ffi iru: ual iourney I iresar- I

through American writing from which

I have just

have never given myself such a wild holiday, with time

.nC wholeheartedly spent on visiting all the inspiring sights of ttpnrrmr-r rilmrmTil,

; sa:rirual topography, without a thought of the morrow. I had taken

mr,=-ions before and the landscape is not unfamiliar. But

I did enjoy

mm@ Br re leisurely and at close hand the broad pastures of Oliver N7endell Mmmes-

snow-capped peaks of Ernerson, the granite monolith of Thoreau,

xt#r cavern of Edgar Allan Poe, the seven-thousand-foot-high plateau city

nür ifuffi,rn:-rt

Santayana, the laughing valley

of Ben Franklin, the awe-inspiring

d rocky dome of Lincoln, the Greek edifice of Jefferson.

from such a grand tour, I have put down these notes of a n$uuc,€i-. of what I as a Chinese observed, what I think, what I love and what mn"ry been my disappointments. I have soliloquized along the way. The point of ry€-.- is individualistic, and limited, I know, as every personal viewpoint must T,,l \\-hat interests me is to see the American approach to life, noting how R.em.rrnirg

i,r,rr€ of the great American minds have grappled with the problems of God

nd life and immortality,

and the toils and struggles and joyr of human life,

:hose things which mean so much to me. As Sfilliam James says, "The most

XIV

Ort

/ 1z //r^ /atN

Or^z,t-

f*-ya*

interesting and valuable things about a man are his ideals and over-beliefs,"

44 4 ,4',-'o/A

thoroughly thrashed ,-thnt brute complacency

-7a a'+-'2"'7

' XV

out of him with the

wiser minds. Flumanity constantly drowses, is thrashed, wakes to drowsing again. Each generation begins its own thinking this

the over-beliefs and basic assumptions about God, and religion, and the homc, and marriage, and life, and death, and ,about what constitutes happiness.

life, not

because we like

to gamble but because 'we

Thus my quest is a quest for American wisdom about living. There can never

lfi,rake a bet on

be a synthesis of the American philosophy of life; America is so diverse.

and bgrn and have to live through this span of sixry or seventy years ,fiust bet on some faith or other. have made better guesses than others, and great thinkers like

a general sketch

Yet

of these vistas of American wisdom may be made, however

it may be by a personal vision. A society without a philosophy of life is a frightening thing. Such beliefs, so far as I can see, are in complete rout and confusion today. If we cannot inadequate and however limited

obtain a gene ral agreement as to what the American nation as a whole thinks about such probleffis, we can at least obtain a view of what some of her best and most perceptive minds thought about them, what their perplexities were,

and Santayana,are merely those who seem to the majority it, the better guessers. The voyage of life is long, and we are all in rs all try to guess at the final destination-the so-called "end

{On the horizon srretches an impenetrable mist, and at different off afew passengers, urging them to come back and tell us what is

moments of clairvoyance, its honest grapplings with the things real but unseen

,lc to help us in our calculations, and a few promise; but they never about, 0o, like the ship Saint Christopber that Santayana tells us

that lie at the bottom of all the motive forces for our conduct and being. To

by St. peter and heading for Mechanopolis and trying to find the

be spiritually reinstated in some of those beliefs and over-beliefs, one must go

we continue to ride the waves, and all the philosophers can tell us

back to those who have gone before us and who were able to see life without

sentimentality and without illusion, To seek the calm and balanced quality of the thinking of American sages, who present the inner and the outer life

up our pluck. The best of them, however, tell us that the important to worry about the port of destination but to enjoy the voyage on rre likely to be a long time and where we are now at any rate, that we

of man in some pattern of order and harmony-that must be the aim of this quest. In a wzf t all the important thoughts of any nation should be considered

,*qrage livable while we go along . "Let us sail for the sake of sailifu}," the true sailors. As for seeking the blue heaven, why, it is over our

and of what they were assured, convinced. Every nation has its clear visions, its

efforts toward such clarity of relationshipr"

"ff

time (so

says SantaYana).

God save us from the absolutist attitude that we shall know all the truths! Tiuth we shall never know; it is only clarity we are striving for. A wise man is content if he makes one good guess at truth in three, or if through hard thinking and striving for some general principle, as Justice Holmes did, he finally arrives at an imperfect but tolerably workable formul a for living.

lnd myself that there has been some pretty vigorous thinking in the last hundred and seventy years of American national life.

Perhaps even more important than knowing the truth is the general unsettling

of living

of our complacent beliefs and gilt-edged assumptions that must ever mark the beginning of any kind of thinking life. No one begins to think until he

undertaken thinking minds have rraversed the journey before, have end explored life's beauties and possibilities again and again. No gteat they were,

in their personal ,lives they faced the

as ourselves.

same

The livel)r correspondence between John

ThomasJefferson on religion and philosophy and old age and death fresh today as ever. The Americans have some good ancestors; too

KVI .Po

)-12 //^zaa

2azuaa

bad they dorit have ancestor rvorship. Do they worship their ancestors? I oftcrr wonder. It is good to know one has good ancestors; it's a kind ofsubconsciour

feeling that makes for strength and pride. None of them is very old, but the ir past (we can stretch it to three hundred years) still can be admired. I do n.r mean the killing of the Indians and fighting the Mexicans; I mean that therc

have been some redoubtable men, hardy, strong, and cheerful, like Jefferson and Ranklin, who make some of the moderns, bent on analyzingthe foibles .l' their insides and presenting them as worthy of respect, seem by comparisorr rather ridiculous.

sTho are the great American ancestors? And what is the American spirit? $7'ho knows? A man has a number of ancestors, some creditable antl some otherwise. A person who has a pirate sea captain for one of his greatgrandfathers and a bluestocking grandmother and a Scotch great-grandmother can have quite a mix-up in his blood. The combination of the sea captain,s love of adventure and Scotch prudence can be a terrific thing. EvenJefferson

admitted that "as to commerce, indeed, we have strong sensations.', Emerson talked about finding "the sources of the Nile" and discovering the ,,infinitude of the private man." Mark Twain thought of money, Herman Melville laughed at fame,'Flawthorne brooded, and'w'alt v/hitman proposed to plant the .,brotherly kiss" on everybody, thus establishing a democracy of ambiguous sexuality. But

Franklin talked like an American confucius, with good hard sense yer wirh wit and imagination, and oliver wendell Holmes rambled in his talk like an American Montaigne.

our task is not so much discovery as re-discovery.'what

one needs is not

so much thinking as remembering. Sometimes

it suffices to sit quietly ancl listen well, when venerable men have thought before us. constant forgettings of truths once ferceived are the very charm of the human mind; the history of human thought is nothing more than the story of these forgettings and rememberings and forgettings again. Before the cock crows thrice we deny Ti'uth again and again.

f*-yann

A-/,/ .?

24"'zr'7

-72

a.t-'rrtq XViI

It wtll 1,,. st'r'r) that in writing this book of American wisdom I have relied F FFu, l, ,n h'nr'r's ilnd journals as upon the learned men's published essays. I hte rL,fiuttr,!y shut out formal philosophy. I rather think it shoutrd consist of Ffu4t€i,to, trrtrrrr:rrc' rather than formal, presented rather than argued, thoughts

HFer*fr,rt

rnrslr:r1lc<1

and plastic, but spontaneous and tender, suggesting

iäkfert, *,, \4',r1,w;u'<lness, individuality, and a highly personal tone. lt should Fpärtrl nl tlroughts kodaked, as it were, at the moments of their birth, rvhen

lilc tickled these writers and produced a tintinnabulation in ihgtr lr,nnr, n() rnore than that. Such thoughts are sometimes likely to be :lfllyuyrtrrt .rrrrl lucid, as these same authors'thoughts are not when they F* nut tl I'r('s('nt an idea to the public and get so involved. It seems that in pgller lnp, tlr(.s(. spontaneous thoughts I am like a listener as a lecture who latr,lt*,q, nol ;r'incipally for the development of the speaker's scheme, but Ffo Ulivr'r,,r.nr

hr* f lr= r'rrr ,rpt'rl srniles and half-suppressed emotions, and particularly for the

lnniirlnt.i wlrt'lr thc speaker forgets his notes and is carried away into a sudden lrtttat nl rpolrtlrlrcous eloquence. I love to see a speaker lose his notes and to t{lFtlrr,,u, wlrt'tt I can, what he whispers to the chairman.

l,,r

nry p:rt't, I can onlypromise to be serious, but not solemn,and intimate

te lsr rrh I rl.u't'. Iimerson says nobly that the maker of a sentence "launches into

lhr tnlrrrrtr' :rrrtl builds a road into Chaos and the old Night, and is followed by tllrqr n,lru lrt'irr him with something of wild, creative delight." I wish I could leef rlrrrt w;r/, lrut very rarely have

I that comfort. More often

tr am like Mrs.

l,nu rh.;1, wlro gives a new order to her maid in the kitchen and feels like

lrllrl ivlro I lu'()ws a stone and runs away.

I lrr,. w()r'(l more. In looking at American as well as at Chinese thought,

lr,rv, irlw;rys f-clt myself a rnodern, sharing the modern man's problems and

gilr

tqrlr... ol'<liscovery. \Therever

bt;rt

say "wer"

rrry ( )ricntal background as far as

mean "'we moderns."

can, but

have

have leaned backward not

Irr nr,rlrr' ( onrparisons with Chinese analogies since this book is to be about 1ur, nr

|rr wisrlom. X7hat there is in my whole point of view, in what I have

Jryr^/ao* ,/ ,f--

XII . Tt'

now been turned into the Lin Yutang Memorial Library, and is open to visitors.

d away in ry87 at the age of 9o. I am very pleased that the Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press is now pubtishi^g in English his most distinguished works, I[y Country and My People, Tbe Irnportance of Living Mornent in Peking Six Cbapters af a Floating Mother

passe

Life, etc.

Lin Thiyi August, rggS

Arlington, Vrginia, USA