III. Name Changed: From Lin Zhengyi to Lin Yifu

Recalling his past experience, Lin said, "I used to look afar towards the other side of the Taiwan Strait in the still of night. The innumerable dots of lights in the distance sparked my desire for mainland China, and I felt the impulse to give myself to the embrace of my motherland."

After swimming across the Taiwan Strait to mainland China, Lin felt overwhelmed with warmth, just like a son who finally returned to his mother's arms after having been away from home for many years.

Where was his first stop in the mainland? What choices did he make afterwards?

As known to all, Fujian province in mainland China is only 2.3 kilometers away from Taiwan, if measured by a straight line. Lin successfully landed on Xiamen in Fujian province, a city admired as the "Garden on the Sea". He was very excited and a little nervous because he had never been there before. He stayed in Xiamen for more than two months, and then left for Beijing. Holding no grudge against Taiwan, Lin justified his coming to mainland China by believing that he was only to make his own contribution to the peaceful reunification and common prosperity across the Taiwan Strait with his knowledge. Bearing this in mind, Lin was determined to first be prepared through knowledge accumulation in three years, particularly in economics theories.

In the light of the then sensitive cross-strait politics, Lin felt it unwise to reveal his true identity, since it would spell trouble for himself and even inflict sufferings on his kin. In an interview with the China Central Television, Lin spoke of the reason for changing his own name, "Under these circumstances, I hope what I did won't hurt anyone. And to make sure of that, I believe it is important to convince others that I was gone, totally evaporated. So, one trick was to assume another name, also as some kind of self-motivation; besides, I avoided any publicity."

Fully acquainted with Chinese classics since childhood, Lin proclaims a motto from Zengzi, a philosopher and a disciple of Confucius, which reads "A great man cannot be without magnanimity or tolerance, for the arduous trek he is expected to take." Thus, Lin changed his name to "Lin Yifu", which means "a man with perseverance" in Chinese, motivating himself to be a man with high ambition, great bravery, lasting persistence, and no fear of hazards. This life maxim of Lin is in accord with the deathbed pronouncement of Sun Yat-sen, the Father of the Nation, "It is my hope that, upon shoulders of all of you, could be placed the duty of rejuvenating China."

Lin's wife Chen Yunying showed sympathy with his deeds, saying that, "Yifu was born in 1952, and I in 1953. Our generation of Taiwanese students pondered deeply upon the future of Taiwan. There were more than a dozen choices before us at that time, and returning to mainland China was relatively a good one. In fact, many were aware of this. What distinguished my husband from others was that he was more unyielding to his aspirations, so much so that he would swim across the Strait."