The Enigmatic Life of Lin Gengbai: Poet, Revolutionary, and Seer

Lin Gengbai, a poet from the Southern Society, was born in Minhou, Fujian. He studied in Beijing at the age of eight and was passionate about politics throughout his life. He once joined the Beijing-Tianjin Alliance and had the ambition to clarify the world. In the first year of the Republic of China, Lin Gengbai founded the "Yellow Flower and Blue Blood Society" with Chen Lesheng and others in Shanghai, with the urgent task of assassinating the remnants of the imperial system. After the failure of the "Second Revolution", he rose and fell. He first served as the secretary of the Senate and once acted as the acting secretary-general. He was only 22 years old. Although he was successful in his youth, he was melancholy. Soon he became angry and wrote poetry under the guidance of Chen Shiyi, a teacher of the "Jiangxi Poetry School". He was talented and innovative, and many people called him Li Yishan. Later, he was known as the "Chinese Poet of the Generation". He was not tall, with fair skin, clear eyebrows, and a high nose bridge, and had a bit of a foreigner's appearance. He claimed, " Cao Juren gave a speech at the Nan She Ya Ji, talking about the relationship between Nan She and the Xinhai Revolution. He believed that the Xinhai Revolution was a political movement with a strong romantic atmosphere, and Nan She's poetry and prose were the atmosphere of Gong Zizhen. Lin Gengbai was the living Gong Zizhen. Liu Yazi nodded in agreement, but Lin Gengbai was very unhappy: "I don't even have Li and Du in my mind, let alone Gong Dingan. Cao's being Gong Dingan is too shallow of me." At that time, people naturally referred to him as a poetry fanatic. Liu Yazi had been friends with him for more than 30 years, and Liu Yazi, who had high eyes, commented: "Gengbai's poetry is idealistic and charming, and although I am still ashamed, I am not as good as him. Are contemporary people who cling to their shortcomings worth a bite of their sword?"

The poet is a cynical person who plays with the world all his life, just like what Gong Zizhen said, "both foolish and cunning". However, this old man devoted himself to studying the art of fortune-telling, loved divination, and claimed to have a lot of experience. He wrote the book "A Mirror to People", which predicted that Zhang Shizhao would enter the cabinet, Lin Baishui would die suddenly, Sun Chuanfang would enter Zhejiang, and Liao Zhongkai would die tragically. At that time, people commented that "all the statements were as conclusive as echoes." Wang Jingwei's lackey Mei Siping asked Lin Gengbai to arrange his birth chart. Mei Siping was a despicable person, and the poet had no good impression of him. At that time, a female judge in Shanghai was involved in a corruption case, causing a stir in the newspapers and causing a stir in the city. Lin Gengbai smiled and said to Mei Siping, "According to your birth chart, your life is exactly the same as that of a female judge." Mei felt ashamed.

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Lin Gengbai later specialized in reading fortune-telling to make a living, abandoning poetry and writing. On the desk, there were books on the Five Elements and Six Armors: beside the pillow and bed, there were books on mysterious and wonderful principles, almost countless.

At the end of 1941, Lin Gengbai was a legislator in Chongqing. He had his own fortune told and knew it was inappropriate, causing panic before the New Year. In order to avoid the Japanese bombardment, he tried his best to escape Hong Kong with his family, thinking that he could escape his bad luck. Unexpectedly, only eight days after arriving in Hong Kong, the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor and immediately occupied Kowloon. A week later, Lin Gengbai and his wife tried to cross the sea in Tsim Sha Tsui. Due to a misunderstanding, a group of Japanese soldiers fired shots, and Shi Guang was shot in the chest and died in a pool of blood. He fell to his death on the way and was unidentified. His body was exposed for several days. Later, he was recognized by a member of the Minnan fellow villagers' association and inserted a floating sign for him. Friends sighed repeatedly when they heard this, saying that although he was knowledgeable about fate, he did not understand the ancient saying "disaster cannot escape".

Mrs. Lin Beili (whose mother and aunt are both Qiujin Gaozu) was shot in the right arm and suffered serious injuries but did not die. She was bedridden on an isolated island and lived in poverty after returning to the mainland in 1943.

Liu Yazi, a poet from the Southern Society, once joked that the poet was a "living room socialist" to metaphorically describe his lack of practical spirit.