Lin Tongqi : an oral history

Abstract

In this thesis, I explore the life of Professor Lin Tongqi, a well-known scholar of American Chinese studies, by using an oral history methodology. This oral history is named "Suffering and Thinking," and my goal is to illustrate how a thoughtful soul developed. His life is a trajectory in which Western and Eastern cultures are integrated, a life that is full of confusions and reliefs, challenges and responses, twists and turns, and unexpected insights and transcendences. This oral history also illustrates in a microcosm the fate of intellectuals who lived during the approximately 100-hundred-year tumult and transformation that resulted in modern-day China. Looking back is one way to consider the future. A conversation with Lin Tongqi on Ancient Chinese thoughts follows, which touches on several factors: the dynamics of understanding the Chinese culture, comparative methods of culture study, the relationships between eternal issues and contemporary issues, as well as a brief discussion on the issues facing contemporary China, and the future of Chinese society.