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

Biography

Yin was born to missionary parents in Huanggang, Hubei, in December 1919 and was raised in Wuchang District, 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 in China, 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 had a strong influence on his youth. In 1938, he entered Southwest Associated University, majoring in philosophy. In 1942, He was accepted to Tsinghua University and graduated in 1945. Upon his graduation, he joined the Youth Army. He returned to Chongqing after eight months. In 1946, he worked in Central Daily News as an editor. Meanwhile, he taught philosophy at University of Nanking, 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. Yin's view was that Liberalism in China, Chinese liberalism was inauthentic and lacking in normative substance. He believed that liberalism failed in China because liberalism provided no solutions to the country's national difficulties and because Chinese liberals themselves misconstrued the strains of Western thought from which they drew inspiration. Yin commented that Chinese liberals had "a premature birth marked by postnatal disorders." 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