A woman of her time, a leader of the ages

Wang Nan, senior engineer at the Palace Museum in Beijing, and one of the curators of the exhibitions, says recognition of Lin's discovery represented the first time that she had been allowed to stand on the same academic and intellectual pedestal as her husband.

"Liang is often regarded as the father of modern Chinese architecture, and a common misconception is that he sparked in her an interest in architecture. With the discovery of more records, and Lin's manuscripts, her outstanding contribution to architectural history becomes evident."

In a paper published last year in the journal Modern Science, researcher Meng Zhaoyuan analyzed media coverage of Lin over the past century, in which she is often portrayed as a member of the literati and an activist, overlooking her identity as an architectural scholar. In fact in newspaper reports over the decades, mentions of her beauty and romantic life very much eclipse other things.