A Century Later, China’s First Female Architect Gets Her Due
After a nearly 100-year wait, one of China’s best-known architects finally has her degree.
On May 18, the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design awarded the architect and poet Lin Huiyin a posthumous Bachelor of Architecture degree, part of a broader effort by the school to recognize the achievements of female students who attended before the program was opened to women in 1934.
Lin, who was born in 1904 in the eastern city of Hangzhou, was among the first Chinese students to enroll at the University of Pennsylvania. Although she completed most of the coursework required for an architecture degree, she was barred from formally joining the program due to contemporary concerns about women’s ability to work late nights and conduct fieldwork.
Lin graduated with a degree in fine arts in 1927. The following year, she and her husband, fellow University of Pennsylvania graduate Liang Sicheng, returned to China, where they helped found the country’s second architecture department at Northeastern University.
Advocates for preservation, Lin and Liang spent much of the next 25 years traveling across China documenting at-risk architecture and traditional building practices. The sections on Liao (915–1125) and Song (960–1279) dynasty architecture in Liang’s famed “History of Chinese Architecture” were largely written by Lin.
In addition to her architectural practice, Lin was one of China’s preeminent 20th-century romantic poets.
A photo of Lin Huiyin included in her college transcript, 1924. Courtesy of the Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania
Lin Huiyin’s graduation photo, 1927.
Lin Huiyin (right) and Liang Sicheng at the Ball L’Impressionistique organized by Penn architecture students in 1926. Courtesy of the University Archives at Penn
Lin and Liang at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, circa 1936. Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Fisher Fine Arts Library image collection
Lin Huiyin measures a Buddha statue at Yaowang Temple, Shaanxi province, 1937. Courtesy of the Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, Wilma Fairbank Collection
Lin Huiyin at work in Shanxi province. FOTOE/VCG
Lin Huiyin poses for a photo with a statue of lady Ning Gongyu, the patron who funded the construction of Foguang Temple, Mount Wutai. FOTOE/VCG
Lin Huiyin measures a Dhvaja pillar at Foguang Temple, Mount Wutai, 1937. Courtesy of the Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, Wilma Fairbank Collection
Left: Lin stands outside Yongshou Temple in Shanxi province, 1937. Courtesy of the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House; Right: Lin in the rafters of Kaiyuan Temple in Hebei province, 1933. Courtesy of the Library at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
One of the illustrations Lin contributed to the women’s undergraduate yearbook at Penn, 1926. Courtesy of the University Archives at Penn
The poster for The Royal Academy Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-1936. According to Xu Wanling, a scholar at China’s Palace Museum, the poster was designed by Lin Huiyin. Courtesy of The Royal Academy of Arts, London
Left: Lin and her daughter, Liang Zaibing in 1929; Right: A letter Lin wrote to her daughter. Courtesy of the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House
Left: A poem written by Lin Huiyin in her own hand. Courtesy of the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House; Right: A sculpture honoring Lin Huiyin in her hometown of Hangzhou, 2022. Lü Shangyuan/VCG
Editor: Ding Yining.
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