On May 18, the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design awarded the architect and poet Lin Huiyin a posthumous Bachelor of Architecture degree, part of a broader effort by the school to recognize the achievements of female students who attended before the program was opened to women in 1934.

Lin, who was born in 1904 in the eastern city of Hangzhou, was among the first Chinese students to enroll at the University of Pennsylvania. Although she completed most of the coursework required for an architecture degree, she was barred from formally joining the program due to contemporary concerns about women’s ability to work late nights and conduct fieldwork.

Lin graduated with a degree in fine arts in 1927. The following year, she and her husband, fellow University of Pennsylvania graduate Liang Sicheng, returned to China, where they helped found the country’s second architecture department at Northeastern University.

Top: Frederick Steiner, dean at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, presents Lin’s diploma to her granddaughter, Yu Kui, at the commencement ceremony, May 18, 2024; Bottom: Lin’s diploma. Courtesy of the Weitzman School of Design and Xinhua

Advocates for preservation, Lin and Liang spent much of the next 25 years traveling across China documenting at-risk architecture and traditional building practices. The sections on Liao (915–1125) and Song (960–1279) dynasty architecture in Liang’s famed “History of Chinese Architecture” were largely written by Lin.

In addition to her architectural practice, Lin was one of China’s preeminent 20th-century romantic poets.

Left: Lin Huiyin (far right) poses for a photo with her cousins in their uniforms for the Pei Hua Anglo-Chinese School for Girls, 1916. FOTOE/VCG; Right: A teenaged Lin in London, 1920. Courtesy of the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House

A photo of Lin Huiyin included in her college transcript, 1924. Courtesy of the Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania

Lin Huiyin’s graduation photo, 1927.

Lin Huiyin (right) and Liang Sicheng at the Ball L’Impressionistique organized by Penn architecture students in 1926. Courtesy of the University Archives at Penn

Lin and Liang at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, circa 1936. Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Fisher Fine Arts Library image collection

Editor: Ding Yining.