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Lu Xun

ezhejiang.com.cn| Updated: August 9, 2016 L M S

u=2881820335,3840497729&fm=21&gp=0.jpgLu Xun (1881-1936), courtesy name Yu Cai, born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, was the pen name of Zhou Shuren. He was the leading figure of the modern Chinese literature, an ideologist, and one of the initiators of the New Culture Movement. In the boyhood, he studied in the family school, which helped him lay a solid literary basis. In 1898, he came into contact with Western learning and began to accept the influence of Darwinism when studying in Nanjing. In 1902, he went to Japan to study medicine, but later abandoned it for literature in the hope that literature and art could change the national spirit. In 1918, he used this pen name for the first time and published the vernacular story, Kuangren Riji (literally “A Madman's Diary”) which was a scathing criticism of outdated Chinese feudalism. He also joined in the editing of the magazine New Youth and became the great advocate for the May Fourth New Culture Movement. After that, he published many famous novels including A Q Zheng Zhuan (“The True Story of Ah Q”), proses and essays under the influence of literary revolution. These publications helped him win a worldwide reputation.