Evening star., 1941-06-01

manner, an exceptionally responsive
face, and eyes that crinkle up in fire.
quent, infectious merrlment. Though
not a writer herself, she is deeply
interested in literature and it was
through this interest that she met her
philosopher author husband, the dis
tingushed DR.. Lin Yutang, whose
books, especially The Importance of
Living" and with Love and Irony"
have been SO popular in the United
States. Mrs. Lin is also active in the
cause of her native China. acting as
president of the Chinese Women's
Relief Association of New York, TAX
ing part in the work of United China
Relief and in particular its backing OF
the3 3,OOOrecently developed but highly
successful Chinese seco-operatives, where
the investment of only seven dollars,
in terms of American money, will set
man up in business for life.
Important though these activities
are, Mrs Lin names. as her main in
terests, her home, her husband and
their three young daughters - Adet
who is seventeen, Amor, the fourteen
year-old, and little ten-year-old
Meimei. The Lin Yutangs are only
visiting in the United States, for their
home is in China sometimes in
Shanghai and most recently in Chung
king, the present capital of Free China.
The children love it there and wanted
to stay in spite of the severe air raids.
THE people in Chungking have to
mold their lives according to these
air raids" Mrs Lin says The planes
come. over every day between ten
thirty and eleven in the morning. SO
we get up early School opens at six.
and my husband has to be at the
University then to give his lectures.
The banks open at seven. At home,
we get our houses in order, see that
the marketing is done, and that every
thing is in readiness for getting meals.
Then we go to the shelters and stay
there until the 'allclear' sounds when
everybody goes homo, and the ser
wants prepare dinner.
Food is plentiful" Mrs. Lin goes
on. China, as you know. is an agri-
cultural country and We have had the
blessing of wonderful crops these last
years SO there is no rationlng, though
in occupied China the people do suffer
from food shortages"
For an everyday Chinese meal, you
would have soup, meat or fish - per
haps crabmeat or lobster omelet, and
two vegetables, Mrs. Lin says. Some
times the vegetables would be cooked
alone, much as they are in this coun-
try, but usually they would be cooked
with chicken or pork or beef. In addi
ton, there is always rice which is
taken for granted in China as bread
and butter are in the United States.
We ask Mrs. Lin about the technique
of transferring rice from bowl to
mouth with only chopsticks for an
implement. "Ah, but in China it is
correct to hold the bowl in your left
hand, lifting it close to the mouth, so
that you can shuttle the rice in quickly
and easily" she says. That would be
bad manners here, but in China 1t
would be bad manners to leave the
bowl on the table and eat from there"
Asked about sweets, Mrs. Lin re-
minds us that there are many Chinese
sweets, though they do not form part
of the regular meals. There are also
excellent fruits of which the Chinese
are very fond - especially tan
gerines and peaches. Cakes come at
tea time, she says, or at big feast
when there are anywhere from twenty
to thirty courses.
Suppose we had never been in
private house in China, but we came
to tea at your house in Chungking.
what would you do and what would
we do?' we ask.
Mrs. Lin laughs merrily. This is
amusing" she says, ''but, of course.
you would never be asked to tea, You