Yu-Sheng Lin

Yu-sheng Lin, 88, passed away on November 22, 2022, in Denver, Colorado, after a prolonged fight with dementia.

Yu-sheng was predeceased by his father, Fuzhi Lin, and mother, Yuing Wu.

He is survived by his wife, Tsu-gein Soong Lin, his son Albert Lin and his wife Dinna Billote, daughter Winnie Lin and her husband Sean Hansz, his sister Suzanne Kao, brother Yubin Lin, and grandsons Ethan Lin and Nathaniel Lin.

Yu-sheng was born in Shenyang, China, in 1934 and moved to Taiwan with his family in 1948. Yu-sheng graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from National Taiwan University in 1958.  He did his graduate work in the Committee on Social Thought of the University of Chicago, where he had the opportunity to study with Friedrich A. Hayek, Michael Polanyi, Hannah Arendt, and Edward Shils. Yu-sheng received his Ph.D from the Committee of Social Thought, University of Chicago in 1970.

He spent the majority of his career as a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, while holding visiting professorships and research positions at several international schools and research institutes. He deeply treasured the time he spent teaching and guiding his students through their studies and intellectual development. Yu-sheng’s publications include his book The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness: Radical Antitraditionalism in the May Fourth Era (1979) along with numerous collections of essays, papers, and lectures in both English and Chinese. His contributions to the understanding of modern China and classical Confucianism and of thought and political theory in general have made him a distinguished scholar in the United States and internationally. Yu-sheng retired from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004.

In 1994 Yu-sheng was elected to Membership of Academia Sinica, Taiwan.

On a personal note, Yu-sheng always enjoyed a good meal and had many of them throughout his travels. He also would engage his family, friends, and colleagues in another of his favorite activities - a good debate. Yu-sheng’s sense of humor, although not obvious, would delight his children - in particular they loved his impersonation of Elvis and Inspector Clouseau of The Pink Panther movie franchise.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.