Lim Hooi Seong (1 June 1901 – 13 February 1958) was a Chinese anthropologist and archaeologist who contributed significantly to the development of the studies of anthropology and ethnology in China.

[5] An expert in ethnic research, he was involved in the Academia Sinica during its founding and conducted studies on Taiwanese indigenous peoples and Malays throughout the 1930s.

In his later life, he became a politician associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), becoming a member of the National People's Congress.

He was noted as a brilliant student, graduating first among his class; and was an avid reader of classical novels, later recalling that it "significantly improved [my] mastery in Chinese".

Suffering from financial difficulties from his father's struggling business, he decided to withdraw from school and started self-studying.

Afterwards, Yokoo approached him and recommended he become a Chinese teacher at his alma mater, and tried to persuade him to further his studies in Japan through funding from the Lin Ben Yuan family.

While continuing his studies, he was awarded the university's premier scholarship twice and was employed as a high school history teacher.

Cai Yuanpei, the founding president of Academia Sinica and head of its anthropological department, instructed Lin to conduct a study on the Taiwanese indigenous peoples during his return to Taiwan for his father's funeral.

In Taipei, he conducted surveys on the Atayal people and investigated the Yuanshan archaeological site near Zhongshan District.

The institute's creation of an anthropological department enticed Lin to return to Academia Sinica as a researcher.

In early-January 1938, Lin traveled to British Singapore to attend the Third International Far Eastern Archaeological Convention (Chinese: 第三届远东史前学国际大会).

Upon his arrival, he was approached by Sutomo School in Medan which was interested in hiring him, but he refused the request due to his desire to further his research in Singapore.

[citation needed] Afterwards, he was employed as a teacher at the Nanyang Girls' High School, prompting his family to settle in Singapore.

However, the salary he received in Singapore was only a quarter of what he earned in Xiamen, forcing him to start selling manuscripts to maintain his financial status.

He later believed it was due to the acknowledgement of Tan Kah Kee as a sympathiser of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1940, which led to a tenuous relationship between Malayan divisions of the CCP and the Kuomintang (KMT), causing the outbreak of anti-Tan demonstrations held by Malayan KMT divisions.

In 1951 he suggested the formation of an anthropological museum within Xiamen University and donated his entire book and artefact collections.

[citation needed] During his time at Xiamen University, the May Fourth Movement influenced him to abandon his Japanese nationality.

He opted to apply as a Chinese national, registering as a native of Fujian, but faced difficulties in revoking his Japanese identity, and eventually gave up on changing it.

Since its inception, it became the standard teaching material for anthropological studies in Taiwan and was still commonly used within Taiwanese high schools and universities until the 1980s.

His academic work at Xiamen University laid the foundations for the creation of the institution's anthropological department in 1984.