Lin Chao-Ying

CHINA, Fujian, Zhangzhou; Qing dynasty

Lin Chao-Ying was a calligrapher and painter who was originally from Zhangzhou, Fujian, but later moved to Tainan, Taiwan. He was also known as Yaohua or Boyan, among several other aliases and his posthumous title Qianzun. Lin worked in an official position as an editor and was known to be benevolent, righteous, and charitable, having once donated a large sum of money to rebuild Confucius Temple in Tainan. He was commended for his good deeds by the imperial court, who rewarded him with an horizontal inscribed board reading, “Value Truth and Principles, Revere Literature and Education.” In addition, a memorial gateway inscribed with the same quote was erected in his honor in 1813, and is currently listed as a Third-Level Historical Site.
Lin was skilled in a variety of art forms including music, calligraphy, painting, and seal engraving. In his running and regular script calligraphy, he employed the bamboo-painting technique, resulting in characters that resembled bamboo leaves, hence creating a new style which was called “bamboo leaf script.” Lin employed this script in writing a couplet on the Gate of Three Rivers at Kaiyuan Temple in Tainan which reads, “Old temple and peaceful monks with clouds as companions; Profound mountain and desolate world with the moon as a friend.” The Avalokitesvara Hall of Chaotian Temple in Brigang of Yunlin still retains a horizontal inscribed signboard with an inscription by Lin reading, “A Merciful Heart Will Relieve Suffering,” in addition to a couplet he wrote in 1800.
Lin’s style of ink painting was free and bold. His depictions were primarily that of floral themes that were vividly expressed. His extant works, Poem About Self, in running script calligraphy, and the painting, Lotus, are kept at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung.