Malaysian scholar Lin Zeng-Yi puts down roots in Taiwan, forest research contributes to the world

Lin Zeng-Yi wears two rings on his hands. On the ring finger of his left hand is his wedding band, while the pinky ring on his right hand was awarded by the Canadian Institute of Forestry; anyone who earns a forestry degree from an academic institution recognized by the institute receives one.

"The pinky ring should be worn on the hand you habitually write with," says Lin Zeng-Yi, who now teaches in the Department of Forestry at National Taiwan University. The purpose is to remind himself that every document he signs may affect forest ecology. "You must always be cautious."

At 15 he set his life's ambition, determined to forge ahead on the path of forest research

As a third-generation Malaysian Chinese, Lin Zeng-Yi was born in the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area and had little contact with nature while growing up. So why did he embark on the path of forest research, and why did he come to Taiwan to teach?

As a student, he was deeply influenced by "Star Trek" and "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" (Chō Jikū Yōsai Makurosu) and wanted to become an engineer and build robots. Lin Zeng-Yi did well in school and was quite popular among his peers, but he always felt his life was missing something, like the picture book "The Missing Piece" - incomplete.

The turning point came when he was 15, when Lin Zeng-Yi took part in a youth activity organized by the Malaysian government and camped in a national park for five days. It was his first time entering a forest and his first time doing night exploration, wilderness survival, rope rescue and other activities. Even though it was an experience he had never had before, Lin Zeng-Yi felt a sense of familiarity and comfort. "So this is the piece I was missing," he realized after the camp, and at 15 he resolved to move forward on the path of forest research.

The direction was set, but the road to the goal had to be cleared by himself. Only one university in Malaysia has a forestry department, but because of the country's complicated education system, Lin Zeng-Yi, who attended a Chinese-language secondary school, could not apply. This planted the idea of studying abroad. But his parents opposed him studying forestry, believing "that is a department where you'll starve," and tried to persuade him to choose environmental science, which was more likely to lead to a job and was still related to forests.

From the second year of high school, Lin Zeng-Yi argued with his family for a year to no avail. Fortunately, at that time his eldest uncle came from China to Malaysia to visit relatives, and he spoke a fair word: "How many teenagers drift along with no idea where they are going? It is rare for a child of the Lin family to have such a clear dream; as parents, you should help him fulfill it." Only then did Lin Zeng-Yi get his wish.

Across three continents and six countries, completing his degree training

In early 1998, Lin Zeng-Yi went to Canada to attend a university preparatory program. Half a year later he applied to and entered the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), earning a bachelor's degree in a department specifically training talent for forestry needs. Lin Zeng-Yi says his alma mater worked closely with Canada's forest industry, and teaching was entirely problem-solving oriented, covering situations the industry might face, including forestry management, land use, ecological protection and wildlife management, as well as various solutions and technologies, all comprehensively taught to students. This not only gave students hands-on experience but also genuinely advanced the industry.

Because he had long aspired to academia, after graduating from UNB, Lin Zeng-Yi went to Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany to pursue a master's degree in the Tropical and International Forestry program, then transferred to Oregon State University (OSU) in the United States to pursue a doctorate.

During his studies, Lin Zeng-Yi accumulated many interesting experiences in various countries. As an undergraduate he lived in Sweden for a year as an exchange student; during his master's he took part in research on forest soil fragmentation in Switzerland; and through cooperation between the University of Berlin and the Beijing government, he went to the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang to study how Euphrates poplar protects the Tarim River from being buried by the desert. In addition, he completed postdoctoral research at the "Forest and Climate Change Center" in South Korea and in the "Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management" at the University of California, Berkeley.

From Malaysia to Taiwan, from industry back to the path of academia

In addition to his complete academic experience, several jobs Lin Zeng-Yi held after returning to Malaysia were all related to what he had studied. He served as a statistical consultant for a United Nations project in Malaysia called "Conserving Biodiversity Through Forest Planning Tools," and later entered the "Forest Trust" of an NGO, responsible for designing sustainable raw material production chains for large industries. For example, he sought palm oil meeting sustainability standards for Wilmar International Limited, the world's largest food industry company, and helped find FSC-certified pulp for the wrapper and shipping cartons of Nestle's KitKat chocolate.

Lin Zeng-Yi says that solving environmental sustainability problems from the large-industry side has far greater influence than individual consumers' environmental efforts, and he very much liked the direction of this trust department's work. But when he learned there was a professorship vacancy in the School of Forestry and Resource Conservation at National Taiwan University, he felt wavering in his heart.

Before that, Lin Zeng-Yi had only visited Taiwan as a tourist with his wife's family, and looking back later, "seven days all spent on a tour bus" was his only impression. However, since graduating from high school he had traveled around the world for study and work, so cross-border relocation was not difficult for him at all. In addition, he had several academic questions in his pocket that he had always wanted to solve. Compared with solving industry difficulties, he thought: "After teaching, I can do research and accumulate more knowledge; perhaps that will help global forests even more!"

After all, it was an ambition set at 15, and completing academic challenges was still the achievement he wanted to pursue. So Lin Zeng-Yi brought his wife and his daughter, who was only 5 months old, to Taiwan, this country of which he had only a shallow impression.

Learning traditional Chinese characters through "Qi Li Xiang," like finding his own roots

However, it is not entirely correct to say Lin Zeng-Yi's impression of Taiwan was shallow. He had a good friend from Taiwan in Canada who taught him to appreciate the beauty of traditional Chinese, which had a great influence on him.

Lin Zeng-Yi's grandfather emigrated from Guangxi to Malaysia in his early years, and his maternal grandfather came from Fujian. When Lin Zeng-Yi's parents, that is, the second-generation Chinese, attended Chinese-language schools in Malaysia, the textbooks were still in traditional characters. For some unknown reason, by the time the third generation enrolled, the textbooks had become simplified characters. Lin Zeng-Yi spoke Chinese and Cantonese at home, and also knew Malay and English. At that time he did not yet know the difference between traditional and simplified; writing was merely a tool for communication.

While studying in Canada, a good friend from Taiwan introduced Lin Zeng-Yi to reading Xi Murong's poetry collection "Qi Li Xiang" (clearly a true literary youth, actually bringing a poetry collection when emigrating), and explained to him the origins and allusions of each character. Lin Zeng-Yi tried rereading the ancient Chinese poems taught at school in traditional characters and unexpectedly discovered artistic conceptions that simplified-character poems could not convey. He suddenly understood: the difference between traditional and simplified was not merely a matter of the number of strokes.