Lin Jin(1923 – 2004)
whose given name was Chongshi, addressed himself as Jin. Born in Macao, his ancestral home was in Xinhui, Guangdong Province. As a young man, he studied in Guangzhou. After graduating from the Civil Engineering Faculty of Zhongshan University, he returned to Macao and taught for almost three decades. An enthusiastic supporter of charity work, he was a management board member of the Tung Sin Tong Charitable Society of Macao for a long time.
Since childhood, Lin showed interest in brush and ink work, particularly calligraphy and seal carving. He studied the works of great masters, including Qian Nanyuan, Zhao Mengfu, Yan Zhenqing, Wang Xianzhi, Wang Xizhi and Dong Qichang, and his emulation of ‘Epigraphy of Zhang Heru’ elicited much praise. Besides well-known for his seal and clerical scripts, he excelled at the running-cursive script.
His achievement in calligraphy paralleled his mastery of seal carving. As a young man, Lin studied under Feng Kanghou and Qin Esheng. He later went on to learn from Luo Shuzhong, who became his close friend and praised Lin as the ‘top engraver in South China’. Having developed his own style, Lin Jin was a leading figure in Macao’s calligraphy circle. In 1994, he joined the Xiling Seal Engravers’ Society as the only engraver from Macao and was appointed director of the society in 1998. Before 1995, the Leal Senado organised exhibitions of poems, calligraphy works, paintings and seal carvings for him.
Lin also taught as a guest professor at the Nanjing Normal University and the Macao Polytechnic Institute (now Macao Polytechnic University). His accomplishments earned him the Honorary Citizenship of Macao awarded by the Portuguese Macao government. After the city’s handover, he was presented with the Medal of Cultural Merit by the first Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Lin’s important inscription works can be found in memorial tablets including the one commemorating the 500th anniversary of the founding of the A-Ma Temple and the one erected in Shaanxi Province to celebrate the return of Macao to the People’s Republic of China. The artist passed away in Xinhui and was buried in Macao.