Ba Jin

Ba Jin. Click here for original source

Childhood

Zhou Shuren, later known as Lu Xun (his pen name) was born September 25, 1881. In his youth, Lu Xun lived comfortably in Peking (Beijing) with his family, including his grandfather [a high ranking government official]. Matters for Lu Xun and his family took a turn for the worst when his grandfather become chronically ill and needed expensive medication. In addition to illness and loss of wealth, Lu Xun's grandfather was accused of bribery and incarcerated for seven years. Once a year, Lu Xun's family was required to send money to The Ministry of Punishment to prevent his grandfather from being put to death. While in the process of being accused of bribery, Lu Xun’s grandfather became a victim to a government which encouraged it. This is where many of Lu Xun’s frustrations against the governmental workings of China began.

Motivations

Medicine was a special interest of Lu Xun. Partnered with the sickness of both his father and of his grandfather, and his desire to heal people, Lu Xun began to study medicine. Lu Xun’s father was made more ill by the traditional medicines which were used on him, leading to his father’s death. In 1903 Lu Xun traveled to Japan to study medicine. While in Japan, Lu Xun expanded his vision of medicine past traditional Chinese methods by adopting western techniques. This was not a popular idea at the time because of the Confucian values that were placed on tradition.

After some time in Japan, Lu Xun decided that he was not able to make as much of a difference in the field of medicine as he could in the field of literature. Lu Xun decided that change was to be brought about in China through “spiritual medicine” aka writing.

A Madman's Diary - Lu Xun

While most writers focused on immediate change in the people of China, Lu Xun had different ideas. Lu Xun believed that change was to be gradual, and that it would start by teaching the children.

While studying literature, Lu Xun translated works from Russian, German, and Japanese into Chinese. He felt that these translations would help open the minds of his people to the outside “cures” for their political dis-empowerment.

Most of Lu Xun’s works were essay type writing when he first began, but after some time his ideas became unpopular, and therefore dangerous to publish so openly.

In 1918, Lu Xun wrote “Diary of a Madman,” a short story which allegorically described the barbarian culture that China had made from tradition. He described the people in his book as cannibalistic, and looking to feed off of each other at every turn. The short story was a hit, and kicked of Lu Xun’s career to new heights. “A Call to Arms” was written 4 years later, and also became an influential force in Chinese Literature.

Controversy

Aware of the Communist power in the world at the time, Lu Xun believed that he could best reach his target audience through the Communist party. He followed many communist groups but never claimed to be a communist himself. He did have some disagreements with Shanghai Communists which landed him in a life threatening position. Lu Xun wrote under many pen names due to the controversial topics of his writing.

Also controversial at the time was the "Woman Question." Women were seen as having very little power to make change or to even have a positive place in society. Lu Xun did not see women this way. He started up a women's school and supported numerous female writers whom he saw capable of encouraging change in the flaws of society at the time. Women, for Lu Xun were just as formidable an opponent against societal or political suppression as men were. This was another revolutionary contribution Lu Xun made.

Shanghai - Lu Xun statue

Legacy

Lu Xun died in Oct. 19 1936 of tuberculosis, and is still known as China’s most influential Fiction writer.

To me, Lu Xun stood out as having incredible character. It has been stated in class many times that there is a person that comes along every once in a while that is just a genius (Einstein, Goethe, so on) and Lu Xun was one of those men. Lu Xun adjusted his tactics for reaching the people by finding the places where he could most effectively affect change, such as becoming a government official, changing from medicine to writing, and finding a niche in the communist community (although he never confessed believing in communist ideals). He knew where to reach the people. His empowerment of woman was seen in Zhang Ailing, one of the most influential modern writers in China.

Because Lu Xun was able to reach the heart of China, enormous changes were made to Chinese ideals. For people around the world, including Germany and Japan, his works have become well known (mainly because Lu Xun translated into these languages as he was multilingual). Most have heard of Madmans Diary. Unfortunately, his works are not as well known in the United States. The power of Lu Xun's writing is one that touches the soul enough to have power in any translation. His passion in writing is one which is difficult to find elsewhere. Any who have not read his works, are missing out on a motion motivating intellectual experience.

Sources

Lau, S.M. Joseph, and Goldblatt, Howard. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature 2nd Edition. Columbia University Press. New York. Print

Denton, A. Kirk. Lu Xun BiographyMCLC Resource Center. 2002. Web http://mclc.osu.edu/rc/bios/lxbio.htm