Most Popular Books by Lin Yutang

The Importance of Living is a wry, witty antidote to the dizzying pace of the modern world. Lin Yutang''s prescription is the classic Chinese philosophy of life: Revere inaction as much as action, invoke humor to maintain a healthy attitude, and never forget that there will always be plenty of fools around who are willing-indeed, eager-to be busy, to make themselves useful, and to exercise power while you bask in the simple joy of existence.At a time when we''re overwhelmed with wake-up calls, here is a refreshing, playful reminder to savor life''s simple pleasures.

For the second time Lin Yutang has gone deep into wartime China and has come out with much to tell. No foreign writer, and few Chinese, could have had such a chance to see past the smoke of war, through the clouds of gossip, and beneath the heaving surface of economic and political change. And Lin Yutang, as always, is unafraid of the truth. His sense of history, joined with his spirit of eager inquiry, led him to watch for the old China along with the new. Only China presents such a study in contrasts, rich alike with romance and with hope for the future. Sitting on the ruins of a Tang palace and telling us tales of ancient times, Lin Yutang looks down at an Industrial Co-operative group working in the gully below and dreams of the China that is to be. He describes a cotton mill, all underground, three miles of whirring machines in tunnels bored beneath the protecting hills; and further west, a vast irrigation system built two thousand years ago and still working perfectly.

In this classic book, Yutang Lin does a fantastic job of describing Chinese people, customs and culture in an understandable way for the Western reader. This book was the first of it''s kind, Lin being a rarity as he was fluent in both English and Chinese, having been born in China but growing up in America. This extremely popular book will prove to be a fascinating read, and is highly recommended on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in different non-Western cultures and societies.

Now sorrowful, now joking, but always in deadly earnest, the Chinese philosopher faces the grim facts of war and the grimmer prospects of peace. Dismayed by the materialism of the West, he offers not a “blueprint” for the postwar world, but an approach to thinking about it, that is new to us but not new at all to the Orient, wise in the ways of Man. This book is a positive contribution from the store of Chinese political philosophy to the vexed question of world peace. More important than the Four Freedoms, says Lin, is Freedom from Humbug. The changes in our thinking must be basic if we are to be saved from utter disaster. We cannot be saved by science, by mathematics, by modern mechanism. We need deep draughts of the wine of wisdom, matured through four thousand years by Asiatic thought and experience in learning how man must deal with man. Confucius and Lao-tse, the ancient Greeks and the Hindus, join forces with Lin Yutang in his thrusts at such topics as: The White Man’s Burden, American Isolationism, British Imperialism, Nazi Geopolitics, the Crimes of Europe, The Future of Asia, and The Crux of the Modern Age. No citizen of the Western world can ignore this wisdom and this warning except at his own peril. “A powerful and relentless warning.”—Boston Herald “If you think a gentle, well-mannered philosopher can’t deliver a punch, you’d better read this book. It’s out-and-out sensational, no less, enormously, provocative.”—San Francisco Chronicle “He gives us, mixed with the tolerance and humor of the philosopher, some of the plainest speaking we have had in a long time on the issue of the war and the peace.”—The New Yorker

Lin Yutang''s essays on Chinese society and culture were written in both Chinese and English and spanned the immensely influential decades of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. In this collection of his seminal work, Yutang confronts the rapid cultural developments of the era and the role that a Chinese intellectual must assume as he shares and translates his native country to the West. Known best for introducing "humour" into Chinese literature and culture, Yutang was a writer of great scholarly and popular interest, reflected in these engaging, substantial, and inspiring works.

WITH HUMOR AND COMMON SENSE A MODERN PHILOSOPHER SHOWS MANKIND A WAY TO THE GREATER ENJOYMENT OF LIVING... In the year 2004 the heroine, an anthropologist, lands on an unknown and isolated Pacific island. Her plane is destroyed, so the renamed Eurydice finds herself compelled to join the Ruined Earth Utopian islanders. In this gripping novel, which was first published in 1955, Chinese-U.S. author, essayist and academic Dr. Lin Yutang’s appears to formulate his conception of a world beyond the muddling of today in a world that has survived two more world wars, and inaugurated a new Democratic World Commonwealth, outside the limitations of national sovereignty. He makes the contact between this groping old world and an island community, dedicated to peace, isolation and immunity from world ills, exalting the virtues of culture, and surviving in a state of suspended animation with little or no government.

Lin Yutang (1895-1976), author of more than thirty-five books, was arguably the most distinguished Chinese American writer of the twentieth century. In Chinatown Family, he brings humor and wisdom to issues of culture, race, and religion as he tells the engrossing and heart-warming story of an immigrant, working-class Chinese American family that settled in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. Tracing their sometimes troubled and sometimes rewarding journey, Lin paints a vivid portrait of the wonder and the woe of settling into a new land. In an era when interracial marriages were frowned upon and it was forbidden for working-class Chinese men to bring their families to America, this story shows how one family struggled to become new Americans by applying their Taoist philosophy to resist peacefully the discriminatory laws and racism they encountered. Beyond the quest for acceptance and economic success, Chinatown Family also probes deep into the heart of the immigration experience by presenting the perils of assimilation. The burgeoning tensionbetween the desire for material wealth and the traditional Chinese belief in the primary importance of family poses the question: Is it possible to attain the American dream without damaging these primary ties? For each family member, the answer to this question turns out to be different. Through the varied paths that each character takes, the novel dramatizes the ways that Chinese immigrants have negotiated between the competing interests of economic opportunity and traditional values.

Family life among the upper middle class of China from the Boxer Rebellion in 1899 to the Japanese invasion of the 1930''s.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Thoughtful analysis for the general reader of a philosopher''s passage from the Chinese heritage of Confucianism and Buddhism to Christianity.

The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang is a philosophical book that offers a unique perspective on daily life and traditional Chinese thought. The book explores various aspects of living a happy and balanced life, with a focus on the importance of mental peace and accepting the complexities of life. In the book, Lin Yutang delves into the concept of living simply and without complications. He examines traditional Chinese culture, ideas of comfort, and moderation, emphasizing how people often search for happiness in external sources, while the true secret lies in inner contentment. The book is essentially a call for relaxation and peace with oneself and the surrounding world, away from the noise of modern life and excessive pressures. Lin Yutang ties this to traditional concepts like *Tao* and *life balance*, suggesting that people could be happier if they were more mindful in appreciating the everyday moments and seeking meaning in simplicity. Overall, *The Importance of Living* serves as a guide for those seeking a more comfortable and fulfilling life, free from materialism and constant worry.

Modern China, from the outbreak of war until the evacuation of Hankow in the fall of 1938.