Assignment for The Poets and Writers of the 20th Century

Last class I talked about the roles of women and men in society 18th century in China. In this class I choose to talk about the poets and writers of the 20th Century in China. In this class I can learn some Germanic culture, but I come from China, and I want to introduce some Chinese to my classmates.

From 1990 to 2000, China had many famous poets and writers. Today I want to introduce a great Chinese writer. His name was Lu Xun.

Lu Xun or Lu Hsün, was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936) is one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua (the vernacular) as well as classical Chinese. Lu Xun was a short story writer, editor, translator, critic, essayist and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the Chinese League of the Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.
Lu Xun's works exerted a very substantial influence after the May Fourth Movement to such a point that he was highly acclaimed by the Communist regime after 1949. Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's works. Though sympathetic to the ideals of the Left, Lu Xun never actually joined the Chinese Communist Party. Like many leaders of the May Fourth Movement, he was primarily a liberal.

Early Life:
Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, Lu Xun was first named Zhou Zhangshou, then Zhou Yucai, and finally himself took the name of Shùrén, figuratively, "to be an educated man".
 The Shaoxing Zhou family was very well-educated, and his paternal grandfather Zhou Fuqing held posts in the Hanlin Academy; Zhou's mother, née Lu, taught herself to read. However, after a case of bribery was exposed – in which Zhou Fuqing tried to procure an office for his son, Lu Xun's father, Zhou Boyi – the family fortunes declined. Zhou Fuqing was arrested and almost beheaded. Meanwhile, a young Zhou Shuren was brought up by an elderly servant Ah Chang, whom he called Chang Ma; one of Lu Xun's favorite childhood books was the Classic of mountains and seas.

Education:
Lu Xun was educated at Jiangnan Naval Academy (1898–99), and later transferred to the School of Mines and Railways at Jiangnan Military Academy. It was there Lu Xun had his first contacts with Western learning, especially the sciences; he studied some German and English, reading, amongst some translated books, Huxley's Evolution and Ethics, J. S. Mill's On Liberty, as well as novels like Ivanhoe and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
 On a Qing government scholarship, Lu Xun left for Japan in 1902. He first attended the Kobun Gakuin a preparatory language school for Chinese students attending Japanese universities. His earliest essays, written in Classical Chinese, date from here. Lu also practised some jujutsu.

In Sendai:
Lu Xun left for Sendai Medical Academy in 1904 and gained a minor reputation there as the first foreign student of the college. At the school he struck up a close student-mentor relationship with lecturer Fujino Genkurou; Lu Xun would recall his mentor respectfully and affectionately in an essay "Mr Fujino" in the memoirs in Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk. (Incidentally, Fujino would repay the respect with an obituary essay on Lu Xun's death, in 1937.) However, in March 1906, Lu Xun abruptly terminated his pursuit of the degree and left the college.

Lu Xun, in his well-known Preface to Nahan (Call to Arms), the first collection of his short stories, tells the story of why he gave up completing his medical education at Sendai. One day after class, one of his Japanese instructors screened a lantern slide documenting the imminent execution of an alleged Chinese spy during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). Lu Xun was shocked by the complete apathy of the Chinese onlookers; he decided it was more important to cure his compatriots' spiritual ills rather than their physical diseases.

Works:

Stories
•from 《呐喊》 Call to Arms (1922)◦狂人日记 "A Madman's Diary" (1918)
◦孔乙己 "Kong Yiji" (1919)
◦药 "Medicine" (1919)
◦明天 "Tomorrow" (1920)
◦一件小事 "An Incident" (1920)
◦头发的故事 "The Story of Hair" (1920)
◦风筝 "Kite" (1925)
◦风波 "Storm in a Teacup" (1920)
◦故乡 "Hometown" (1921)
◦阿Q正传 "The True Story of Ah Q" (1921)
◦端午节 "The Double Fifth Festival" (1922)
◦白光 "The White Light" (1922)
◦兔和猫 "The Rabbits and the Cat" (1922)
◦鸭的喜剧 "The Comedy of the Ducks" (1922)
◦社戏 "Village Opera" (1922)
◦"New Year Sacrifice" (1924)

•from《彷徨》"Wandering"◦祝福 Well Wishes(1924)
◦在酒楼上 In the Drinking House (1924)
◦幸福的家庭 A Happy Family (1924)
◦肥皂 Soap (1924)
◦长明灯 The Eternal Flame (1924)
◦示众 Public Exhibition (1925)
◦高老夫子 Old Mr. Gao (1925)
◦孤独者 Dictator (1925)
◦伤逝 Sadness
◦弟兄 Brothers
◦离婚 Divorce (1925)

•from《故事新编》"Old Tales Retold" (1935)◦补天 Mending Heaven (1935)
◦奔月 The Flight to the Moon (1926)
◦理水 Curbing the Flood (1935)
◦采薇 Gathering Vetch (1935)
◦铸剑 Forging the Swords (1926)
◦出关 Going out (1935)
◦怀旧 Leaving the Pass (1935)
◦非攻 Opposing Aggression (1934)
◦起死 Resurrect the Dead (1935)

 Essays
•我之节烈观 My Views on Chastity (1918)
•我们现在怎么做父亲 What is Required to be a Father Today (1919)
•Knowledge is a Crime (1919)
•说胡须 My Moustache (1924)
•看镜有感 Thoughts Before the Mirror (1925)
•On Deferring Fair Play (1925)

 Collections
•《呐喊》 Call to Arms (Na han) (1923)
•《彷徨》 Wandering (Pang huang) (1925)
•《中国小说史略》 Brief History of Chinese Fiction (Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilüe) (1925) a substantial study of pre-modern Chinese literature
•《故事新编》 Old Tales Retold (Gu shi xin bian) (1935)
•《野草》 Wild Grass (Ye cao) （1927）
•《朝花夕拾》 Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk (Zhao hua xi shi)（1932） a collection of essays about his youth

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Xun