Born to a middle-class family in Shanggan Township (尚幹鄉), Minhou County (閩侯縣), Fujian, Lin was educated by American missionaries.
 He later worked in the Telegram Bureau of Taipei, Taiwan in 1884.
 After the First Sino-Japanese War, he engaged in guerrilla activities against the Japanese occupiers.
He returned to the mainland and worked in the Shanghai customs office in 1902.
He later lived in Hawaii and San Francisco.

There he was recruited by the Tongmenghui in 1905, and was an overseas organizer for the Kuomintang.
 During the Xinhai Revolution, he was in charge of the Jiangxi revolt.
He became speaker of the senate in the National Assembly.
 After the failed Second Revolution against President Yuan Shikai, Lin fled with Sun Yat-sen to Japan and joined his Chinese Revolutionary Party.
 He was sent to the United States to raise funds from the party's local branches.
 In 1917, he followed Sun to Guangzhou where he continued to lead its "extraordinary session" during the Constitutional Protection Movement.
 When the assembly defected to the Beiyang government, he remained with Sun and later served as governor of Fujian.

Lin was a member of the right-wing Western Hills Group based in Shanghai.
 The group was formed in Beijing shortly after Sun's death in 1925.
 They called for a party congress to expel the Communists and to declare social revolution as incompatible with the KMT's national revolution.
 The party pre-empted this faction and the ensuing congress expelled Western Hills' leaders and suspended the membership of the followers.
 They supported Chiang Kai-shek's purge of the communists in 1927.
 Lin rose to become the leader of the Western Hills faction and undertook a world tour after the demise of the Beiyang government.
Born to a middle-class family in Shanggan Township (尚幹鄉), Minhou County (閩侯縣), Fujian, Lin was educated by American missionaries.  He later worked in the Telegram Bureau of Taipei, Taiwan in 1884.  After the First Sino-Japanese War, he engaged in guerrilla activities against the Japanese occupiers. He returned to the mainland and worked in the Shanghai customs office in 1902. He later lived in Hawaii and San Francisco.
There he was recruited by the Tongmenghui in 1905, and was an overseas organizer for the Kuomintang.  During the Xinhai Revolution, he was in charge of the Jiangxi revolt. He became speaker of the senate in the National Assembly.  After the failed Second Revolution against President Yuan Shikai, Lin fled with Sun Yat-sen to Japan and joined his Chinese Revolutionary Party.  He was sent to the United States to raise funds from the party's local branches.  In 1917, he followed Sun to Guangzhou where he continued to lead its "extraordinary session" during the Constitutional Protection Movement.  When the assembly defected to the Beiyang government, he remained with Sun and later served as governor of Fujian.
Lin was a member of the right-wing Western Hills Group based in Shanghai.  The group was formed in Beijing shortly after Sun's death in 1925.  They called for a party congress to expel the Communists and to declare social revolution as incompatible with the KMT's national revolution.  The party pre-empted this faction and the ensuing congress expelled Western Hills' leaders and suspended the membership of the followers.  They supported Chiang Kai-shek's purge of the communists in 1927.  Lin rose to become the leader of the Western Hills faction and undertook a world tour after the demise of the Beiyang government.
Lin Sen