A Although not so widely read today in the West, the works of Lin Yutang are still much loved in China. He is especially popular for the delightfully witty and insightful essays he wrote in the 1930s while he was living in Shanghai. However, it is his books that he published after moving to America in the 1930s that earned him an international reputation and established Lin as an important figure in bringing knowledge of China, and Asia more generally, to the West. The works he published at that time were books written in charming English dealing with Chinese topics in a way that made them appealing to non-Chinese audiences. It is this body of work that allows us to call Lin a cultural ambassador, someone who was able to bridge the gap between different peoples, mediating between different cultural communities to enhance mutual understanding and respect.

B Lin was born Lin Hele in a remote mountainous village called Banzai in Pinghe county, Fujian province in 1895. He took the name Lin Yutang while at school in Xiamen and then went to university in Shanghai at St. John’s University, a Christian establishment where classes were taught exclusively in English. As a result, Lin became fluent in English and became adept at writing in his second language. After graduating with distinction he became an English instructor at Tsinghua University, before pursuing postgraduate studies at Harvard University and then later Leipzig University, where he obtained a PhD in linguistics.

C On his return to China in 1923 Lin took up a post at Peking University and became active in Chinese literary circles. During this time he began to develop the idea of humour (you mo) in Chinese writing, which was then a new concept. After relocating to Shanghai in1927 Lin began editing and writing for a variety of literary magazines and journals. In particular he had his own column “The Little Critic” in The China Critic, an English-language weekly publication produced by Chinese intellectuals. These essays were written in English for the Western-educated Chinese elite as well as for foreigners living in China. They dealt, humorously, with topics ranging from the “terrible” city of Shanghai with its “dreadful” cosmopolitanism of wealthy, degenerate opium smokers, girl students and haughty, ungentlemanly foreigners, to discussions of Chinese “face,” freedom of speech and Mickey Mouse. These essays were subsequently collected and translated by Lin himself and published in Chinese, bringing Lin’s work to a wider local audience and establishing him as one of the most penetrating and funny writers on contemporary China.

D It was during this time that Lin became known on a world stage. He translated plays by George Bernard Shaw and met the great man when he came to Shanghai in 1933. He began a correspondence with the American writer Pearl Buck and travelled to Europe to give lectures on modern China. Lin also became associated with other prominent Chinese writers of the time, including LuXun. His first book written for a Western audience, My Country and My People, was published in the United States in 1935 and became an instant success. In this thought-provoking volume he discusses how China came to be in its current situation, presenting the Chinese mind, character and social system with such accuracy and clarity that even Chinese could gain an insight.

E The following year Lin and his family left China for America, where he would spend most of his time for the next thirty years. He quickly established himself in American intellectual circles and it was here that he wrote a series of works on which his reputation as the foremost Chinese philosopher of his time rests. The Importance of Living came out in 1937 and was the number one best-seller for non-fiction works for the whole of the following year. This book presented a delicious menu of essays on everyday topics as may be seen by its chapter headings such as: “On Having a Stomach,” “The Cult of the Idle Life,” “On Lying in Bed,” “On Sitting in Chairs,” “On Rocks and Trees,” and “The Art of Reading.” Parts of the book are highly appealing, funny, and stimulating while much of it focuses on differences between Chinese and Western thought and customs. The book is highly personal, and provides advice for a life well-lived, as the title suggests.

F This work was succeeded by The Wisdom of Confucius, and then The Wisdom of China and India in1942. These books blend Christian, Taoist and Buddhist world views and popularized Chinese literature and philosophy in the West. Three novels, Moment in Peking, A Leaf in the Storm, and The Vermilion Gate were well-received epic historical novels set in a time of upheaval in China. Many of these works remain in print today. They have been praised as “wise, humorous, and altogether charming.” Lin was seen as the greatest expert on China for a Western audience and this enabled him to act as a cultural ambassador between China and the West at a time of great turmoil in the world.

G In the mid-1940s Lin turned his energy to perfecting his Chinese typewriter. He had begun work on this as early as 1931 but his writing had taken precedence. Now he put the finishing touches to the typewriter which he called “Mingkwai” — clear and quick. His invention allowed the user to type up to 7,000 characters by selecting the right keys, and by using combinations, many more than that. He patented a so-called “magic eye,” a window that let the user select the right choice of character from a display when two keys are pressed and it is this innovation that is still used today in modern Chinese software  programs. Lin called this his “legacy to the Chinese people.” He obtained a patent for the Mingkwai typewriter in the US in 1952 but it never went into production.

H In his later years Lin held a variety of public positions including director of arts and letters at UNESCO in Paris and a brief and unhappy stint as president of the new Nanyang University in Singapore. He continued to write novels and then, on returning to Asia for good in 1966, living in Taipei, he began work on his final great achievement, the compilation of his Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage, published in 1972. This was the first Chinese dictionary published in the West to be produced by a Chinese scholar and it was welcomed by the New York Times as “a milestone in communication between the world’s largest linguistic groups.”

I Lin died in 1976 and was buried in the garden of his home in Yangmingshan in Taipei. This home is today a museum celebrating Lin’s life and work. Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature, Lin Yutang wrote thirty books in English and fourteen books in Chinese and his works include translations, biographies, plays, histories, and novels as well as his well-known essays. In his life and work he was an inspirational figure spanning East and West and he deserves to be rediscovered by people today wishing to understand and appreciate more fully the subtleties and complexities of the cultural relationships between China and the West.

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虽然现在林语堂的作品在西方并没有很多读者，但他的作品依然深受中国读者们的喜爱。20世纪30年代他住在上海期间写的那些脍炙人口的小品文机智诙谐，见解深刻，为他带来了大量读者。不过，让他享誉海内外、成为将中华文化乃至亚洲文化带到西方的重要人物的，却是他在20世纪30年代移民美国后所出版的著作。那段时间他所出版的是以文笔优美的英文写成的中文题材作品，以期吸引母语为非汉语的读者。正是这部分作品让他成了我们口中的文化使者，一个能够弥合不同民族之间差异、斡旋在不同文化社区之间，以加强相互理解和相互尊重的人。

林语堂原名林和乐，1895年生于福建省平和县一个名叫坂仔的山区小镇。在厦门读书时他改名叫林语堂，后来又入读上海的圣约翰大学。圣约翰大学是一所采用全英文授课的教会学校，因此，林语堂能说一口流利的英语，并擅长以第二语言来写作。以优异成绩毕业后他来到清华大学教英文，之后又到哈佛大学攻读硕士学位，再后来又入读莱比锡大学，获得语言学博士学位。

1923年回国以后，林语堂在北京大学当教授，并在中国文学圈内活跃起来。这期间他开始将“幽默”运用到中文写作中去，这在当时还是一个新理念。1927年迁居上海后，林语堂开始为多种文学杂志和期刊当编辑、写文章。尤其值得一提的是，由中国知识分子们主办的英文杂志——《中国评论周报》上有林的专栏，那就是“小批评家”。这些文章均以英文写成，目标读者是受过西方教育的中国精英以及居住在中国的外国人，语言幽默，探讨范围非常广泛，包括上海这个“糟糕”的城市里那些富裕却堕落的鸦片烟鬼、女学生以及盛气凌人、毫无绅士风度的外国人所体现的那种可怕的世界性，还讨论中国人的“面子”问题、言论自由和米老鼠。后来林语堂将这些散文收集整理起来，亲自翻译成中文并发表，这为他的作品带来了更多本地读者，也让他成了当代中国写文章最为一针见血又风趣幽默的作家之一。

林语堂也正是在这一时期开始蜚声海内外的。他翻译了萧伯纳的戏剧，并在这位伟人于1933年来上海之际与其见了面。他开始与美国作家赛珍珠通信，还到欧洲去做关于现代中国的讲座。此外，林语堂还与当时中国其他的著名作家有来往，包括鲁迅。他的第一本写给西方读者看的书《吾国吾民》，于1935年在美国出版，一经出版便大获成功。在这部发人深省的作品中，他探讨了中国是如何走到今天这一步的，他描述了中式思维、中国人的性格以及中国的社会制度，表达清晰，用语精准，即便中国读者也能获得深刻理解。

次年，林语堂就带着家人离开中国来到了美国，接下来30年的大部分时间他都是在美国度过的。很快他就在美国知识分子圈子中立足，正是他在那儿写的一系列作品奠定了他作为最著名的中国哲学家的地位。《生活的艺术》于1937年出版，次年便居非小说类文学作品畅销榜榜首长达一年之久。这本书为我们开出了一份赏心悦目的散文菜单，探讨的均是与日常生活息息相关的话题，正如其章节标题所示：《论肚子》、《悠闲生活的崇尚》、《安卧眠床》、《坐在椅中》、《论石与树》以及《读书的艺术》。书中的某些内容非常引人入胜，让人捧腹，令人振奋，还有许多内容探讨的是中西方习俗与思维的不同之处。这本书非常人性化，正如其书名所示，林语堂为我们提供了一些建议，教我们要怎样享受生活。

后来，林语堂又出版了《孔子的智慧》，《中国印度之智慧》也于1942年相继出版。这些书融合了基督教、道教和佛教的世界观，在西方推广了中国的文学和哲学。《京华烟云》、《风声鹤唳》和《朱门》这三部作品都是以风云变幻的中国为背景的史诗般的历史小说，在西方广受欢迎。这些作品中很多仍在发行。人们称赞这些作品“睿智、幽默、迷人极了”。林语堂在西方读者眼中是最了不起的中国文化专家，这让他得以在世界大动荡、大变革的时代充当中西方的文化使者。

在20世纪40年代中叶，林语堂把精力集中在完善他的中文打字机上面。早在1931年他就开始做这个了，只是他之前一直把写作放在第一位。他叫他的打字机“明快”——意思是清晰和快速，现在他要给他的“明快”做最后修缮了。只要选对了键，或者使用组合键，当然还有很多其他用法，他的发明就能让使用者打出多达7000个汉字。他还发明了所谓“魔法之眼”的小窗格，按下两个键之后汉字会出现在这个窗格中，使用者可以从中选择正确的汉字，这项发明截至今天依然为现代中国的软件程序所采用。林语堂说这是他“馈赠给中国人的礼物”。1952年他在美国为明快打字机获得了专利，但从未投产。

林语堂晚年担任了很多公职，包括在总部位于巴黎的联合国教科文组织担任美术与文学主任，并在新加坡的新南洋大学当过校长，不过时间很短，而且那段经历并不愉快。他继续写小说，1966年回到亚洲后定居台北，开始着手汇编他的最后一部伟大作品，那就是后来于1972年出版的《当代汉英辞典》。这是西方出版的第一部由中国学者编撰的中文词典，《纽约时报》赞其为“世界两大语言团体间交流的里程碑”。

林语堂于1976年与世长辞，葬在他位于台北阳明山家中的花园内。现在这处旧居已成了纪念林语堂生活和工作的博物馆。林语堂曾两次获得诺贝尔文学奖提名，著有30部英文作品和14部中文作品，涵盖翻译、传记、戏剧、历史剧、小说以及他为人所熟知的散文。纵观其一生的工作和生活，林语堂是一个学贯中西、鼓舞人心的人物，他值得当今那些希望对中西方文化关系的微妙和复杂有一个更全面的了解和体悟的人去再发现。