Lu Hsün was the pen name of Zhou Shurena, he was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in Vernacular Chinese as well as Classical Chinese, Lu Xun was a novelist, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, and poet. Born on the 25 of September 1881 in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, Lu Xun was named Zhou Zhangshou 周樟壽,(Chou Chang-shou) with his courtesy name Yushan. He was from a well bread and educated family.
His grandfather Zhou Fuqing (周福清, Zhōu Fúqīng, (Chou Fu-ch'ing) was employed at the Hanlin Academy. His mother was self reliant and taught herself how to read but misfortune had soon beset his family and 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.
His pen name was later changed to Yucai in 1898,he went to Jiangnan Naval Academy but before he went he took the given name Shuren and went on to become an educated man at the academy. Majority of the work he did was a direct influence revolved around the May Fourth Movement that began around 1916. He was highly acclaimed by the Communist regime after 1949, and Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's works. Though sympathetic to communist ideas, Lu Xun never actually joined the Chinese Communist Party. Like many leaders of the May Fourth Movement, he was primarily a leftist and liberal.
He got a scholarship known as Qing government scholarship and in 1902 he left for Japan to further his studies. He first attended the Kobun Gakuin (Kobun Institute ZH, JA, Hongwen xueyuan, 弘文學院.
At the age of 22 in 1903 he went back to where he was partially raised with his paternal parents and got married to a local girl in an arranged marriage. During that period his father fell chronicly ill with tuberculosis during Lu Xun's adolescent years,and eventually sucum to his illness. After seeing what tuberculosis has done to his father, Zhou Shuren went on to study medicine abroad. He went in pursuit of a medical degree at Sendai Medical Academy (now medical school of Tohoku University) in Sendai, Japan, in 1904, where he gained a reputation as the first foreign student of the college. He then struck up a close bond student-mentor relationship with his lecturer Fujino Genkurō (藤野厳九郎.
Unfortunately Lu Xun did not get to complete his medical degree. In March 1906 Lu Xun suddenly ended his pursuit of the degree and left the college. He moved to Tokyo in 1906 and He went on to publish various translations of East European and Russian Slavic short stories, also included were works done by Polish Nobel Lareate, Henryk Sienkiewicz.
In 1909 he returned to China and began teaching in the Zhejiang Secondary Normal School. With the establishment of the republic, he took a post in the Ministry of Education in Nanjing and moved with the Republican Government to Beijing, where he began to write, he taught part-time at the Peking University and Peking Women's Teachers College.
He spent a few years writing a series of essays in classical Chinese on the history of science and literature and intellectual history, reform and religion and Chinese society. He also did a number of work translation of various literature into the Chinese language.
In the first recollection of his short stories he tells of his ordeal and He opened up about the reason why he terminated his education at the prestige institute Sendai. In his own words. 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. The caption accused the captive chinese of spying on Japanese military for the russians. He was about to be made a public example of by decapitating him infront of everyone. According to Lu Hsun, the other Chinese gathered around him had come to enjoy the spectacle.
Lu Xun used his pen name for the first time in May 1918 and published baihua a short story, Kuangren Riji (狂人日記, "A Madman's Diary") That has helped to established him as one of the most influential writers of his era. One of his other well-known stories, The True Story of Ah Q (A Q Zhengzhuan, 阿Q正傳), was published in installments from 1921 to 1922 that became his most famous work. Both were included in his first short story collection Na Han (吶喊) or Call to Arms, published in 1923.
Between 1924 to 1926, Lu wrote his essays of ironic reminiscences in Chaohua Xishi (朝花夕拾, Dawn Blossoms Picked at Dusk), published 1928, as well as the prose poem collection Ye Cao (野草, Wild Grass, published 1927). Lu Xun also wrote many of the stories to be published in his second short story collection Pang Huang (彷徨) in 1926 of which he was becoming increasingly estranged with his brother Zuoren.
In 1927, Lu Xun went to live in the city of Shanghai, where its more liberal. During that period of his life he co-founded the league of Left-Wing Writers.
Lu Xun went on to become the editor of several left wing magazines some of them are the New Youth (新青年, Xin Qingnian) and Sprouts (萌芽, Meng Ya). He played a huge role as a left wing writer, he was very influential with his mastery and was a versatile writer who incoporated both traditional chinese writing and 19th century European style in his essays. Because of Luxun's political stance and leanings and the influence his character generated in the Peoples Republic Of China, His work were banned until the late 1980's.
Lu Hsun became ill with tuberculosis in 1938 because of his heavy smoking, he was weakened due to rapid weight loss and recovered long enough to write two more essays reflecting on mortality ''Death'' and ''This Too Is Life''. He was having trouble with his breathing on the 18/10/1936 and the following morning at 5:11 am 19/10/1936 he died while his wife remained with him by his bed-side throughout the night. He Died (aged 55). He left behind his legacy as a a writer who has been active during the periods of 1881-1936. He is survived by his son, Zhou Haiying.
Today Lu Hsun is seen as the most influential Chinese writer, He was the master of irony and satire who was sometimes described as a champion of common humanity. Lu Xun has been described by Nobel laureate Kenzaburō Ōe as "The greatest writer Asia produced in the twentieth century. 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 influence 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.
Some of his other translations from Russian to Chinese are work of Nkolai Gogol of which he expressed great admiration for Nkolai Gogol,and translate his works of ''dead souls''. His first story title is inspired by Gogol's work. Writings of Re Feng, Hot Wind and several others including prose essays,as a left wing writer Lu Hsun played a very important role in Chinese literature, his books are still very popular and some of his work appears in high school textbooks in Japan. In Japan he is known as Rojin (ロジン and 魯迅 Katakana in Kanji.
A literature prize in China, known as the Lu Xun Literary Prize is named after him. Asteroid (233547) 2007 JR27 was named after him and a crater on Mercury is also named after him.
By: V Goldson