A Brief Biography of Dr. Chao Lin

-- Compiled by Yanhui Lin

Dr. Chao Lin, professor of the Department of Geography at Peking University for nearly 40 years, was an outstanding figure in twentieth-century Chinese Geography. His work and contributions continue to influence our society in many ways and will have a long lasting effect for generations to come.
Raised in a Christian family, Dr. Lin was born on 13 April, 1909 in Jieyang County, Guangdong Province, China. His father was the founder and then principal of a high school in his town. In 1926, Dr. Lin enrolled in the School of Art at Linnan University then shortly transferred to the Department of Philosophy at San-Yat Sen University (Zhongshan University). He graduated from the Department of Geography in 1930. After graduation, he stayed on at the University as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Geography. While at San-Yat Sen University, Dr. Lin assisted W. Credner, a German professor at the Department of Geography, to conduct a geographical survey in Yunnan Province. He helped to generate and translate the survey report in 1931. He then published the article "The Politics & Geography of the Undefined Boundary between Yunnan and Burma" in 1932. His contact with Britain began with graduate study from 1934 to 1938 under Professor Percy M. Roxby, the British Historical Geographer at Liverpool University, UK. Chao Lin became the first Ph.D. candidate to be graduated from the Department of Geography, Liverpool University. He always remembered this period with great affection and it seems to have influenced his academic interest, especially in the direction of geographical regionalization.
On return to China during the Sino-Japanese War in 1938, he accepted the position of Professor, Head of Department of Geography, and Dean of the School of Science at San-Yat Sen University. In 1939 he accepted a Professor level position in United University of Southwest China. Then in 1940 Dr. Lin took on the role of research fellow joining the China Institute of Geography in Beipei City, Sichuan Province as Head of Human Geography, and in 1947 he accepted the position of Head of the Institute. In the early stage of The China Institute of Geography, he participated in the geographic survey on Daba Mountain, Jialing River Basin and Northwest China. These scientific expeditions are regarded as among the earliest integrated geographic survey in China. At the same time, Dr. Lin studied the economics, transportation and settlements of Sichuan Province. His study on the relationship of settlements and population, settlements type, grades and distribution is one of the earliest studies in this field. From 1945 to 1947 he was Counselor in The British Council. At which time he made a significant contribution for academic exchange and international cooperation between China and Great Britain. Dr. Lin's publications, before 1950, were mainly related to the human and economic geography of Guangdong, Yunnan, Sichuan and Xinjiang including the Geographical Survey Report on Jialin River Basin (1946). Professor Chao Lin attended the 16th Congress of International Geography Union (IGU) in Portugal on 3rd April, 1949 and applied for China to become a member of IGU. After the 16th Congress of IGU, he traveled in Europe and visited many universities and research institutes of geography throughout England. In Sept. 1949 he attended the 4th General Conference of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization (UNESCO) as the Counselor of The China Delegation in Paris, France. Dr. Lin returned to China in Feb. 1950 and moved to Beijing. His first position was working as a professor at Tsinghua University, and then two years later he joined the staff at Peking University, where he served until his death. After 1950, he turned more to the physical aspects of geography, especially in integrated physical geography, physical-geographical regionalization, and land type studies, mainly in the area around Beijing. In 1954, Dr. Lin along with his colleagues, Professor Boren Guan and Professor Shengwu Feng, published An outline on Synthesis Study of Physical Geographic Regionalization of China. The publication was used as a textbook for college students. Dr. Lin wrote a notable article on the peak Qomolangma in 1958. After careful study of all available records and evidence, he reached the conclusion that it was originally discovered, giving the name of Qomolangma, and put on the map by a Chinese survey team between 1715 and 1717. In 1852 an Indian mathematician and surveyor from Bengal, identified Everest as the world's highest peak after which the Royal Geographical Society in 1865 named Peak Qomolangma after Sir George Everest, the British surveyor-general of India. Historically this Peak was also known as Peak XV, today, it is currently known as Everest, also called Chomolungma, Qomolangma or Zhumulangma. During the "Cultural Revolution" period (1966-1976), the study of geographical education was heavily damaged as all universities and colleges in China closed. Dr. Lin was not permitted to do any educational and research work until 1977. His research and dedication to the field of geography resulted in a series of notable achievements. In the Geographical Society of China, Counselor and Editor of the Journal of Geography; Head of the Subcommittee of Physical Geography, The Geographical Society of China; President and Advisor to the Geographical Society of Beijing; Member of the Workshop of Synthesis Landscape of IGU; On the editorial board of The Encyclopedia of China, Editor-in-chief of the Geography Volume; Member of The Physical Science Term Commission of China; Consultant to the China National Committee for Place-name; Member of the Fifth and Sixth People's Political Consultative Conference of Beijing. He was truly the pioneer of the modern human geography and physical geography of China, and is credited as being the individual who brought The Geographical Society of China to the international stage. As a doctoral-tutor, he had turned out great number of first-rate scholars for the Geographical Society of China; many of them are working in critical roles in the universities and research institutes throughout China. Dr. Lin passed away on 1st. June, 1991 at the age of 82 in Beijing.

		Ship Ranpura to England, August 1934. Dr. Chao Lin won the second Sino-British Boxer Indemnity Fund Scholarship.
Total 26 winners from China. Chao Lin, front row, fifth from left. (source)
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