Lin Handa (1900-1972), a native of Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province, was an educator, linguist, philologist, and historian. Lin went to the US in 1937 to study popular education, and then returned to China after receiving his doctorate in the summer of 1939. In the fall of the same year, he began to teach at Hangchow University. Since 1949, he has successively served as a professor and dean of the faculty of Yenching University, deputy head of the Department of Social Education of the Ministry of Education, deputy director of National Literacy Committee, vice minister of Education, editor of the Chinese Language Magazine, and member of the Committee for the Reform of Chinese Character. 

Throughout his life, Mr. Lin has written many books on pedagogy, reform of Chinese characters, popularization of history, literary translation, etc. He has got dozens of works published, including Challenge to Traditional Education (Xiang Chuantong Jiaoyu Tiaozhan), Speeches on the History of Western Education (Xiyang Jiaoyushi Jianghua), The Way Forward for Chinese Pinyin (Zhongguo Pinyin Wenzi De Chulu), Self-study Textbook of Chinese Pinyin (Hanyu Pinyin Zixiu Keben), A New Compilation of the Annuals of the Kingdoms in Eastern Zhou Dynasty (Dongzhou Lieguo Zhi Xinbian), and the translation of David Copperfield.