Chinese Cultural Renaissance à la Lin Yutang.

Under the two banners of “Mr. Democracy” and “Mr. Science” lies the radical iconoclast agenda for the New Culture and May Fourth Movement. To further elaborate the theme in my recent book Lin Yutang and China’s Search for Modern Rebirth, this paper explicates the central role Lin Yutang played in heralding “Mr. Democracy” and “Mr. Science” while engaging in a constructive critique of traditional Chinese culture. Unlike Hu Shi or Lu Xun, Lin Yutang did not entertain a radical iconoclastic approach. Instead, he tried to seek for the path towards Chinese cultural renaissance through his literary and cultural practices in various aspects of Chinese culture, whether Confucian, Legalist, Taoist, literary or religious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]