Yin Haiguang (; 5 December 1919 – 16 September 1969) was a Chinese author, educator and philosopher from Taiwan.

Biography

Yin was born to missionary parents in Huanggang, Hubei in December 1919 and was raised in Wuchang. His uncle, Yin Ziheng (), was a revolutionist who took part in Xinhai Revolution. At the age of 13, he studied at Wuchang Middle School (). When he was a high school student, he started to be interested in philosophy. Before he reached the age of 20, he translated a textbook on logic, which ran more than 400 pages, from English to Chinese. He helped introduce Western thinkers and philosophers such as Bertrand Russell, Karl Popper and Frederick von Hayek to liberal Chinese intellectuals.

Jin Yuelin Jin Yuelin or Chin Yueh-Lin (; 14 July 1895 – 19 October 1984) was a Chinese philosopher best known for three works, one each on logic, metaphysics, and epistemology. He was also a commentator on Bertrand Russell. Biography Jin was born in Ch ...

had a strong influence on his youth. In 1938, he entered

Southwest Associated University When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Universi ...

, majoring in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. In 1942, He was accepted to Tsinghua University and graduated in 1945. Upon his graduation, he joined the Youth Army. returned to

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

after eight months. In 1946, he worked in

Central Daily News The ''Central Daily News'' was the official newspaper of the Kuomintang and is one of the world's oldest Chinese-language newspapers, having been in circulation since 1928. The Kuomintang made the decision to temporarily cease publication of th ...

as an editor. Meanwhile, he taught philosophy at the University of Nanking. In 1949, along with the relocation of Central Daily News, Yin settled in Taiwan. He began teaching philosophy at National Taiwan University and became an editor of the semi-monthly '' Free China Journal (FCJ)''. Along with other intellectuals from his circle, Yin used the FCJ to publish articles that were at times highly critical of the Kuomintang. In 1960, the authorities lost patience and shut down the FCJ. A crackdown followed which led to Yin being banned from teaching and lecturing. After that, he withdrew from public life. In 1954, Yin went to Harvard University as a visiting scholar and returned to Taiwan the year after. However, he suffered from political persecution since then. In 1969, Yin died of gastric cancer when he was 49. Since 2003, th
house
in which he lived in Taipei, near Taiwan National University, has been listed as a historic landmark and can be visited by the public.

Works

* ''The Complete Works of Yin Haiguang'' ()

Translation

* '' The Road to Serfdom'' ( Friedrich Hayek) ()

Personal life

In October 1953, Yin married Xia Junlu (; d. 2013), he had a daughter Yin Wenli (; b. March 1956). His daughter and son-in-law now live in the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yin, Haiguang 1919 births 1969 deaths 20th-century Chinese philosophers Taiwanese democracy activists Taiwanese philosophers People from Huanggang Tsinghua University alumni National Southwestern Associated University alumni Taiwanese people from Hubei English–Chinese translators Academic staff of the National Taiwan University