Lin Whei-Yin

Lin Whei-Yin. [Photo: People.com.cn]

Lin Whei-Yin (1904-1955), known as Phyllis Lin, was the first female architect in China. Lin and her husband Liang Siceng designed the Monument to the People's Heroes on Tiananmen Square. Her niece is Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

However, the legends of Lin mainly lie in her acquaintance with the well-known Chinese poet Hsu Chih-mo. Their relationship is described in a romantic anecdote when they studied together in England.

Hsu often talked with Lin about the works of British litterateurs such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Katherine Mansfield, and he guided her into the world of British poetry and drama. He regarded Lin as a well-educated British lady – the very image of the ideal love he had always pursued.

But Lin was neither Mansfield nor Browning. Their relationship was more literary fantasy than real love. According to Lin, she had never fallen in love with Hsu.