Lu Xun

For the Three Kingdoms general, see Lu Xun (Three

Kingdoms).
This person has Chinese names. The family name is
Zhou or Lu.
Lu Xun, formerly also romanized Lu Hsn, was the pen
name of Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 19 October 1936), a leading gure of modern Chinese literature.
Writing in Vernacular Chinese as well as Classical Chinese, Lu Xun was a short story writer, editor, translator,
literary critic, essayist, and poet. In the 1930s he became
the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in
Shanghai.
Lu Xun was born into a family of landlords and government ocials in Shaoxing, Zhejiang; the family's nancial resources declined over the course of his youth.
Lu aspired to take the imperial civil service exam; but,
due to his family's relative poverty, was forced to attend
government-funded schools teaching Western education. Upon graduation, Lu went to medical school in
Japan, but later dropped out. He became interested in
studying literature, but was eventually forced to return to
China due to his family's lack of funds. After returning to
China, Lu worked for several years teaching at local secondary schools and colleges before nally nding a job at
the national Ministry of Education.
After the 1919 May Fourth Movement, Lu Xun's writing began to exert a substantial inuence on Chinese literature and popular culture. Like many leaders of the
May Fourth Movement, he was primarily a leftist and liberal. He was highly acclaimed by the Chinese government after 1949, when the People's Republic of China
was founded, and Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's writing. Though sympathetic to socialist ideas, Lu Xun never joined the Communist Party
of China.

1
1.1

Biography
Early life

Childhood residence of Lu Xun in Shaoxing

means, guratively, to be an educated man.* [1] The

name that he is best known as in English, Lu Xun,
was a literary pseudonym that he chose when his ction
was rst published, in 1918.* [2]
By the time Lu Xun was born, the Zhou family had
been prosperous for centuries, and had become wealthy
through landowning, pawnbroking, and by having several
family members promoted to government positions. His
paternal grandfather, Zhou Fuqing, was appointed to the
Imperial Hanlin Academy in Beijing: the highest position
possible for aspiring civil servants at that time. Lu's early
education was based on the Confucian classics, in which
he studied poetry, history, and philosophy, but later reected were neither useful nor interesting to him. Instead,
he enjoyed folk stories and traditions: local operas, the
mythological creatures and stories in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and the ghost stories told to him by an illiterate servant who raised him, Ah Chang (who he called
Mother Chang).* [3] Zhou's mother was a member of
the same gentry class as Lu Xun's father, from a slightly
smaller town in the countryside (Anqiaotou, Zhejiang).
Because formal education was not considered socially appropriate for girls, she did not receive any, but she still
taught herself how to read and write. The surnameLu
in Zhou Shouren's pen name, Lu Xun, was the same
as his mother's surname, Lu.* [4]

Lu Xun was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. As was common in pre-modern China, Lu Xun had many names. His
birth name wasZhou Zhangshou. His courtesy name
was Yushan, but he later changed his courtesy name
to Yucai. In 1898, before he went to the Jiangnan
Naval Academy, he took the given nameShuren, which

By the time Lu was born, his family's prosperity had already been declining. His father, Zhou Boyi, had been
successful at passing the lowest, county-level imperial examinations (the route to wealth and social success in imperial China), but was unsuccessful in writing the more
competitive provincial-level examinations. In 1893 Zhou
1

2
Boyi was discovered attempting to bribe an examination
ocial. Lu Xun's grandfather was implicated, and was
arrested and sentenced to beheading for his son's crime.
The sentence was later commuted, and he was imprisoned in Hangzhou instead. After the aair Zhou Boyi
was stripped of his position in the government and forbidden to write the civil service examinations ever again.* [3]
The Zhou family prevented Lu's grandfather from being
executed only through regular, expensive bribes to authorities, until he was nally released in 1901.* [5]
After the family's attempt at bribery was discovered,
Zhou Boyi engaged in heavy drinking and opium use, and
his health declined. Local Chinese doctors attempted to
cure him through a series of expensive prescriptions of
traditional Chinese cures, including monogamous crickets, sugar cane that had survived frost three times, ink,
and the skin from a drum. Despite these expensive medical treatments, Zhou Boyi died of an asthma attack in
1896.* [5] He might have suered from dropsy.* [3]

1 BIOGRAPHY
family),* [5] and some of his relatives began to look down
on him. Lu attended the Jiangnan Naval Academy for half
a year, and left after it became clear that he would be assigned to work in an engine room, below deck, which he
considered degrading.* [6] He later wrote that he was dissatised with the quality of teaching at the academy.* [7]
After leaving the school, Lu sat for the lowest level of the
civil service exams, and nished 137th of 500. He intended to sit for the next-highest level, but became upset
when one of his younger brothers died, and abandoned
his plans.* [6]
Lu Xun transferred to another government-funded
school, theSchool of Mines and Railways, and graduated from that school in 1902. The school was Lu's rst
exposure to Western literature, philosophy, history, and
science, and he studied English and German intensely.
Some of the inuential authors that he read during that
period include T. H. Huxley, John Stuart Mill, Yan Fu,
and Liang Qichao. His later social philosophy may have
been inuenced by several novels about social conict that
he read during the period, including Ivanhoe and Uncle
Tom's Cabin.* [6]
He did very well at the school with relatively little eort,
and occasionally experienced racism directed at him from
resident Manchu bannermen. The racism he experienced
may have inuenced his later sense of Han Chinese nationalism.* [6] After graduating Lu Xun planned to become a Western doctor.* [7]

In 1902, Lu Xun left for Japan on a Qing government

scholarship to pursue an education in Western medicine.
After arriving in Japan he attended theKobun Institute
, a preparatory language school for Chinese students attending Japanese universities. After encouragement from
a classmate, he cut o his queue (which all Han Chinese
were legally forced to wear in China) and practice some
jujutsu in his free time. He had an ambiguous attitude
towards Chinese revolutionary politics during the period,
and it is not clear whether he joined any of the revolutionary parties (such as the Tongmenghui) that were popular among Chinese expatriates in Japan at that time. He
experienced anti-Chinese racism, but was simultaneously
disgusted with the behaviour of some Chinese who were
Lu Xun in his youth
living in Japan. His earliest surviving essays, written in
Classical Chinese, were published while he was attending this school, and he published his rst Chinese translations of famous and inuential Western novels, including
1.2 Education
Jules Verne's Journey to the Moon and Twenty Thousand
*
Lu Xun half-heartedly participated in one civil service Leagues under the Sea. [8]
examination, in 1899, but then abandoned pursuing a tra- In 1904, Lu began studying at the Sendai Medical
ditional Confucian education or career.* [5] He intended Academy, in northern Honshu, but remained there for
to study at a prestigious school, the Seeking Arma- less than two years. He generally found his studies at the
tion Academy, in Hangzhou, but was forced by his fam- school tedious and dicult, partially due to his imperfect
ily's poverty to study at a tuition-free military school, the Japanese. While studying in Sendai he befriended one
Jiangnan Naval Academy, in Nanjing, instead.* [6] As a of his professors, Fujino Genkur (), who
consequence of Lu's decision to attend a military school helped him prepare class notes. Because of their friendspecializing in Western education, his mother wept, he ship Lu was accused by his classmates of receiving special
was instructed to change his name (to avoid disgracing his

1.3

Early career

assistance from Fujino.* [8] Lu later recalled his mentor

respectfully and aectionately in an essay, Mr Fujino
, published in Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk. This essay, today one of his most publicly renowned works, is
in the middle school literature curriculum in China. Fujino later repaid Lu's respect in an obituary essay on his
death, in 1937. The Sendai Medical Academy is now the
medical school of Tohoku University.

An execution scene, possibly viewed by Lu Xun in 1905.

3
the Chinese embassy would not cancel his scholarship and
registered at the local German Institute, but was not required to take classes there. He began to read Nietzsche,
and wrote a number of essays in the period that were inuenced by his philosophy.* [8]
In June 1906, Lu's mother heard a rumor that he had married a Japanese girl and had a child with her, and feigned
illness as a pretext to ask Lu to return home, where she
would then force him to take part in an arranged marriage she had agreed to several years before.* [9] The girl,
Zhu An, had little in common with Lu, was illiterate,
and had bound feet.* [10] Lu Xun married her, but they
never had a romantic relationship. Despite that fact, Lu
took care of her material needs for the rest of his life.* [8]
Several days after the ceremony Lu sailed back to Japan
with his younger brother, Zuoren, and left behind his new
wife.* [8]
After returning to Japan he took informal classes in literature and history, published several essays in studentrun journals,* [11] and in 1907 he briey took Russian
lessons. He attempted to found a literary journal with
his brother, New Life, but before its rst publication its
other writers and its nancial backers all abandoned the
project, and it failed. In 1909 Lu published a translation
of Eastern European ction, Tales from Abroad, but the
book sold only 41 copies of the 1,500 copies that were
printed. The publication failed for many reasons: it was
sold only in Tokyo (which did not have a large Chinese
population) and a single silk shop in Shanghai; Chinese
readers may not have been interested in Eastern European culture; and, Lu wrote in Classical Chinese, which
was very dicult for ordinary people to read.* [8]

While Lu Xun was attending medical school, the RussoJapanese War (19041905) broke out. Part of the war
was fought on disputed Chinese land. While the war was
being fought it became common for lecturers to show
slides of pictures from the war to their students after their
classes had ended. After one of his biology classes Lu
was shown a scene in which a Japanese soldier was about
to behead a Chinese man who had allegedly spied for the
Russians, surrounded by Chinese who were apathetic to
the scene. In his preface to Nahan, the rst collection of
his short stories, Lu explained how viewing this scene in- 1.3
uenced him to quit studying Western medicine, and to
become a literary physician to what he perceived to be
China's spiritual problems instead:* [7]
At the time, I hadn't seen any of my fellow
Chinese in a long time, but one day some of
them showed up in a slide. One, with his
hands tied behind him, was in the middle of the
picture; the others were gathered around him.
Physically, they were as strong and healthy
as anyone could ask, but their expressions revealed all too clearly that spiritually they were
calloused and numb. According to the caption, the Chinese whose hands were bound had
been spying on the Japanese military for the
Russians. He was about to be decapitated as a
'public example.' The other Chinese gathered
around him had come to enjoy the spectacle.
*
[8]

Early career

1918 printed edition of A Madman's Diary, collection of the

Beijing Lu Xun Museum.

Lu intended to study in Germany in 1909, but did not have

sucient funds, and was forced to return home. Between
19091911 he held a number of brief teaching positions
In March 1906, Lu Xun abruptly and secretly terminated at local colleges and secondary schools that he felt were
his pursuit of the degree and left college. At the time unsatisfying, partly to support his brother Zuoren's studhe told no one. After arriving in Tokyo he made sure that ies in Japan.* [12]

4
Lu spent these years in traditional Chinese literary pursuits: collecting old books, researching pre-modern Chinese ction, reconstructing ancient tombstone inscriptions,* [13] and compiling the history of his native town,
Shaoxing. He explained to an old friend that his activities
were notscholarship, buta substitute for 'wine and
women'". In his personal letters he expressed disappointment about his own failure, China's political situation,
and his family's continuing impoverishment. In 1911
he returned to Japan to retrieve his brother, Zuoren, so
that Zuoren could help with the family nances. Zuoren
wanted to remain in Japan to study French, but Lu wrote
that French... does not ll stomachs.He encouraged
another brother, Jianren, to become a botanist.* [12] He
began to drink heavily, a habit he continued for the rest
of his life. In 1911 he wrote his rst short story, Nostalgia, but he was so disappointed with it that he threw it
away. Zuoren saved it, and had it successfully published
two years later under his own name.* [13]

1 BIOGRAPHY
causing them inconsolable agony before they die?" Qian
replied that it was, because if the sleepers were awoken,
there was still hope hope that the iron house may one
day be destroyed. Shortly afterwards, in 1918 Lu wrote
the rst short story published in his name, Diary of a
Madman, for the magazine.* [15]
After the publication of Diary of a Madman, the story
was praised for its anti-traditionalism, its synthesis of
Chinese and foreign conventions and ideas, and its skillful narration, and Lu himself was recognized as one of
the leading writers of the New Culture Movement.* [16]
Lu continued writing for the magazine, and produced his
most famous stories for New Youth between 19171921.
These stories were collected and re-published in Nahan
("Outcry") in 1923.* [17]
In 1919, Lu moved his family from Shaoxing to a
large compound in Beijing,* [12] where he lived with
his mother, his two brothers, and their Japanese wives.
This living arrangement lasted until 1923, when Lu had a
falling out with his brother, Zuoren, after which Zuoren
moved with his wife and mother to a separate house. Neither Lu nor Zuoren ever publicly explained the reason for
their disagreement, but Zuoren's wife later accused Lu of
making sexual advances towards her.* [18] Some writers
have speculated that their relationship may have worsened
as a result of issues related to money, that Lu walked in
on Zuoren's wife bathing, or that Lu had an inappropriate
relationshipwith Zuoren's wife in Japan that Zuoren
later discovered. After the falling out with Zuoren, Lu
became depressed.* [17]

In February 1912, shortly after the Xinhai Revolution

that ended the Qing dynasty and nominally founded the
Republic of China, Lu gained a position at the national
Ministry of Education. He was hired in Nanjing, but
then moved with the ministry to Beijing, where he lived
from 19121926.* [14] At rst, his work consisted almost
completely of copying books, but he was later appointed
Section Head of the Social Education Division, and eventually to the position of Assistant Secretary. Two of his
major accomplishments in oce were the renovation and
expansion of the Beijing Library, the establishment of the
Natural History Museum, and the establishment of the
In 1920, Lu began to lecture part-time at several colleges,
Library of Popular Literature.* [12]
including Peking University, Beijing Normal University,
Together with Qian Daosun and Xu Shoushang he de- and Beijing Womens College, where he taught tradisigned the Twelve Symbols national emblem in 1912.
tional ction and literary theory. His lecture notes were
Between 19121917 he was a member of an ineectual later collected and published as a A Brief History of Chicensorship committee, informally studied Buddhist su- nese Fiction. He was able to work part-time because he
tras, lectured on ne arts, wrote and self-published a book only worked at the Education Ministry three days a week
on the history of Shaoxing, and edited and self-published for three hours a day. In 1923 he lost his front teeth in
a collection of Tang and Song dynasty folk stories.* [12] a rickshaw accident, and in 1924 he developed the rst
He collected and self-published an authoritative book on symptoms of tuberculosis. In 1925 he founded a journal,
the work of an ancient poet, Ji Kang, and wrote a A Brief Wilderness, and established the Weiming Societyin
History of Chinese Fiction, a work which, because tradi- order to support young writers and encourage the transtional scholars had not valued ction, had little precedent lation of foreign literature into Chinese.* [17]
in China.* [14] After Yuan Shikai declared himself the In 1925, Lu began what may have been his rst meaningEmperor of China in 1915, Lu was briey forced to parful romantic relationship, with one of his students at the
ticipate in rituals honoring Confucius, which he ridiculed Beijing Women's College, Xu Guangping.* [19] In March
in his diaries.* [12]
1926 there was a mass student protest against the warIn 1917, an old friend of Lu's, Qian Xuantong, invited lord Feng Yuxiang's collaboration with the Japanese. The
Lu to write for a radical populist literary magazine that protests degenerated into a massacre, in which two of Lu's
had recently been founded by Chen Duxiu, New Youth. students from Beijing Women's College were killed. Lu's
At rst Lu was skeptical that his writing could serve any public support for the protesters forced him to ee from
social purpose, and told Qian: Imagine an iron house: the local authorities. Later in 1926, when the warlord
without windows or doors, utterly indestructible, and full troops of Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu took over Beijing,
of sound sleepers all about to suocate to death. Let Lu left northern China and ed to Xiamen.* [17]
them die in their sleep, and they will feel nothing. Is it After arriving in Xiamen, later in 1926, Lu began a teachright to cry out, to rouse the light sleepers among them, ing position at Xiamen University, but he was disap-

1.4

Late career

pointed by the petty disagreements and unfriendliness of

the university's faculty. During the short time he lived in
Xiamen, Lu wrote his last collection of ction, Old Tales
Retold (which was not published until several years later),
and most of his autobiography, published as Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk. He also published a collection of
prose poetry, Wild Grass.* [17]
In January 1927, he and Xu moved to Guangzhou, where
he was hired as the head of the Zhongshan University
Chinese literature department. His rst act in his position
was to hire Xu as hispersonal assistant, and to hire one
of his old classmates from Japan, Xu Shoushang, as a lecturer. While in Guangzhou, he edited numerous poems
and books for publication, and served as a guest lecturer
at Whampoa Academy. He made contacts within the
Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party through
his students. After the Shanghai massacre in April 1927,
he attempted to secure the release of several students
through the university, but failed. His failure to save his
students led him to resign from his position at the university, and he left for the foreign settlement of Shanghai in
September 1927. By the time he left Guangzhou, he was
one of the most famous intellectuals in China.* [20]
In 1927 Lu was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature, for the short story The True Story of Ah Q, despite a poor English translation and annotations that were
nearly double the size of the text.* [21] Lu rejected the
Lu Xun with Xu Guangping and their son, Haiying
possibility of accepting the nomination. Later, he renounced writing ction or poetry in response to China's
deteriorating political situation and his own poor emotional state, and restricted himself to writing argumenta- shortly after he moved to Shanghai other leftist writers
accused him of being an evil feudal remnant, the
tive essays.* [22]
best spokesman of the bourgeoisie, and a counterrevolutionary split personality. The CCP may have secretly initiated these attacks, but later called them o.
1.4 Late career
The League continued in various forms until 1936, when
the constant disputes among its members led the CCP to
In 1929, he visited his dying mother, and reported that she
*
*
was pleased at the news of Guangping's pregnancy. [20] dissolve it. [20]
Xu Guangping gave birth to a son, Haiying, on September
27, 1929. She was in labor with the baby for 27 hours.
The child's name meant simply Shanghai infant. His
parents chose the name thinking that he could change it
himself later, but he never did so. Haiying was Lu Xun's
only child.* [23]
After moving to Shanghai, Lu rejected all regular teaching positions (though he sometimes gave guest lectures
at dierent campuses), and for the rst time was able
to make a living solely as a professional writer, with a
monthly income of roughly 500 yuan. He was also appointed by the a government as a specially appointed
writerby the national Ministry of Higher Education,
which brought him an additional 300 yuan/month. He
began to study and identify with Marxist political theory, made contact with local Communist Party members,
and became involved in literary disputes with other leftist writers in the city. In 1930 Lu became one of the
co-founders of the League of Left-Wing Writers, but

In January 1931, the Kuomintang passed new, stricter

censorship laws, allowing for writers producing literature
deemedendangering the publicordisturbing public
orderto be imprisoned for life or executed. Later that
month he went into hiding. In early February, less than
a month later, the Kuomintang executed twenty-four local writers (including ve that belonged to the League)
that they had arrested under this law. After the execution of the 24 Longhua Martyrs* [20] (in addition to
other students, friends, and associates),* [24] Lu's political views became distinctly anti-Kuomintang. In 1933
Lu met Edgar Snow. Snow asked Lu if there were any
Ah Q's left in China. Lu responded, It's worse now.
Now it's Ah Q's who are running the country.* [20]
Although he had renounced writing ction years before,
in 1934 he published his last collection of short stories,
Old Tales Retold.* [20] In 1935 he sent a telegram to Communist forces in Shaanxi congratulating them on the recent completion of their Long March. The Communist

LEGACY

Party requested that he write a novel about the communist revolution set in rural China, but he declined, citing his lack of background and understanding of the subject.* [25]

Lu Xun's tomb, in Shanghai.

of uid in the lungs through a puncture. From June to August, he was again sick, and his weight dropped to only 83
pounds. He recovered somewhat, and wrote two essays in
the fall reecting on mortality. These includedDeath,
andThis Too Is Life.* [26] A month before his death,
he wrote: Hold the funeral quickly... do not stage any
memorial services. Forget about me, and care about your
own life you're a fool if you don't.Regarding his son,
he wrote: On no account let him become a good-fornothing writer or artist.* [27]

Lu Xun 11 days before his death. Photograph by Sha Fei.

At 3:30am on the morning of October 18, the author

woke with great diculty breathing. Dr. Sudo, his physician, was summoned, and Lu Xun took injections to relieve the pain. His wife was with him throughout that
night, but Lu Xun was found without a pulse at 5:11am
the next morning, October 19.* [26] Lu's remains were interred in a mausoleum within Lu Xun Park in Shanghai.
Mao Zedong later made the calligraphic inscription above
his tomb. He was survived by his son, Zhou Haiying.
He was posthumously made a member of the Communist
Party for his contributions to the May Fourth Movement.

2 Legacy

Lu Xun's casket.

Lu sent a telegram congratulating the CCP on their completion of the Long March in February 1936.* [20] He
was a heavy smoker, which may have contributed to the
deterioration of his health throughout the year. By 1936
he had developed chronic tuberculosis, and in March of
that year he was stricken with bronchitic asthma and a
fever. The treatment for this involved draining 300 grams Bust of Lu Xun in Kiskrs, Hungary

7
Shortly after Lu Xun's death, Mao Zedong called him
the saint of modern China,but used his legacy selectively to promote his own political goals. In 1942 he
quoted Lu out of context to tell his audience to bea willing oxlike Lu Xun was, but told writers and artists who
believed in freedom of expression that, because Communist areas were already free, they did not need to be
like Lu Xun. After the People's Republic of China was
established in 1949, Communist Party literary theorists
portrayed his work as orthodox examples of communist
literature, yet every one of Lu's close disciples from the
1930s was purged. Mao admitted that, had Lu survived
until the 1950s, he wouldeither have gone silent or gone
to prison.* [28]
Party leaders depicted him as drawing the blueprint of
the communist futureand Mao Zedong dened him as
the chief commander of China's Cultural Revolution,
although Lu did not join the party. During the 1920s and
1930s Lu Xun and his contemporaries often met informally for freewheeling intellectual discussions, but after
the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 the Party
sought more control over intellectual life in China, and
this type of intellectual independence was suppressed, often violently. Finally, Lu Xun's satirical and ironic writing style itself was discouraged, ridiculed, then as often as
possible destroyed. Mao wrote that the style of the essay should not simply be like Lu Xun's. [In a Communist
society] we can shout at the top of our voices and have no
need for veiled and round-about expressions, which are
hard for the people to understand. During the Cultural
Revolution, the Communist Party both hailed Lu Xun
as one of the fathers of communism in China, yet ironically suppressed the very intellectual culture and style
of writing that he represented. Some of his essays and
writings are now part of the primary school and middle
school compulsory curriculum in China,* [29] but in 2007
some of his bleaker works were removed from school
textbooks. Julia Lovell, who has translated Lu Xun's writing, speculated that perhaps also it was an attempt to
discourage the youth of today from Lu Xun's inconveniently fault-nding habits.* [30]
Lu completed volumes of translations, notably from Russian. He particularly admired Nikolai Gogol and made a
translation of Dead Souls. His own rst story's title,Diary of a Madman, was inspired by a work of Gogol of the
same name. As a left-wing writer, Lu played an important
role in the development of modern Chinese literature.
His books were and remain highly inuential and popular today, both in China and internationally. Lu Xun's
works appear in high school textbooks in both China and
Japan. He is known to Japanese by the name Rojin (
in Katakana or in Kanji).
Because of his leftist political involvement and of the role
his works played in the subsequent history of the People's Republic of China, Lu Xun's works were banned in
Taiwan until the late 1980s. He was among the early supporters of the Esperanto movement in China.

Lu Xun has been described by Nobel laureate Kenzabur

e as The greatest writer Asia produced in the twentieth century.* [31] Lu Xun's importance to modern Chinese literature lies in the fact that he contributed significantly to nearly every modern literary medium during
his lifetime. He wrote in a clear lucid style which was to
inuence many generations, in stories, prose poems and
essays. Lu Xun's two short story collections, Nahan (A
Call to Arms or Outcry) and Panghuang (Wandering), are
often taken to mark the beginning of modern Chinese
literature, and are established classics. Lu Xun's translations were important in a time when Western literature
was seldom read, and his literary criticisms remain acute
and persuasively argued.
The work of Lu Xun has also received attention outside
of China. In 1986, Fredric Jameson cited "A Madman's
Diary" as the supreme exampleof the national allegoryform that all Third World literature takes.* [32]
Gloria Davies compares Lu Xun to Nietzsche, saying that
both were trapped in the construction of a modernity
which is fundamentally problematic.* [33] According to
Leonardo Vittorio Arena, Lu Xun cultivates an ambiguous standpoint towards Nietzsche, a mixture of attraction
and repulsion, the latter because of Nietzsche's excesses
in style and content.* [34]
A major literature prize in China, the Lu Xun Literary Prize is named after him. Asteroid (233547)
2007 JR27 was named after him.
A crater on Mercury is named after him.
The artist Shi Lu adopted the second half of his pen
name due to his admiration for Lu Xun.* [35]

3 Style and thought

Lu Xun was a versatile writer. He wrote using both traditional Chinese conventions and 19th century European
literary forms. His style has been described in equally
broad terms, conveying bothsympathetic engagement
andironic detachmentat dierent moments.* [36] His
essays are often very incisive in his societal commentary,
and in his stories his mastery of the vernacular language
and tone make some of his literary works (likeThe True
Story of Ah Q) hard to convey through translation. In
them, he frequently treads a ne line between criticizing
the follies of his characters and sympathizing with those
very follies. Lu Xun was a master of irony and satire (as
can been seen inThe True Story of Ah Q) and yet can
write impressively direct with simple engagement (My
Old Home, A Little Incident).
Lu Xun is typically regarded by Mao Zedong as the most
inuential Chinese writer who was associated with the
May Fourth Movement. He produced harsh criticism of
social problems in China, particularly in his analysis of

4 WORKS

the Chinese national character. He was sometimes

called a champion of common humanity.
Lu Xun felt that the 1911 Xinhai Revolution had been
a failure. In 1925 he opined, I feel the so-called Republic of China has ceased to exist. I feel that, before
the revolution, I was a slave, but shortly after the revolution, I have been cheated by slaves and have become their
slave.He even recommended that his readers heed the
critique of Chinese culture in Chinese Characteristics, by
the missionary writer Arthur Smith. His disillusionment
with politics led him to conclude in 1927 that revolutionary literaturealone could not bring about radical
change. Rather, revolutionary menneeded to lead a
revolution using force.* [37] In the end, he experienced
profound disappointment with the new Nationalist government, which he viewed as ineective and even harmful to China.

"Village Opera" (1922)

from"Wandering

fromOld Tales Retold(1935)

Works

4.1

Lectures

What Happens After Nora Leaves Home?" A Talk

given at the Beijing Women's Normal College, December 26, 1923. Ding Ling and Lu Hsun, The
Power of Weakness. The Feminist Press (2007) 84
93.
(Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilue; lectures
given 192324) translated as A Brief History of Chinese Fiction Foreign languages Press, 1959). Translated by G. Yang and H.-y. Yang. various reprints.

4.2

Mending Heaven (1935)

The Flight to the Moon (1926)
Curbing the Flood (1935)
Gathering Vetch (1935)
Forging the Swords (1926)
Going out (1935) = Leaving the Pass
Opposing Aggression (1934)
Resurrect the Dead (1935)

4.3 Essays
My Views on Chastity (1918)
What is Required to be a
Father Today (1919)
Knowledge is a Crime (1919)

Stories

, Nostalgiawas his rst short story, it appeared in 1909.

from

"New Year Sacrice" (1924)

In the Drinking House (1924)
A Happy Family (1924)
Soap (1924)
The Eternal Flame (1924)
Public Exhibition (1925)
Old Mr. Gao (1925)
The Misanthrope (1925)
Sadness
Brothers
Divorce (1925)

Call to Arms (1922)

My Moustache (1924)

Thoughts Before the Mirror (1925)

"
(1925)

" On Deferring Fair Play

"A Madman's Diary" (1918)

"Kong Yiji" (1919)
"Medicine" (1919)
"Tomorrow" (1920)
"An Incident" (1920)
The Story of Hair(1920)
"Storm in a Teacup" (1920)

"Hometown" (1921)

Q "The True Story of Ah Q" (1921)

The Double Fifth Festival(1922)
The White Light(1922)
The Rabbits and the Cat(1922)
The Comedy of the Ducks(1922)

4.4 Collections
Call to Arms (Na han) (1923)
Wandering (Pang huang) (1925)
A Brief History of Chinese Fiction (Zhongguo xiaoshuo shile) (1925) a substantial study of pre-modern Chinese literature
Old Tales Retold (Gu shi xin bian)
(1935)
Wild Grass (Ye cao) 1927
Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk (Zhao
hua xi shi)1932a collection of essays about his
youth

6.1

4.5

Citations

Translations into English

Lu Xun's works became known to English readers as early

as 1926 with the publication in Shanghai of The True
Story of Ah Q, translated by George Kin Leung, and more
widely beginning in 1936 with an anthology edited by
Edgar Snow and Nym Wales Living China, Modern Chinese Short Stories, in which Part One included seven of
Lu Xun's stories and a short biography based on Snow's
talks with Lu Xun.* [38] However, there was not a complete translation of the ction until the four volume set of
his writings, which included Selected Stories of Lu Hsun
translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. Another
full selection was William A. Lyell. Diary of a Madman
and Other Stories. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,
1990). In 2009, Penguin Classics published a complete
translation by Julia Lovell of his ction, The Real Story
of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction
of Lu Xun which the scholar Jerey Wasserstrom* [39]
said could be considered the most signicant Penguin
Classic ever published.* [40]
The Lyrical Lu Xun: a Study of his Classical-style Verse
a book by Jon Eugene von Kowallis (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996) includes a complete introduction to Lu Xun's poetry in the classical style, with
Chinese characters, literal and verse translations, and a
biographical introduction which summarizes his life in
relation to his poetry.

[8] Denton JAPAN: 190209

[9] Kowallis 22
[10] Veg
[11] Kowallis 2023
[12] Denton HOME AGAIN
[13] Lovell 2009 xviii
[14] Kowallis 26
[15] Lovell 2009 xx
[16] Lovell 2009 xxi
[17] Denton MAY FOURTH: 191726
[18] Lovell 2009 xxv
[19] Lovell 2009 xxvi
[20] Denton MOVE TO THE LEFT: 19271936
[21] Kowallis 3
[22] Lovell 2006 84
[23] Lu & Xu 64
[24] Lovell 2009 xxviii
[25] Lovell 2009 xxx

Capturing Chinese: Short Stories from Lu Xun's Nahan, [26] Jenner

edited by Kevin Nadolny, includes short summaries to Lu [27] Lovell xxxii
Xun's stories, the Chinese text in simplied characters,
[28] Lovell 2009 xxixxxiii
pinyin, and denitions for dicult vocabulary.* [41]

See also
Zhou Zuoren (brother)
Zhou Jianren (brother)

6
6.1

References
Citations

[1] Zhou Zuoren.

(Lu Xun's youth).
(Hebei Education Press). ISBN 7-54344391-0.
[2] Kowallis 10
[3] Denton Early Life
[4] Kowallis 1112
[5] Lovell 2009 xv
[6] Denton WESTERN EDUCATION: 18981902
[7] Lovell 2009 xvi

[29] Goldman, Merle (September 1982).

The Political Use of Lu Xun.
The China Quarterly.
Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School
of Oriental and African Studies.
91: 446447.
doi:10.1017/S0305741000000655. JSTOR 653366.
[30] Lovell, Julia (2010-06-12).
Guardian.

China's conscience.

[31] Jon Kowallis (University of Melbourne) (1996). Interpreting Lu Xun. Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles,
Reviews (CLEAR). 18: 153164. doi:10.2307/495630.
[32] Jameson, Fredric (Autumn 1986). Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism. Social Text.
Duke University Press. 15 (15): 6588. JSTOR 466493.
[33] Davies, Gloria (July 1992). Chinese Literary Studies
and Post-Structuralist Positions: What Next?". The Australian Journal of Chinese Aairs. Contemporary China
Center, Australian National University. 28 (28): 6786.
doi:10.2307/2950055. JSTOR 2950055.
[34] Arena, Leonardo Vittorio (2012). Nietzsche in China in
the XXth Century. ebook.
[35] King, Richard (2010). Art in Turmoil: The Chinese Cultural Revolution, 196676. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. p. 62. ISBN 9888028642.

10

EXTERNAL LINKS

[36] Hesford, Walter (April 1992). Overt Appropriation.

College English. National Council of Teachers of English.
54 (4): 406417. doi:10.2307/377832. JSTOR 377832.

Lyell, William A. Lu Hsn's Vision of Reality.

Berkeley: University of California Press. 1976.
ISBN 0520029402.

[37] Lee, Leo Ou-Fan (July 1976). Literature on the Eve of

Revolution: Reections on Lu Xun's Leftist Years, 1927
1936. Modern China. Sage Publications, Inc. 2 (3):
277326. doi:10.1177/009770047600200302. JSTOR
189028.; Lydia Liu,Translating National Character: Lu
Xun and Arthur Smith,Ch 2, Translingual Practice:
Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity:
China 19001937 (Stanford 1995).

Pollard, David E. The True Story of Lu Xun. Hong

Kong: Chinese University Press. 2002. ISBN
9629960605.

[38] (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1937. Reprinted:

Westport, CT: Hyperion Press, 1973.
ISBN
088355092X.
[39] Jerey Wasserstrom, UC Irvine, Department of History
[40] China's Orwell, Jerey Wasserstrom, TIME, Dec. 07,
2009
[41] Capturing Chinese: "Short Stories from Lu Xun
s Nahan"

6.2

Sources

Arena, Leonardo Vittorio. Nietzsche in China in the

XXth Century. 2012.

Sze, Arthur (Ed.) Chinese Writers on Writing.

Arthur Sze. (Trinity University Press. 2010.
Veg, Sebastian. David Pollard, The True Story
of Lu Xun. China Perspectives. 51. January
February 2004. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
Kaldis, Nicholas A. The Chinese Prose Poem: A
Study of Lu Xun's Wild Grass (Yecao). Cambria
Press. 2014. ISBN 9781604978636.

7 External links
Special Issue about Lu Xun (Japanese) at
web.bureau.tohoku.ac.jp
Lu Xun bibliography at u.osu.edu/mclc/

Davies, Goria. Lu Xun's Revolution: Writing in a

Time of Violence. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2013. ISBN 9780674072640.

Pioneer of Modern Chinese Literature at www.

coldbacon.com

Denton, Kirk (2002), Lu Xun Biography, MCLC

Resource Center Retrieved July 24, 2014.

Selected works by Lu Xun (Chinese (Taiwan))

Jenner, W.J.F.Lu Xun's Last Days and after. The

China Quarterly. 91. (September 1982). 424445.
Kowallis, Jon. The Lyrical Lu Xun. United States of
America: University of Hawai'i Press. 1996. ISBN
0-8248-1511-4
Lee, Leo Ou-Fan. Lu Xun and His Legacy. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1985. ISBN
0520051580.

Lu Xun webpage (Chinese)

A Brief Biography of Lu Xun with Many Pictures

Lu Xun and Japan(Japanese)
Kong Yi Ji, Lu Hsun translated by Sparkling English
Reference Archive: Lu Xun (Lu Hsun) at www.
marxists.org
Selected Stories, Lu Hsun (19181926) at www.
coldbacon.com

Lee, Leo Ou-Fan. Voices from the Iron House: A

Study of Lu Xun. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press. 1987. ISBN 0253362636.

An Outsider's Chats about Written Language, a long

essay by Lu Xun on the diculties of Chinese characters

Lovell, Julia. The Politics of Cultural Capital:

China's Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature. United
States of America: University of Hawai'i Press.
2006. ISBN 0-8248-2962-X

Works by Xun Lu at Project Gutenberg

Lovell, Julia.Introduction. In Lu Xun: The Real

story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China, The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun. England: Penguin Classics.
2009. ISBN 978-0-140-45548-9.
Lu Xun and Xu Guangping. Love-letters and Privacy
in Modern China: The Intimate Lives of Lu Xun and
Xu Guangping. Ed. McDougall, Bonnie S. Oxford
University Press. 2002.

Works by or about Lu Xun at Internet Archive

Works by Lu Xun at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

11

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Lu Xun Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Xun?oldid=730354603 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Derek Ross, Eloquence, Mav, William
Avery, Formulax~enwiki, Olivier, Mgmei, Menchi, Jiang, N-true, WhisperToMe, Shizhao, Yas~enwiki, Jredmond, Lowellian, Yacht,
DHN, Gbog, Mushroom, Mandel, Davidcannon, Herr Klugbeisser, Aphaia, Spencer195, Gamaliel, Varlaam, Niteowlneils, Python eggs,
LiDaobing, Quadell, Wareware, ClockworkLunch, MarkSweep, DNewhall, Icairns, D6, MattKingston, CALR, Larrybob, Moilleadir,
Madler, Neonumbers, Rxc, Fisher001, Danaman5, Billfromhk, Woohookitty, CWH, Dauw~enwiki, Grika, Hakkon, SDC, Gisling, IIBewegung, Dpr, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Gryndor, Plastictv, MChew, Petrusbarbygere, Windchaser, AdnanSa, Le Anh-Huy, Chobot, Benlisquare,
334a, Bgwhite, EvilZak, EamonnPKeane, YurikBot, RobotE, Epolk, Badagnani, RL0919, Nate1481, Nlu, Open2universe, Floydwilde,
Katieh5584, Shakura~enwiki, CarmelitaCharm, Neier, SmackBot, Lds, Cessator, Kintetsubualo, Gilliam, Ohnoitsjamie, TheLeopard,
Colonies Chris, LeoNomis, Chymicus, Goodnightmush, Jose77, Norm mit, Guss2, Bertport, Berox, Geo8rge, Cydebot, Aristophanes68,
Lu Xun, Bensmith53, Nishidani, TonyTheTiger, RevolverOcelotX, Heleptolis, Escarbot, WinBot, QuiteUnusual, Uchohan, Ming Hua,
JAnDbot, Skomorokh, Dsp13, Joshua, Magioladitis, Ryansonger, Goiobre, Johnpacklambert, Johnboytx3, Rettig, TomS TDotO, Lemur12,
Gyurika, Tepid Waters, Balthazarduju, Spaceower, KylieTastic, Steel1943, Idioma-bot, VolkovBot, TXiKiBoT, Gwib, Chiba007~enwiki,
Gzdavidwong, Steven J. Anderson, Bentley4, SieBot, Mycomp, Gerakibot, Eagleal, Flyer22 Reborn, AlanWatson841, Clupke, Lightmouse,
Polbot, Dcattell, Hans yulun lai, RS1900, Sevilledade, Jonamendsall, Niceguyedc, Jeanenawhitney, Alexbot, MacedonianBoy, Arjayay,
Dsmurat, YXN, Sanada Yuki-kun, Olybrius, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Renzvidal13, DaughterofSun, Ufopedia, Renella451, Download,
LaaknorBot, AndersBot, SpBot, LinkFA-Bot, Newfraferz87, Lightbot, Zorrobot, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Amirobot, DORC, Plasticbot, Magog the Ogre, AnomieBOT, LlywelynII, ChristopheS, Wandering Courier, Citation bot, Ferox Seneca, Peter Cat and Fish,
ArthurBot, HenrietteDonner, , MauritsBot, Xqbot, Luuvabot, , Timmyshin, I.charlie.cl, Teamjenn, Julle, Groovenstein, GrouchoBot, Shi Gelei, KJ, Hhoonneeyy, GhalyBot, White whirlwind, Isatcn, Epp, Cekli829, Green Cardamom, FrescoBot, LucienBOT, Citation bot 1, Haaqfun, DefaultsortBot, K3vinwang, Wikitanvir, MikeGurlitz, Just a guy from the KP, Trevelyan22, Bennych78,
TobeBot, Zanhe, Digimon Adventure, ZhBot, Vatsan34, Jfmantis, RjwilmsiBot, TjBot, Tomchen1989, Acallon, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Look2See1, Flybmr, Reynmax, Homunculus, ZroBot, Erianna, Labnoor, ChuispastonBot, Pongsak ksm, ClueBot NG, Jnorton7558,
Siubhn McGunn, Sestagodono, Shuijiashaojun, Mark Yaima, Helpful Pixie Bot, D.s.ronis, Bigbird4prez, CitationCleanerBot, Cluegoo,
WikiHannibal, Knadolny, BattyBot, Timothy Gu, Dexbot, Mogism, Eakopskvm, VIAFbot, Dolemite75, Rajmaan, Jinxiang Mao, WuhanUnixx, EvergreenFir, Finnusertop, Fred.bloom, Baudelaire Serene, Thng L..Q., Monkbot, JambhalaKalasha, Happymonsoonday1, Nan
W King, Lululu709394, ColonialGrid, Lulu Dew, , KasparBot, Mr Abc Daire, OyvaAvoy, Soaggrieved, , Robot psychiatrist,
Motivao and Anonymous: 148

8.2

Images

File:A_Madman'{}s_Diary_-_Lu_Xun.JPG Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/A_Madman%27s_
Diary_-_Lu_Xun.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Shizhao
File:Book_collection.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Book_collection.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Books-aj.svg_aj_ashton_01.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Books-aj.svg_aj_ashton_01.svg
License: CC0 Contributors: https://openclipart.org/detail/105859/booksajsvg-aj-ashton-01 Original artist: AJ on openclipart.org
File:China_dragon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/China_dragon.svg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
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File:LuXun1930.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/LuXun1930.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:LuXun_-_youth.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/LuXun_-_youth.jpg License: ? Contributors:
Source: ChinaOnTV Original artist: ?
File:Lu_Xun_1936.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Lu_Xun_1936.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://fotomen.cn/2005/08/ji-nian-sha-fei/ Original artist: Sha Fei
File:Lu_Xun_1_with_Xu_Guanping_and_Haiying.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Lu_Xun_1_
with_Xu_Guanping_and_Haiying.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/bios/lxbio.htm Original artist:
Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://
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org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050' data-le-height='590'
/></a>
File:Lu_Xun_3_beheading.jpg
Source:
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License:
Public domain Contributors:
https://coursewikis.fas.harvard.edu/aiu18/File:Beheading.jpg Original artist:
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href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img
alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https:
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png'
width='20'
height='11'
srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png
1.5x,
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data-le-height='590' /></a>
File:Lu_Xun_Kiskrs.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Lu_Xun_Kisk%C5%91r%C3%B6s.JPG
License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Csandy

12

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

File:Move_Lu_Xun'{}s_casket.jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Move_Lu_Xun%
27s_casket.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors:
http://www.tieku.org/196978/16.html Original artist:
Unknown<a
href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img
alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png'
width='20'
height='11'
srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png
1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050'
data-le-height='590' /></a>
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File:Shanghai_-_Lu_Xun'{}s_tomb_2.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Shanghai_-_Lu_Xun%
27s_tomb_2.jpg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Peter Potrowl
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File: .jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/%E7%BB%8D%E5%85%B4%E9%B2%81%
E8%BF%85%E6%95%85%E5%B1%85.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Gisling

8.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0