Lin Jian, his father Bi Gan was the son of King Taiding of the Shang Dynasty, a noble family. His surname was Zi and his name was Gan. Bigan was intelligent, diligent and studious when he was young. At the age of 20, he assisted Emperor Yi as the Grand Master, and was also entrusted with the important task of assisting Emperor Xin. Gan has been in politics for more than 40 years. He advocated reducing taxes and corvee labor, encouraged the development of agricultural and animal husbandry production, promoted smelting and casting, and enriched the country and strengthened the military. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, Emperor Xin (King Zhou) was tyrannical and licentious, and levied heavy taxes. Bigan sighed and said, “It is not advisable to admonish the king when his lord makes mistakes.”) Emperor Xin (King Zhou) was tyrannical and licentious, and levied heavy taxes. Bigan sighed and said, “It is not advisable to admonish the king when his lord makes mistakes.” So he went to the Zhaixing Tower and made strong appeals for three days without leaving. When King Zhou asked why he was so self-reliant, Bigan answered, “I am so self-reliant because I do good deeds and practice benevolence and righteousness.” Zhou was furious and said, “I heard that saints have seven orifices. Is that true?” He then killed Bi Gan and cut open his heart to look at it. He was 63 years old.

Bigan’s wife Gui was only three months pregnant. Fearing disaster, she fled from Chaoge and gave birth to a boy in a stone chamber in Changlin (now Longwo Village, Shibaotou Township, Weihui City, Henan Province). The boy was named Jian (the ancestor of the Lin family). . Bigan is the great ancestor of the Lin family. King Wu of Zhou conferred a fief upon Bigan, made him a national god, and gave his descendants the surname Lin.
King Wu of Zhou remembered that Lin Jian was a descendant of Shang Tang and a descendant of Bigan, and that he was able to avoid the chaos of King Zhou and not exterminate his family, so he appointed Lin Jian as a senior official and granted him the fief of Qinghe. Later he was granted the title of Duke of Boling, with an estate of 2,000 households and a fief of Boling (now Anping County, Hebei Province). Therefore, the Lin family’s main hall name is Xihe Hall.