Lin Huiyin (Chinese: 林徽因, born 林徽音; pinyin: Lín Huīyīn; 10 June 1904 – 1 April 1955; known as Phyllis Whei Yin Lin when studying in the United States) was a Chinese architect, writer, and poet. She is known to be the first female architect in modern China. Her husband was Liang Sicheng, named as the "father of modern Chinese architecture".
In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920), Lin Huiyin traveled to Europe with her father Lin Changmin. In the twelfth year of the Republic of China (1923), she participated in the activities of the Crescent Moon Society. In the thirteenth year of the Republic of China (1924), she studied in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts, taking courses in the Department of Architecture and earning a Bachelor of Arts degree (to be posthumously awarded a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2024). Later, she studied at the Yale University School of Drama in the Department of Stage Art. Department of Northeastern University in 1928, together with Liang Sicheng, she annotated and reviewed the "Great Tang Records on the Western Regions" from the collection of the Chinese Architecture Society (hundreds of Tang Dynasty buildings and place names), discovering the Tang Dynasty architecture – the Foguang Temple on Mount Wutai. After the liberation, Lin Huiyin made contributions to the design of the emblem of the People's Republic of China, the design of the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the innovation of cloisonné craftsmanship, and authored "Poetry Collection of Lin Huiyin" and "Essays of Lin Huiyin".
After 1949, as professors in Tsinghua University in Beijing, Liang and Lin began restoration work on cultural heritage sites of China in the post-imperial Republican Era of China, a passion which she would pursue to the end of her life. The American artist Maya Lin is her niece and the American poet Tan Lin is her nephew.
Lin was born in Hangzhou though her family was from Minhou. She was the daughter of Lin Changmin (林長民) (16 September 1876 - Minhou, 24 December 1925) and He Xueyuan (何雪媛) (1882–1972).
At the age of 5, she was tutored by her great-aunt Lin Zemin; at 8, she moved to Shanghai and attended the Hongkou Patriotic Primary School.
In the third year of the Republic of China (1914), Lin Huiyin came to Beijing with her grandfather and lived with her father in Qianwanggongchang.
In 1916, she attended the Peking Pei Hua Girls' School, which was run by the British Church.
In April 1920, she traveled to Europe with her father, and was influenced by a female architect, who was her landlady in London, to pursue the study of architecture. During this time, she also met her father's disciple Xu Zhimo and developed a strong interest in modern poetry.
After more than a month of traveling in Europe, Lin Huiyin and his father came to London, England. In order not to delay his daughter's studies, Lin Changmin sent Lin Huiyin to St Mary's Girls School in London and hired an English tutor for her. During her more than one year in England, Lin Huiyin read a large amount of Western literature and got used to Western lifestyles such as afternoon tea.
In 1921, she returned to Beijing, China, with her father and continued her studies at Pei Hua Girls' School.
In 1923, Xu Zhimo, Hu Shi, and others established the Crescent Moon Society in Beijing, where Lin Huiyin often participated in the literary and artistic activities.
In April 1924, the sixty-four-year old Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore visited China. Lin Huiyin, along with Xu Zhimo, Liang Sicheng, and others, accompanied Tagore on a tour of Beijing. Lin Huiyin and Xu Zhimo worked together to do the interpretation work for Tagore, during which Lin Huiyin distinguished herself with her fluent English and also won the admiration of the poet. Tagore wrote a poem for Lin Huiyin: The azure of the sky fell in love with the verdant green of the earth, and the breeze between them sighed "Alas!"
In a time when women had limited access to formal education, Lin was able to receive a formal education due to being part of a wealthy family. Because of her family's affluence she was able to travel extensively with her father. She obtained her degrees both in England and the United States. However, Lin's works are highly regarded. Lin wrote free verse, novels and prose. Lin's poems appeared in publications such as the Beijing Morning Post, Crescent Monthly, Poetry and the Dipper and the newspaper L'impartiale in Tianjin.
In 1924, Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng both enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, where she also worked as a part-time assistant at the architectural department. Although they both wanted to pursue architecture studies at the School of Architecture, Lin was not admitted simply because she was a woman. She therefore enrolled at the School of Fine Arts. Despite the university's gender-discriminatory policies, Lin still pursued her passion for architecture and took rigorous architecture courses. Both being born in Dragon year, Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng attended school and foster the birth of Chinese architecture. It was here that Lin along with Liang, her future husband and whom she had known since childhood, pursued their love of architecture. She served as a part-time teaching assistant in architectural design at the university from 1926 to 1927.
In 1927, Lin completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Architecture degree. However, because she was a woman, she was not allowed to receive a Bachelor of Architecture degree. On February 24, 1927, Lin was conferred a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania in 1927, Lin enrolled in stage design programs in Yale University as a graduate student, pursuing her longtime interest in drama.
In 1927, although Lin completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Architecture degree under the university's gender-discriminatory policies, she was denied the degree due to her gender and was instead awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. On October 15, 2023, the University of Pennsylvania decided to correct this century-old gender-discriminatory practice against her. In 2024, the university officially decided to posthumously confer Lin the degree of Bachelor of Architecture. On May 18, 2024, Lin's granddaughter Yu Kui (于葵) attended the School of Design commencement on behalf of Lin and collected Lin's degree diploma from the school's dean Frederick Steiner. The diploma of the Bachelor of Architecture degree was dated February 1927, the month Lin originally graduated from the university. The diploma also noted "This degree is awarded in faculty in order to restore Lin Huiyin to the Class of 1927" (all capitalized) at the bottom of the paper. Lin's name (as well as her alternate name used while in the United States) did not appear in the official 2024 commencement program published by the University of Pennsylvania.
On September 20, 1925, Lin Huiyin's photograph was featured on the front page of the 268th issue of The Eastern Times Photo Supplement (《图画时报》), a Shanghai-based newspaper photography supplement.
In 1928, Lin Huiyin accepted the marriage proposal from Liang Sicheng. After their wedding, they traveled to Europe to study European architecture.