The Story of the Lins
By Miss Qu Weiwei
      Bigan (比干) was a famous prime minister during the Shang Dynasty, anduncle of the stupid emperor Zhou（纣）．An honest man, Bigan was foreverpointing out his stupid nephew's mistakes. Eventually the heartless emperorhadhad enough, and cut open Bigan's heart (which did him little good because he wasstill heartless).   The furious emperor wanted to kill Bigan's pregnant wife too,butshe ran off and hid in a stone house in a forest(林， Lin), where she gave birth to ason whom she named Jian(坚， meaning hard, solid, strong).
       Some years later, another tribe toppled the Shang Dynasty and set up the ZhouDynasty（周朝）． The new emperor respected Bigan's honesty, so he found his sonJian and gave him the surname of Lin because the forest had protected him fromdeath.
       So Bigan's descendant was General Lin Lu, ancestor of all Fujian Lins,including the great hero Lin Zexu, the famed writer Lin Yutang, and the sea goddess  Mazu (whose real name was Lin Moliang).

    译  文
    商朝有一位著名的内阁大臣，名叫比干。此人为人正直，总是不分场合数落纣王的不是。终于有一天，无情无义的皇帝受够了，残酷地剖开比干的心脏（这对纣王并无益处，因为纣王本人就是无心肠的人）。狂怒的皇帝想要把矛头再指向比干的妻子（怀有身孕），然而，比干的妻子一听说皇帝要杀她，赶紧逃之天天，躲进林中的一座石房里，尔后生下一个儿子，取名坚（意为结实，强健）。
    两年后，另一部落推翻了商朝，建立了周朝。周朝皇帝敬佩比干的正直，找到他的儿子坚，册封他以林为姓，以此纪念由于树林的保护而免于一死。
    此后，比干的后裔名叫林禄将军，他是所有众多福建林氏的祖先，还有伟大的民族英雄林则徐，著名的作家林语堂以及海神妈祖（原名为林默娘）等。
    注：比干是商王文丁之子，帝乙之弟，纣王之叔，官少师。见国势危殆，奉面进谏，为民请命，被誉为“亘古第一忠臣”