May Fourth Period (1915-25): Lu Xun

1. May Fourth Period (1915-25): Lu Xun Lu Xun 鲁迅 (1881-1936) as Representative May Fourth Writer • almost universally recognized as the greatest writer of the May Fourth period • often called the “father” of modern Chinese literature

2. Lu Xun poster of the Cultural Revolution

3. Lu Xun Early life (1881-1898) • born in Shaoxing (绍兴), Zhejiang in 1881 in a “gentry” family in decline • Jiangnan (江南) and modern Chinese writers Shaoxing

4. Lu Xun Early life (1881-1898) • educated in a traditional manner • grandfather’s arrest on corruption charges • father’s death Three Flavors Studio (above), the local clan school Lu Xun attended; Lu Xun’s first teacher Shou Jingwu (壽鏡吾) (left)

5. Lu Xun For more than four years I used to go, almost daily, to a pawnbroker’s and to a medicine shop. I cannot remember how old I was then, but the counter in the medicine shop was the same height as I, and that in the pawnbroker’s twice my height. I used to hand clothes and trinkets up to the counter twice my height, take the money proffered with contempt, then go to the counter the same height as I to buy medicine for my father, who had long been ill. On my return home I had other things to keep me busy, for since the physician who made out the prescriptions was very well known, he used unusual drugs: aloe root dug up in winter, sugar-cane that had been three years exposed to frost, twin crickets, and ardisia . . . All of which were difficult to procure. But my father’s illness went from bad to worse until he died. I believe those who sink from prosperity to poverty will probably come, in the process, to understand what the world is really like…” (“Preface” to Call to Arms) Lu Xun’s father

6. Lu Xun • Western education (1898-1902) • earliest contact with Western-style education in the sciences • avid reader of Liang Qichao and Yan Fu I entered the J school, and it was there that I heard for the first time the names of such subjects as natural science, arithmetic, geography, history, drawing, and physical training (From “Preface to Call to Arms”). Copy of Shiwubao, journal edited by Liang Qichao

7. Lu Xun • Japan (1902-09) • language study in Tokyo 1902-04 • medical studies at Sendai University 1904-06 • return to Tokyo to pursue a literary career I dreamed a beautiful dream that on my return to China I would cure patients like my father, who had been wrongly treated, while if war broke out I would serve as an army doctor, at the same time strengthening my countrymen’s faith in reformation (From “Preface to Call to Arms”) Lu Xun as a student in Japan (left); Zhu An (朱安), Lu Xun’s “legal” wife (above)

8. Lu Xun I have no idea what improved methods are now used to teach microbiology, but in those days we were shown lantern slides of microbes; and if the lecture ended early, the instructor might show slides of natural scenery or news to fill up the time. Since this was during the Russo-Japanese War [1904-05], there were many war slides, and I had to join in the clapping and cheering in the lecture hall along with the other students. It was a long time since I had seen any of my compatriots, but one day I saw a newsreel slide of a number of Chinese, one of them bound and the rest standing around him. They were all sturdy fellows but appeared completely apathetic. According to the commentary, the one with his hands bound was a spy working for the Russians who was to be beheaded by the Japanese military as a warning to others, while the Chinese beside him had come to enjoy the spectacle. . .

9. Lu Xun . . . Before the term was over I had left for Tokyo, because this slide convinced me that medical science was not so important after all. The people of a weak and backward country, however strong and healthy they might be, could only serve to be made examples of or as witnesses of such futile spectacles; and it was not necessarily deplorable if many of them died of illness. The most important thing, therefore, was to change their spirit; and since at that time I felt that literature was the best means to this end, I decided to promote a literary movement. Lynching in the US and “numb” spectators

10. May Fourth Period (1915-25) Period of “Silence” (1909-1918) • returns homes, teaches, and does old-style scholarship • only one short story from this period, written in classical Chinese • in 1912, he goes to Beijing to teach and work for the government in the new Ministry of Education

11. May Fourth Period (1915-25) May Fourth (1918-25) • most productive period • wrote all of his fiction, prose poems, and many essays during this period • two collections of short stories: Call to Arms (呐喊) and Wandering (彷徨) • collection of prose poetry entitled Wild Grass (野草) Covers of the original publications of Call to Arms and Wandering

12. Lu Xun “Imagine an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of death. Now if you cry aloud to wake a few of the lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the irrevocable agony of death, do you think you are doing them a favor?” “But if a few awake, you can’t say there is no hope of destroying the iron house.” True, in spite of my own conviction, I could not blot out hope, for hope lies in the future. I could not use my own evidence to refute his assertion that it might exist. So I agreed to write… (“Preface” to Call to Arms) Re-creation of “iron house” in the Shanghai Lu Xun Memorial Hall

13. Lu Xun • well known stories include “Diary of a Madman” (狂人日记), “Kong Yiji” (孔乙己), “Medicine” (药), “The True Story of Ah Q” (阿Q正传) • discourse of “national character” (国民性) Drawing of Ah Q, by Feng Zikai (丰子恺)

14. Lu Xun Political critique on the Left (1927-36) • beginning in 1926, Lu Xun began to study Marxism and Marxist views of literature • by 1927, he had become, at least according to the standard view of his life, a “committed” leftist • through the 1930s, he writes mostly in the satirical essay form (zawen杂文) • from 1928 to his death in 1936, lives in Shanghai Lu Xun, his “wife” Xu Guangping (许广平), and their son

15. May Fourth Period (1915-25) Death and legacy • “The Making of a Chinese Gorki” and the canonization of Lu Xun Photo of Lu Xun’s coffin carried by friends and associates (above); PRC memorial on the 20th anniversary of Lu Xun’s death (left)

16. Lu Xun Stories • “Diary of a Madman” • first published in New Youth (May 1918), then collected in Call to Arms (Nahan 呐喊; 1923) Drawing of Madman by Ding Cong 丁聪(left); original publication of “Diary” (above)

17. Lu Xun Stories • “Kong Yiji” （孔乙己; 1919) Drawing of narrator in “My Old Home” (left); Kong Yiji (above)

18. Lu Xun Stories • ”My Old Home” (故乡 ; 1921) Drawing of narrator in “My Old Home” (left); Runtu (above)