Lin Yinan is a native of Fuzhou city, Fujian province. He is the dean, associate professor, and master's supervisor of the Landscape Department at the School of Art Design and Media, East China University of Science and Technology(ECUST). With a doctoral degree in Landscape Architecture from Tongji University, Lin also brings the experience of being a visiting scholar at the University of Melbourne's Landscape Department. Additionally, he is a registered national planner.

Lin is the founder and webmaster of the Fuzhou Architecture Heritage website. His extensive research focuses on the modern urban development history of Fuzhou, spearheading projects such as the "Historical Landscape Characteristics and Evolution of Modern Foreign Summer Resorts in the Minjiang River Basin", which received funding from the Ministry of Education.

Since 2016, Lin has collaborated with Elyn MacInnis, forming a "transnational team" dedicated to researching the historical culture of Kuliang. Together, they have contributed first-hand materials for various exhibition halls, including the Kuliang Planning Exhibition Hall, Gardner Memorial Hall, Fujia Villa, Kuliang Post Offices, and the Kuliang Club.

Lin has also taken the lead in guiding students to establish the "Ancient House Revitalization Laboratory" team, resulting in the creation of a range of cultural and creative products tailored for Kuliang. Moreover, Lin and his team independently developed the "Kuliang Genealogy", an innovative historical and cultural information database integrating lineage details, historical image recognition, and house coordinate positioning. Lin showcased this database at a gathering of Kuliang Friends in Maine, the US, receiving widespread coverage from media outlets including China Global Television Network.