International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

The Chinese writer Lu Xun (born Zhou Shuren: Lu Xun was his pen name) is a central figure not only in the history of modern Chinese literature, but also in the political and cultural identity of the revolutionary period in China during the first half of the twentieth century. His literary work is characterized by an insistence on the need for cultural transformation in China, one which provides a rational humanist confrontation with the traditions and customs of what he viewed as China's backward society. He set himself to transform the cultural and spiritual values of Chinese society through the power of literature and saw that literature had the ability to play a revolutionary role in China through its capacity for questioning commonplace traditions and customs. Born in Zhejiang province to a highly educated family in 1881, Lu Xun's childhood and adolescence shaped his later work and political importance. He was able to witness the decline of the Qing dynasty and the feudal ways of life that had characterized China for centuries. His early education began in the late 1890s at the Jiangnan Naval Academy and the School of Mines and Railways at the Jiangnan Military Academy. At these institutions, Lu Xun was introduced to western scientific learning and western languages, but it was a more personal event that truly began to shape his education and lead to his later literary and political ... log in or subscribe to read full text