Works of modern Chinese art collected by renowned writer Lin Yutang and his family will be exhibited at Metropolitan Museum starting Saturday.

This exhibition, Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang, will feature more than 43 modern Chinese paintings and calligraphies assembled by the noted author Lin Yutang and his family.

The collection consists of works of 19 leading Chinese artists of the mid-20th century, including Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian, and Qi Baishi.

It will go on view to the public for the first time at The Met. The collection was recently donated to the museum by members of the family.

The exhibition will be held at Galleries for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy through Feb. 10, 2008.

Lin Yutang was born in the town of Banzi in Fujian province in southeastern China. His father was a Christian minister.

Lin studied for his bachelor's degree at Saint John's University in Shanghai, then received a half-scholarship to continue study for a doctoral degree at Harvard University.

He left Harvard early, however, moving to France and eventually to Germany, where he completed his requirements for a doctoral degree at the University of Leipzig.

He returned to the United States in the 1930s and lived in New York for almost 30 years.

Many of his works represent an attempt to bridge the cultural gap between the East and the West. He was frequently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

His first two books, My Country and My People (1935) and The Importance of Living (1937), written in English in a charming and witty style, brought him international fame.

Others include Between Tears and Laughter (1943), The Importance of Understanding (1960), The Chinese Theory of Art ( 1967), and the novels Moment in Peking (1939) and The Vermilion Gate (1953).

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2007)