In the 1920s and 1930s, there were many cultural salons in my country. The first salons were Lin Huiyin , and Liang Sicheng 's " wife living room ".
1931, Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin left Northeast University and returned to work at Beiping , and rented the No. 3 courtyard of Beizongbu Hutong located in , Dongcheng District, . This courtyard is spacious and quiet, with two yards in front and back. There is a row of single-story bungalows on each side of the yard, which soon became the most famous public cultural space in Peking and even in the country.
The front yard is Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng's "wife's living room". Every weekend, there are scholars such as Jin Yuelin , Qian Duansheng , Zhang Xiruo , Zhou Peiyuan , Chen Daisun, etc., literati such as Shen Congwen , Xu Zhimo , and young students such as Xiao Qian , Bian Zhilin . Lin Huiyin is not only talented and beautiful, but also has strong social skills. She is the undisputed host and core of the "Women's Living Room". As the American scholar Fei Zhengqing who visited China at that time said: "She is full of charming charm when communicating. In this home, or any occasion where she is, everyone present always revolves around her."
In the "Women's Living Room", intellectuals interact very happily and have gained a lot. Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin's daughter Liang Zaibing recalled: "Although these intellectuals have different fields of research and creation, their serious attitudes and enterprising spirits are similar, and their patriotism and national pride are also similar. Therefore, they have many common languages. Because they are in different cultural fields, they involve a wide and deep range, and the integration and exchange of ideas is conducive to a broad common perspective, and sincere friendship brings spiritual strength. I didn't understand the content of the conversation between adults at that time, but I could feel the friendship and joy of their gatherings."
Of course, there were some criticisms about the cultural salon of Lin Huiyin's family at that time. For example, another famous female writer Bing Xin wrote an article "Mrs.'s Living Room", which wrote: " time is the most ideal spring afternoon in Peking, warm and bright. The location is our wife's living room. The so-called wife's living room, of course, pointed to our husband and his living room, but the guests rarely gather there, so omit it. Our wife himself thought that her guests also thought she was the owner of a local "salon" at that time. At that time, local artists, poets, and everything. People wait, every leisure afternoon, want to drink a cup of strong tea or coffee, smoke a few good cigarettes, sit on the soft sofa, meet friends, and have a person with bright eyes and white teeth, chat and laugh with them, so they pick up their hats and canes without thinking, walk or take a car, and send themselves to our wife's living room. Here, everyone can get everything they want. "
Lin Huiyin was not happy about Bing Xin's ridicule. At that time, she happened to return to Peking from Shanxi survey temples and brought a jar of old and fragrant Shanxi vinegar to ask people to give it to Bing Xin, which was self-evident.
Bing Xin's husband Wu Wenzao and Lin Huiyin's husband Liang Sicheng are actually Tsinghua roommates. Later, their whole family went to Cornell University to study, and they also had a picnic party together, which means that Lin Huiyin and Bing Xin's relationship was actually quite good. But because of Bing Xin's article and Lin Huiyin's jealousy, the two have been in trouble since then, but this has left behind a piece of literary anecdotes.
