Independence and Resistance: An Unknown Side of Lin Yutang

Abstract

To westerners, Lin Yutang is a novelist, critic, philosopher, translator, scholar, and inventor. But, in the history of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Lin Yutang also played some darker roles during his full life as a servile follower of Kuomintang (KMT). After 1949, Lin Yutang’s contributions to modern Chinese literature and accomplishments during the Sino-Japanese war were buried in the new history of China, and scholars didn’t begin paying attention to him again until the 1980’s after China’s reform. However, most of the scholarly researches have not had the chance to locate and consult primary sources. This situation has resulted in a number of unanswered questions about Lin Yutang, the man himself, and his work. This study has traced the development of Lin Yutang’s early thoughts, such as his attitude toward traditional Chinese culture and his views on Western influence, and his struggle with religion between 1917 and 1936. All of his early experiences formed the concept of culture, modern civilization and religion. Simultaneously his new experiences and exploration in the new era in China broadened his view and began to concern the inter-relationship among culture, society and politics in depth. After confirming his culture and national identity, he put great effort into investigating the society, politics, and human condition. In order to bridge the gap between west and east, he wrote numerous essays when he was in Shanghai and completed his first book about Chinese culture and civilization -- My Country and My People -- in 1935. From then on, Lin Yutang consistently introduced Chinese culture and concepts to westerners via his speeches, articles and books, and also criticized the untrue reports about the Chinese government and people. Besides critical essays and books, Lin Yutang criticized the KMT officers’ corruption, restriction on freedom of speech, and many other policies. In addition, he was concerned about communism and communists in China due to the conflict with his religion and values. Hence, he had some fierce debates with the leftists in China in the 30’s and in America starting from the 40’s respectively. However, during the Sino-Japanese war, he changed his opinion about the KMT as well as the CCP for the purpose of defeating the Japanese invasion. During this time period Lin Yutang not only penned many works including Moment in Peking and swayed public opinion to support China, but he also criticized Japan’s invasion and the western countries’ appeasement policy. Based on Lin Yutang’s writings between 1910’s and 1970’s, we find that his early concepts, such as “fair play,” “to be reasonable,” and concepts of nation and culture influenced him significantly throughout his life. Even when he expressed his radical thoughts, it’s not hard to still observe the element of “fair play.” Between 1936 and 1945, Lin Yutang tired of power politics, which could be regarded as his critic of warlords in the 20’s when he was teaching in Beijing. Most previous research on Lin Yutang focused on his contribution to xiaopinwen (sketch), but this study discusses his critical writings about the politics and anti-war essays which reflect Lin Yutang’s independent thoughts and the spirit of revolt.