Abstract: It was af ter his migration to America with the receding tide of the enl ightenment movement that Lin Yu -tang interpreted the Chinese people's life philosophy as merry philosophy.Obviously it is deeply influenced by western hilosophy , especially by Epicurus'  and Nietsche's philosophy.However it is rooted in the traditional Chinese culture.his paper describes the four characteristics of merry philosophy: 1. Men's happiness lays in sensation. 2. Reasonable aturalism is a disirable type of life. 3. Stress art of life and oppose utilitarialism. 4. Awakening is the prerequisi te to appiness.

Key words: Lin Yu- tang, Merry philosophy