Lu+Xun

Born September 25th, 1881 in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, Lu Xun ( 鲁迅 // Lǔ Xùn //, 1881-1936) was the son of Zhou Boyi and Lu Rui. Lu Xun enrolled in the Jiangnan Navel Academy in 1898 and later studied at the School of Railways and Mines attached to the Navel Academy. Then from 1902 to 1909 he studied in Japan originally studying medicine. In 1906 he decided against a medical career and began focusing on literary work. Returning to China in 1909 he quickly found a position as a teacher in Shaoxing and worked his way up to principle of Shanhui Normal School. In 1912 he was invited to join the Ministry of Education in Nanjing. In 1918 he published the work "A Madman's Diary" in the //New Youth// magazine. Lu Xun then quickly became quite active working for a variety of literary groups and magazines while also writing and publishing a wide variety of works. In 1927 Lu Xun arrived in Shanghai where he became chief editor of the //Tatler//. Following his move the Shanghai Lu Xun took an increasingly active role in many political reform movements. In 1930 he gave a speech at the opening meeting of the League of Left Wing Writers. He also had a good number of works published by journals under the control of the League. While still active politically Lu Xun continued to write and publish other works up until his death. Lu Xun died in Shanghai October 19th, 1936.

Although Lu Xun never joined the communist party he had strong leftist leanings and gained the party a great deal of support. Considered one of the greatest authors of the May Fourth Movement he wrote a great deal on the nature of Chinese society. During his studies in Japan he was shown slides of supposed Chinese spies who were executed in the Russo-Japanese war. Also pictured in these slides were other Chinese who apathetically stood by and watched their fellow country men be killed. It was this moment that brought Lu Xun to focus all of his efforts on literature. The reasoning behind this was that with literature he could attempt to cure the malaise of Chinese society and the Chinese people which was a much deeper sickness than the physical illness of an individual.



An interview with a translator of many of Lu Xun's works media type="youtube" key="tnho5qR39as" height="349" width="425" align="center"

Selected Works of Lu Xun Selected Stories of Lu Xun A Brief History of Chinese Fiction Call to Arms Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk Wandering Wild Grass Selected Poems The True Story of Ah Q Old Tales Retold Rickshaw
 * Works** (In English)

Lu, Xun, Gladys Yang, and Hsien-i Yang. //Selected Works//. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1985. Print. Wang, Shijing, Peiji Zhang, Bonnie S. McDougall, and Bowen Tang. //Lu Xun, a Biography//. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1984. Print. //Renditions//. Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1973. Print.
 * Works Cited**