Lin Yutang "Father·Childhood"

Lin Yutang "Father·Childhood"

——Excerpt from Lin Yutang's "Autobiography at Eighty Years" Chapter 2 of Childhood Talking about Father

I was born in 1895 (Guangxu 21st year). It was the late Qing Dynasty, Emperor Guangxu was still alive, and Empress Dowager Cixi was enjoying her last glory. China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1894 and ceded Taiwan to Japan in accordance with the Treaty of Shimonoseki that year. Empress Dowager Cixi misappropriated the Chinese Navy's budget to build the Summer Palace. According to records, a gunboat was captured by the enemy with only two shells on board. Corrupt Manchu bureaucrats once purchased ammunition from countries large and small, causing great damage to their vitality. Under the leadership of Emperor Meiji, Japan underwent major reforms and won the Russo-Japanese War in 1840. The Qing Dynasty was still a walking corpse.

I was born in Banzi Township (Longxi, Zhangzhou) in Pinghe County, southern Fujian. The following things had the greatest impact on my childhood: 1. Mountain scenery. 2. My father is an incredible idealist. 3. A Christian family with a sea of ??family ties.

My father is a hopeless optimist, sensitive, imaginative, and very humorous. Among the Presbyterian pastors, my father was well-known for being extremely progressive. At that time, few young men in Xiamen had heard of St. John's University, but he sent his children to Shanghai to receive English education. He was short and stocky, with a prominent forehead, a well-proportioned chin, and a curvy beard. As far as I can remember, when I was ten years old, he was already in his fifties.

The most special thing is his leisurely smile in front of his fellow pastors. He is very kind to his children, but he tries his best to maintain the dignity of an old parent. He also tells us a joke from time to time, or pushes a plate of dishes in front of his mother, and occasionally gives her some vegetables. Xiamen was one of the first five ports opened to missionaries in 1849. He once told a joke about Dr. Talmage, a pioneer pastor in Xiamen. At that time, the church was divided into male and female seats. One sultry afternoon, while he was preaching, he saw all the male believers falling asleep. The female believers were chatting away, but no one was listening. Dr. Tamaki leaned forward and said, "If the sisters stop talking loudly, the male believers here can take a comfortable nap."

My father is deeply loved by the Christians in Zhangzhou. He speaks in a straightforward manner that most people can understand.

As far as I know, my father is a self-reliant person. He once sold candy on the street and rice to prisoners, which was very profitable. He also sold bamboo from Wulisha to Zhangzhou, which was about ten or fifteen miles away.

There was a dent on his shoulder caused by carrying the bamboo pole, which never disappeared. Once, he was asked to do a favor by carrying a load of things from Wulisha to a Christian pastor. This church member was merciless to the child. He put a heavy pick on the child and put all the pots and basins inside. He also said, "Be good, you can pick it up. That's why you are so good." To this day, he still remembers the hot day. The load I picked up in the afternoon. So he kept speaking for labor.

I remember he had a quarrel with the local tax collector, who was licensed to collect taxes at the village market held every five days. There was a man selling matches. The mountain man had to carry the goods to the market and spend three days cutting, splitting, and smoking them into charcoal. A bundle sells for two hundred cents, but there is actually a tax of one hundred and twenty cents. My father just passed by. Seeing that the poor were being bullied, he fought against the injustice and had a quarrel with the tax collector. People came to watch. In the end, the tax official saw that my father was young and respected, so he agreed to reduce his income—I don't know how much.

When my father came back and talked about it, he still hated the tax official for bullying others.

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