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{{Short description|Chinese novelist and essayist (1881–1936)}}
{{For-text|the Three Kingdoms-era general|[[Lu Xun (Eastern Wu)]]|the crater on Mercury|[[Lu Hsun (crater)]]}}
{{Family name hatnote|[[Zhou (surname)|Zhou]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Lu Xun
| image            = LuXun1930.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| caption          = Lu in 1930
| birth_name       = Zhou Zhangshou
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1881|9|25|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Shaoxing]], Zhejiang
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1936|10|19|1881|9|25|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Shanghai]], Republic of China
| resting_place    = [[Tomb of Lu Xun]], Shanghai
| occupation       = {{hlist|Writer|literary critic|lecturer|civil servant}}
| alma_mater       = {{ubli|Jiangnan Naval Academy|School of Mines and Railways|[[Sendai]] Medical Academy at [[Tohoku University]]}}
| genres           = {{hlist|[[Short story]]|[[sketch story|sketch]]|[[novella]]|[[poetry]]|[[prose poetry]]|[[essay]]|[[literary criticism]]|[[history]]|[[autobiography]]}}
| movement         = {{ubl|[[New Culture Movement]]|[[May Fourth Movement]]|[[Social realism]]}}
| subjects         = Critique of traditional Confucian values and thought
| years_active     = 1902–1936
| employer         = {{ubl|Ministry of Education|[[Peking University]]|[[Beijing Normal University]]|Beijing Women's College|[[Xiamen University]]|[[Sun Yat-sen University]]}}
| notable_works    = {{ubli|"[[Diary of a Madman (Lu Xun)|Diary of a Madman]]" (1918)|"[[Kong Yiji]]" (1919)|''[[The True Story of Ah Q]]'' (1921)}}
| spouse           = Zhu An
| partner          = [[Xu Guangping]] {{nwr|(1927–1936)}}
| children         = 1
| module           = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes
| t = 魯迅
| s = 鲁迅
| p = Lǔ Xùn
| w = {{tonesup|Lu3 Hsün4}}
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|l|u|3|-|x|ün|4}}
| wuu = Lu Sin
| j = Lou5 Seon3
| y = Lóuh Seun
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|l|ou|5|-|s|eon|3}}
| poj = Ló͘ Sìn
| tl = Lóo Sìn
| altname = Birth name
| t2 = 周樹人
| s2 = 周树人
| p2 = Zhōu Shùrén
| gr2 = Jou Shuhren
| w2 = {{tonesup|Chou1 Shu4-jen2}}
| j2 = Zau1 Syu6 Jan4
| y2 = Jāu Syuh Yàhn
}}
| signature        = Lu Xun's Signature.svg
}}
{{New Culture Movement}}
'''Lu Xun''' ({{lang-zh|c=|p=Lǔ Xùn|t=魯迅}}, {{IPAc-cmn|l|u|3|-|x|ün|4}}; 25 September 1881{{snd}}19 October 1936), pen name of '''Zhou Shuren''', born '''Zhou Zhangshou''', was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern [[Chinese literature]], he wrote in both [[vernacular Chinese|vernacular]] and [[literary Chinese]] as a novelist, literary critic, essayist, poet, translator and political commentator, known for his satirical, acerbic tone and critical reflections on Chinese history and culture.

Lu was born into a declining family of landlords and scholar-officials in [[Shaoxing]], Zhejiang. Although he initially aspired to take the imperial examinations, his family’s limited financial means compelled him to attend government-funded schools that offered a "Western-style education." After graduation, Lu pursued medical studies at [[Tohoku University]] in Japan but eventually dropped out, turning his attention to literature. Financial difficulties forced his return to China, where he taught at various secondary schools and colleges before taking a position at the [[Ministry of Education of the Republic of China]].

Lu pioneered the [[New Culture Movement]] by publishing the first novel in vernacular Chinese, ''[[Diary of a Madman (Lu Xun)|Diary of a Madman]],'' in 1918. He gained prominence through his political writings in ''[[New Youth|La Jeunesse]]'' following the [[May Fourth Movement]] in 1919. From the late 1920s onward, Lu became increasingly engaged with Marxist thought and leftist politics. In the 1930s, he served as the nominal leader of the [[League of Left-Wing Writers]] in Shanghai. After 1949, he was canonized by the [[China|People’s Republic of China]].

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
[[File:绍兴鲁迅故居.jpg|thumb|180px|Childhood residence of Lu Xun in Shaoxing]]

Lu Xun was born in [[Shaoxing]], Zhejiang. As was common before the 20th century, Lu used several names. His birth name was "Zhou Zhangshou" ({{lang-zh|t=周樟壽}}). His [[courtesy name]] was "Yushan" ({{zhi|t=豫山}}), which he later changed to "Yucai" ({{zhi|t=豫才}}). In 1898, before he went to the Jiangnan Naval Academy, he took the given name "Shuren" ({{zhi|t=樹人}}), which figuratively means "to be an educated man".<ref>{{cite book|author=Zhou Zuoren|author-link=Zhou Zuoren|script-title=zh:魯迅的青年時代|trans-title=Lu Xun's youth|isbn=978-7-5434-4391-4|publisher=Hebei Education Press|year=2002}}</ref> The name "Lu Xun", by which he is most well known internationally, was a [[pen name]] chosen upon the initial publishing of his story "Diary of a Madman" in 1918.<ref>Kowallis 10</ref>

By the time Lu Xun was born, the Zhou family had been prosperous for centuries, and had become wealthy through landowning, pawnbroking, and by having several family members promoted to government positions. His paternal grandfather, Zhou Fuqing, was appointed to the Imperial [[Hanlin Academy]] in Beijing, the highest position possible for aspiring civil servants at that time.

Zhou's mother was a member of the same landed gentry class as Lu Xun's father, from a slightly smaller town in the countryside (Anqiaotou, Zhejiang; a part of [[Tongxiang]]). Because formal education was not considered socially appropriate for girls,{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} she had not received any education, but she still taught herself how to read and write. The surname Lu ({{zhi|c=[[魯]]}}) was the same as his mother's.<ref>Kowallis 11–12</ref>

Lu Xun's early education was based on the [[Confucian classics]], in which he studied poetry, history, and philosophy—subjects which, he later reflected, were neither useful nor interesting to him. Instead, he enjoyed folk stories and opera, including the mythological narratives of the ''[[Classic of Mountains and Seas]]'' and the ghost stories told to him by a servant when he was a child.<ref name="DEL">Denton "Early Life"</ref>

By the time Lu Xun was born, his family's prosperity had already been declining. His father, Zhou Boyi, had been successful at passing the [[Tongsheng|county-level imperial examinations]], the route to wealth and social success in imperial China, but was unsuccessful in writing the more competitive provincial-level examinations (the ''[[juren]]'' exam). In 1893 Zhou was discovered attempting to bribe an examination official. Lu Xun's grandfather was implicated, and was arrested and sentenced to beheading for his son's crime. The sentence was later commuted, and he was imprisoned in [[Hangzhou]] instead.

After the affair, Zhou was stripped of his position in the government and forbidden to ever again write the civil service examinations.<ref name="DEL" /> The Zhou family only prevented Lu's grandfather from being executed through regular, expensive bribes to authorities, until he was finally released in 1901.<ref name="Lovell xv">Lovell 2009 xv</ref>

After the family's attempt at bribery was discovered, Zhou engaged in heavy drinking and opium use and his health declined. Local doctors attempted to cure him through a series of expensive quack prescriptions, including monogamous crickets, sugar cane that had survived frost three times, ink, and the skin from a drum. Despite these expensive treatments, Zhou died of an asthma attack in 1896, at the age of 35.<ref name="Lovell xv" /> He might have suffered from [[dropsy]].<ref name="DEL" />

[[File:LuXun - youth.jpg|thumb|180px|Lu Xun in his youth]]

=== Education ===
Lu Xun half-heartedly participated in the first, district-level [[civil service examination]] in 1898,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Leo Ou-fan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ECUYCdnb2oC&dq=civil+examination+lu+xun+1898&pg=PA169 |title=Modern Chinese Literature in the May Fourth Era |date=1977 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-57911-8 |editor-last=Goldman |editor-first=Merle |pages=169 |language=en |quote="Lu Xun was lured back briefly to take the first-level district examination in 1898."}}</ref> but then abandoned pursuing a traditional Confucian education or career.<ref name="Lovell xv" /> He intended to study at a prestigious school, the "Seeking Affirmation Academy", in Hangzhou, but was forced by his family's poverty to instead study at the "Jiangnan Naval Academy", a tuition-free military school in [[Nanjing]].<ref name="DWE">Denton "WESTERN EDUCATION: 1898–1902"</ref>

As a consequence of Lu's decision to attend a military school specializing in [[Western education]], his mother wept, he was instructed to change his name to avoid disgracing his family,<ref name="Lovell xv" /> and some of his relatives began to look down on him. Lu attended the Jiangnan Naval Academy for half a year, and left after it became clear that he would be assigned to work in an [[engine room]], below deck, which he considered degrading.<ref name="DWE" /> He later wrote that he was dissatisfied with the quality of teaching at the academy.<ref name="Lovell xvi">Lovell 2009 xvi</ref>

After leaving the school, Lu Xun sat for the lowest level of the civil service exams, and finished 137th of 500. He intended to sit for the next-highest level, but became upset when one of his younger brothers died, and abandoned his plans.<ref name="DWE" />

Lu Xun transferred to another government-funded school, the "[[School of Mines]] and Railways", and graduated from that school in 1902. The school was Lu's first exposure to foreign literature, philosophy, history, and science, and he studied English and German intensively. Some of the influential authors that he read during that period include [[T. H. Huxley]], [[John Stuart Mill]], [[Yan Fu]], and [[Liang Qichao]]. His later social philosophy may have been influenced by several novels about social conflict that he read during the period, including ''[[Ivanhoe]]'' and ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]''.<ref name="DWE" />

Lu Xun did well at the school with relatively little effort, and occasionally experienced racism directed at him from resident Manchu [[Eight Banners|bannermen]]. The racism he experienced may have influenced his later sense of [[Han Chinese]] nationalism.<ref name="DWE" /> After graduating Lu Xun planned to become a foreign doctor.<ref name="Lovell xvi" />

In 1902, Lu Xun left for Japan on a Qing government scholarship to pursue an education in foreign medicine. After arriving in Japan he attended the Kobun Institute, a preparatory language school for Chinese students attending Japanese universities. After encouragement from a classmate, he cut off his [[Queue (hairstyle)|queue]] that Han Chinese were obliged to wear at the time, and practiced [[jujutsu]] in his free time. He had an ambiguous attitude towards Chinese revolutionary politics during the period, and it is not clear whether he joined any of the revolutionary parties that were popular among Chinese expatriates in Japan at that time, such as the [[Tongmenghui]]. He experienced [[anti-Chinese racism]], but was simultaneously disgusted with the behaviour of some Chinese who were living in Japan. His earliest surviving essays, written in [[Literary Chinese]], were published while he was attending this school, and he published his first Chinese translations of famous and influential foreign novels, including [[Jules Verne]]'s ''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]'' and ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas]]''.<ref name="DJ">Denton "JAPAN: 1902–09"</ref>

In 1904, Lu began studying at the [[Sendai]] Medical Academy in northern [[Honshu]], but remained there for less than two years. He generally found his studies at the school tedious and difficult, partially due to his imperfect Japanese. While studying in Sendai he befriended one of his professors, Fujino Genkurō, who helped him prepare class notes. Because of their friendship Lu was accused by his classmates of receiving special assistance from Fujino.<ref name="DJ" /> Lu later recalled his mentor affectionately in the essay "Mr Fujino", published in ''Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk''. The essay has since become one of his most widely renowned works, and is read in the Chinese middle school curriculum. Fujino later reciprocated Lu's respect in an obituary written for Lu after his death in 1937.

While Lu Xun was attending medical school, the [[Russo-Japanese War]] (1904–1905) broke out.<ref name=":Qian">{{Cite book |last=Qian |first=Ying |title=Revolutionary Becomings: Documentary Media in Twentieth-Century China |date=2024 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9780231204477 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=37}} Part of the war was fought on disputed Chinese land. [[Magic lantern|Lantern slides]] used in the classroom also featured news items.<ref name=":Qian" />{{Rp|page=37}} One news slide showed a public execution of a Chinese prisoner being executed by the Japanese military for being an alleged Russian spy.<ref name=":Qian" />{{Rp|page=37}} The on-lookers shown in the slide were mainly Chinese, and Lu was shocked by what he viewed as their complete apathy.<ref name=":Qian" />{{Rp|page=37}} In his preface to ''Nahan'', the first collection of his short stories, Lu explained how viewing this scene influenced him to quit studying [[Western medicine]], and to become a literary physician to what he perceived to be China's spiritual problems instead:<ref name="Lovell xvi" />

<blockquote>At the time, 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. According to the caption, the Chinese whose hands were bound had been spying on the Japanese military for the Russians. He was about to be decapitated as a 'public example.' The other Chinese gathered around him had come to enjoy the spectacle.<ref name="DJ" /></blockquote>

[[File:Lu Xun 3 beheading.jpg|thumb|An execution scene, possibly viewed by Lu Xun in 1905|left]]

In March 1906, Lu Xun abruptly and secretly terminated his pursuit of the degree and left college. At the time he told no one. After arriving in Tokyo he made sure that the Chinese embassy would not cancel his scholarship and registered at the local German Institute, but was not required to take classes there. He began to read [[Nietzsche]], and wrote a number of essays in the period that were influenced by his philosophy.<ref name="DJ" />

In June 1906, Lu's mother heard a rumor that he had married a Japanese girl and had a child with her, and feigned illness as a pretext to ask Lu to return home, where she would then force him to take part in an arranged marriage she had agreed to several years before.<ref>Kowallis 22</ref> The girl, Zhu An, had little in common with Lu, was illiterate, and had been subject to [[foot binding]].<ref>Veg</ref> Lu Xun married her, but they never had a romantic relationship. Despite that fact, Lu took care of her material needs for the rest of his life.<ref name="DJ" /> Several days after the ceremony Lu sailed back to Japan with his younger brother, [[Zhou Zuoren]], and left behind his new wife.<ref name="DJ" />

After returning to Japan he took informal classes in literature and history, published several essays in student-run journals,<ref>Kowallis 20–23</ref> and in 1907 he briefly took Russian lessons. He attempted to found a literary journal with his brother, ''New Life'', but before its first publication its other writers and its financial backers all abandoned the project, and it failed. In 1909 Lu and his brother published their translations of Western fiction, including Edgar Allan Poe,<ref name="ruijuanhao">{{cite journal |last1=Hao |first1=Ruijuan |title=Edgar Allan Poe in Contemporary China |journal=The Edgar Allan Poe Review |date=Winter 2009 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=117–122 |doi=10.2307/41506373 |jstor=41506373 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41506373 |access-date=22 January 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> as ''Tales from Abroad'', but the book sold only 41 copies of the 1,500 copies that were printed. The publication failed for a number of reasons: it was only sold in Tokyo, which did not have a large Chinese population, and in a single silk shop in Shanghai. Additionally, Lu wrote in Literary Chinese, which was difficult for ordinary people to read.<ref name="DJ" />

=== Early career ===
[[File:A Madman's Diary - Lu Xun.JPG|thumb|right|1918 printed edition of "[[Diary of a Madman (Lu Xun)|Diary of a Madman]]", collection of the [[Beijing Lu Xun Museum]]]]

Lu Xun intended to study in Germany in 1909, but did not have sufficient funds, and was forced to return home. Between 1909 and 1911 he held a number of brief teaching positions at local colleges and secondary schools that he felt were unsatisfying, partly to support his brother Zuoren's studies in Japan.<ref name="DHA">Denton "HOME AGAIN"</ref>

Lu spent these years in traditional Chinese literary pursuits: collecting old books, researching pre-modern Chinese fiction, reconstructing ancient tombstone inscriptions,<ref name="Lxviii">Lovell 2009 xviii</ref> and compiling the history of his native town, Shaoxing. He explained to an old friend that his activities were not "scholarship", but "a substitute for 'wine and women'". In his personal letters he expressed disappointment about his own failure, China's political situation, and his family's continuing impoverishment.

In 1911 he returned to Japan to retrieve his brother, Zuoren, so that Zuoren could help with the family finances. Zuoren wanted to remain in Japan to study French, but Lu wrote that "French... does not fill stomachs". He encouraged another one of his brothers, Jianren, to become a botanist.<ref name="DHA" /> He began to drink heavily, a habit he continued for the rest of his life. In 1911 he wrote his first short story, ''Nostalgia'', but he was so disappointed with it that he threw it away. Zuoren saved it, and had it successfully published two years later under his own name.<ref name="Lxviii" />

In February 1912, shortly after the [[Xinhai Revolution]] overthrew the [[Qing dynasty]] and was followed by the founding of the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]], Lu gained a position at the national Ministry of Education. He was hired in Nanjing, but then moved with the ministry to Beijing, where he lived from 1912 to 1926.<ref name="Kowallis 26">Kowallis 26</ref> At first, his work consisted almost completely of copying books, but he was later appointed Section Head of the Social Education Division, and eventually to the position of Assistant Secretary. Two of his major accomplishments in office were the renovation and expansion of the [[National Library of China]] in Beijing, the establishment of the Natural History Museum, and the establishment of the Library of Popular Literature.<ref name="DHA" />

Together with [[Qian Daosun]] and [[Xu Shoushang]], he designed the [[Twelve Symbols national emblem]] in 1912.

Between 1912 and 1917 he was a member of an ineffectual censorship committee, informally studied [[Buddhist sutra]]s, lectured on fine arts, wrote and self-published a book on the history of Shaoxing, and edited and self-published a collection of folk stories from the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] and [[Song dynasty|Song]] dynasties.<ref name="DHA" /> He collected and self-published an authoritative book on the work of an ancient poet, [[Ji Kang]], and wrote ''[[A Brief History of Chinese Fiction]]'', a work which, because traditional scholars had not valued fiction, had little precedent in China.<ref name="Kowallis 26"/> After [[Yuan Shikai]] declared himself the [[Emperor of China]] in 1915, Lu was briefly forced to participate in rituals honoring Confucius, which he ridiculed in his diaries.<ref name="DHA" />

In 1917, an old friend of Lu's, Qian Xuantong, invited Lu to write for ''[[New Youth]]'', a radical populist literary magazine that had recently been founded by [[Chen Duxiu]], which also inspired a great number of younger writers such as [[Mao Dun]]. At first Lu was skeptical that his writing could serve any social purpose. He told Qian: "Imagine an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of death. Now if you cry aloud to wake a few of the lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do you think you are doing them a good turn?"<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Shi |first=Song |title=China and the Internet: Using New Media for Development and Social Change |date=2023 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |isbn=9781978834736 |location=New Brunswick, NJ}}</ref>{{Rp|page=134}} Qian replied, "But if a few awake, you can't say that there is no hope of destroying the iron house."<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=134–135}} Shortly afterwards, in 1918 Lu wrote the first short story published in his name, "Diary of a Madman", for the April 2, 1918 magazine issue.<ref>Lovell 2009 xx</ref>{{sfn|Jin|2017|pp=254–259}}

Lu recounted the conversation in his short story collection, ''Call to Arms''.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=134}} It is widely known in China as a metaphor for the traditional Chinese cultural values and norms that Lu opposed.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=134–135}}

After the publication of "Diary of a Madman", the story was praised for its anti-traditionalism, its synthesis of Chinese and foreign conventions and ideas, and its skillful narration, and Lu became recognized as one of the leading writers of the [[New Culture Movement]].<ref>Lovell 2009 xxi</ref> Lu continued writing for the magazine, and produced his most famous stories for ''New Youth'' between 1917 and 1921. These stories were collected and re-published in ''Nahan'' ("''Outcry''") in 1923.<ref name="DMF">Denton "MAY FOURTH: 1917–26"</ref>

In 1919, Lu moved his family from Shaoxing to a large compound in Beijing,<ref name="DHA" /> where he lived with his mother, his two brothers, and their Japanese wives. This living arrangement lasted until 1923, when Lu had a falling out with his brother, Zuoren, after which Lu moved with his wife and mother to a separate house. Neither Lu nor Zuoren ever publicly explained the reason for their disagreement, but Zuoren's wife later accused Lu of making sexual advances towards her.<ref>Lovell 2009 xxv</ref> Some writers have speculated that their relationship may have worsened as a result of issues related to money, that Lu walked in on Zuoren's wife bathing, or that Lu had an inappropriate "relationship" with Zuoren's wife in Japan that Zuoren later discovered. After the falling out with Zuoren, Lu became depressed.<ref name="DMF" />

In 1920, Lu began to lecture part-time at several colleges, including [[Peking University]], [[Beijing Normal University]], and Beijing Women's College, where he taught traditional fiction and literary theory. His lecture notes were later collected and published as ''A Brief History of Chinese Fiction''. He was able to work part-time because he only worked at the Education Ministry three days a week for three hours a day. In 1923 he lost his front teeth in a [[rickshaw]] accident, and in 1924 he developed the first symptoms of [[tuberculosis]]. In 1925 he founded a journal, ''Wilderness'', and established the "Weiming Society" in order to support young writers and encourage the translation of foreign literature into Chinese.<ref name="DMF" />

In the 20 years after the 1911 revolution there was a flowering of literary activity with dozens of journals. The goal was to reform the Chinese language to make universal education possible. Lu Xun was an active participant. His greatest works, such as "Diary of a Madman" and ''Ah Q'', exemplify this style of "peasant dirt literature" ({{Lang-zh|p=xiāngtǔ wénxué|s=乡土文学}}). The language is fresh and direct. The subjects are country peasants.

In 1925, Lu Xun began what may have been his first meaningful romantic relationship, with one of his students at the Beijing Women's College, [[Xu Guangping]].<ref>Lovell 2009 xxvi</ref> In March 1926 there was a mass student protest against the warlord [[Feng Yuxiang]]'s collaboration with the Japanese. The protests degenerated into [[March 18 Massacre|a massacre]], in which two of Lu's students from Beijing Women's College were killed. Lu's public support for the protesters forced him to flee from the local authorities. Later in 1926, when the warlord troops of [[Zhang Zuolin]] and [[Wu Peifu]] took over Beijing, Lu left northern China and fled to [[Xiamen]].<ref name="DMF" />

After arriving in Xiamen, later in 1926, Lu Xun began teaching at [[Xiamen University]], but was disappointed by the petty disagreements and unfriendliness of the university's faculty. During the short time he lived in Xiamen, Lu Xun wrote his last collection of fiction, ''Old Tales Retold'', which would not be published until several years later, and most of his autobiography, published as ''Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk''. He also published a collection of prose poetry, entitled ''Wild Grass''.<ref name="DMF" />

In January 1927, Lu Xun and Xu moved to [[Guangzhou]], where he was hired as the head of the Chinese literature department at [[Sun Yat-sen University]]. His first act in his position was to hire Xu as his personal assistant, as well as Xu Shoushang, one of his old classmates from Japan, as a lecturer. While in Guangzhou, he edited multiple poems and books for publication, and served as a guest lecturer at [[Whampoa Academy]]. Through his students, he established connections within both the [[Kuomintang]] and [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP).

After the [[Shanghai massacre of 1927|Shanghai massacre]] in April 1927, he attempted to secure the release of several students through the university, but failed. His failure to save his students led him to resign from his position at the university, and he left for the [[Shanghai International Settlement]] in September 1927. By the time he left Guangzhou, he was one of the most famous intellectuals in China.<ref name= "DMTTL">Denton "MOVE TO THE LEFT: 1927–1936"</ref>

In 1927 Lu was considered for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]], for the short story ''[[The True Story of Ah Q]]'', despite a poor English translation and annotations that were nearly double the size of the text.<ref>Kowallis 3</ref> Lu rejected the possibility of accepting the nomination. Later, he renounced writing fiction or poetry in response to China's deteriorating political situation and his own poor emotional state, and restricted himself to writing argumentative essays.<ref>Lovell 2006 84</ref>

=== Later career ===
[[File:Lu Xun 1 with Xu Guanping and Haiying.jpg|thumb|Lu Xun with [[Xu Guangping]] and their son, {{interlanguage link|Zhou Haiying|lt=|zh|周海婴}}]]
[[File:The Fengs and the Lu-s.jpg|right|thumb|Lu Xun (right) sat in the front, and Xu Guangping sat behind him, their son (Zhou Haiying) in Lu Xun's arms.]]
In 1929, Lu Xun visited his mother, and reported that she was pleased at the news of Xu's pregnancy.<ref name= "DMTTL" /> Xu gave birth to a son named Haiying on 27 September. She was in labor with the baby for 27 hours. The child's name meant simply "Shanghai infant". His parents chose the name thinking that he could change it himself later, but he never did so. Haiying was Lu's only child.<ref name="McDougall">Lu & Xu 64</ref>

After moving to Shanghai, Lu rejected all regular teaching positions (though he sometimes gave guest lectures at different campuses), and for the first time was able to make a living solely as a professional writer, with a monthly income of roughly 500 yuan. He was also appointed by the government as a "specially appointed writer" by the national Ministry of Higher Education, which secured him an additional 300 yuan per month.

Lu Xun began to study and identify with [[Marxist]] politics, made contact with local CCP members, and became involved in literary disputes with other leftist writers in the city. In 1930 Lu became one of the co-founders of the [[League of Left-Wing Writers]], but shortly after he moved to Shanghai other leftist writers accused him of being "an evil feudal remnant", the "best spokesman of the bourgeoisie", and "a counterrevolutionary split personality". The League continued in various forms until 1936, when the constant disputes among its members led the CCP to dissolve it.<ref name= "DMTTL" />

In January 1931, the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) passed new, stricter censorship laws, allowing for writers producing literature deemed "endangering the public" or "disturbing public order" to be imprisoned for life or executed. Later that month he went into hiding. In early February, less than a month later, the KMT executed twenty-four local writers (including five who belonged to the League) whom they had arrested under this law.

After the execution of the "24 Longhua Martyrs"<ref name= "DMTTL" /> (in addition to other students, friends, and associates),<ref>Lovell 2009 xxviii</ref> Lu's political views became distinctly anti-KMT. In 1933 Lu met [[Edgar Snow]]. Snow asked Lu Xun whether there were any Ah Q's left in China. Lu Xun responded, "It's worse now. Now it's Ah Q's who are running the country."<ref name= "DMTTL" />

Lu Xun wrote a classical Chinese poem, ''A Lament for Ms. Ding'', to commemorate [[Ding Ling]], who on 14 May 1933 had been kidnapped from her residence in the [[Shanghai International Settlement|Shanghai international settlement]] by the KMT.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Xian |title=Gendered Memories: An Imaginary Museum for Ding Ling and Chinese Female Revolutionary Martyrs |date=2025 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-05719-1 |series=China Understandings Today series |location=Ann Arbor}}</ref>{{Rp|page=15}}

Despite the unfavorable political climate, Lu Xun contributed regularly to a variety of periodicals in the 1930s, including [[Lin Yutang]]'s humor magazine ''The Analects Fortnightly'', and corresponded with writers in Japan as well as China.<ref>Christopher Rea, ''The Age of Irreverence: A New History of Laughter in China'' (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2015), pp. 132, 148-149.</ref>

Although he had renounced writing fiction years before, in 1934 he published his last collection of short stories, ''Old Tales Retold''.<ref name= "DMTTL" /> In 1935, he sent a telegram to CCP forces in [[Shaanxi]] congratulating them on the recent completion of their [[Long March]]. The CCP requested that he write a novel about the communist revolution set in rural China, but he declined, citing his lack of background and understanding of the subject.<ref>Lovell 2009 xxx</ref>[[File:Lu Xun's remains.jpg|thumb|The remains of Lu Xun in Shanghai on October 19, 1936. Photograph by Sha Fei.]]
[[File:Shanghai - Lu Xun's tomb 2.jpg|thumb|Lu's tomb in Shanghai, 2010]]

Lu was a heavy smoker, which may have contributed to the deterioration of his health throughout his last year. By 1936 he had developed chronic tuberculosis, and in March of that year he was stricken with bronchial asthma and a fever. The treatment for this involved draining 300&nbsp;grams of fluid in the lungs through a puncture.

From June to August, he was again sick, and his weight dropped to only {{convert|83|lb|kg}}. He recovered somewhat, and wrote two essays in the fall reflecting on mortality. These included "Death", and "This Too Is Life".<ref name="Jenner">Jenner</ref> A month before his death, he wrote: "Hold the funeral quickly... do not stage any memorial services. Forget about me, and care about your own life – you're a fool if you don't." Regarding his son, he wrote: "On no account let him become a good-for-nothing writer or artist."<ref>Lovell xxxii</ref>

=== Death ===
At 3:30 am on the morning of 18 October 1936, the author woke having great difficulty breathing. Dr. Sudo, his physician, was summoned, and Lu was given injections to relieve the pain. His wife was with him throughout that night. Lu Xun died at 5:11 am the next morning, 19 October.<ref name="Jenner"/> Lu's remains were interred in a mausoleum within [[Lu Xun Park (Shanghai)|Lu Xun Park]] in Shanghai. [[Mao Zedong]] later made the calligraphic inscription above his tomb.

He was survived by his son, Zhou Haiying.

== Legacy ==
[[File:Lu Xun Kiskőrös.JPG|thumb|Bust of Lu Xun in [[Kiskőrös]], Hungary]]

Lu Xun has been described by Nobel laureate [[Kenzaburō Ōe]] as "the greatest writer Asia produced in the 20th century."<ref>{{cite journal|title= Interpreting Lu Xun|author=Jon Kowallis ([[University of Melbourne]])|journal=Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews|pages=153–164|year=1996|doi=10.2307/495630|volume=18|jstor= 495630}}</ref> Shortly after Lu Xun's death, Mao Zedong called him "the saint of modern China", but used his legacy selectively to promote his own political goals. In [[Yan'an Rectification Movement|1942]], he quoted Lu out of context to tell his audience to be "a willing ox" like Lu Xun was, but told writers and artists who believed in freedom of expression that, because CCP areas were already liberated, they did not need to be like Lu Xun. After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, CCP literary theorists portrayed his work as orthodox examples of communist literature, yet every one of Lu's close disciples from the 1930s was purged. Mao admitted that, had Lu survived until the 1950s, he would "either have gone silent or gone to prison".<ref>Lovell 2009 xxi–xxxiii</ref>
[[File:Luxunguju zhengfang.JPG|thumb|Lu Xun Museum in Beijing]]

Party leaders depicted him as "drawing the blueprint of the communist future" and Mao Zedong defined him as the "chief commander of China's Cultural Revolution," although Lu did not join the party. During the 1920s and 1930s Lu Xun and his contemporaries often met informally for free-wheeling intellectual discussions, but after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 the Party sought more control over intellectual life in China, and this type of intellectual independence was suppressed, often violently.

Finally, Lu Xun's satirical and ironic writing style itself was discouraged, ridiculed, then as often as possible destroyed. In 1942, Mao wrote that "the style of the essay should not simply be like Lu Xun's. [In a Communist society] we can shout at the top of our voices and have no need for veiled and round-about expressions, which are hard for the people to understand."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-3/mswv3_08.htm|title=TALKS AT THE YENAN FORUM ON LITERATURE AND ART|website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> In 2007, some of his bleaker works were removed from school textbooks. [[Julia Lovell]], who has translated Lu Xun's writing, speculated that "perhaps also it was an attempt to discourage the youth of today from Lu Xun's inconveniently fault-finding habits."<ref>{{Cite news
 | last = Lovell
 | first = Julia
 | title = China's conscience
 | newspaper = Guardian
 | date = 2010-06-12
 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/12/rereading-julia-lovell-lu-xun
}}</ref>

During the Cultural Revolution, the CCP both hailed Lu Xun as one of the fathers of communism in China, yet ironically suppressed the very intellectual culture and style of writing that he represented. Some of his essays and writings are now part of the primary school and middle school compulsory curriculum in China.<ref name="Goldman">{{cite journal|last=Goldman|first=Merle|date=September 1982|title=The Political Use of Lu Xun|journal=The China Quarterly|publisher=Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=91|issue=91|pages=446–447|jstor=653366|doi=10.1017/S0305741000000655|s2cid=154642676 }}</ref>

Lu completed volumes of translations, notably from Russian. He particularly admired [[Nikolai Gogol]] and made a translation of ''[[Dead Souls]]''. His own first story's title, "Diary of a Madman", was inspired by [[Diary of a Madman (Nikolai Gogol)|Gogol's story of the same name]]. As a left-wing writer, Lu played an important role in the development of modern Chinese literature. His books were and remain highly influential and popular today, both in China and internationally. Lu Xun's works appear in high school textbooks in both China and Japan. He is known to Japanese by the name Rojin ({{lang|ja|ロジン}}; {{lang|ja|魯迅}}).

Because of his leftist political involvement and the role his works played in the subsequent history of the People's Republic of China, Lu Xun's works were banned in Taiwan until the late 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Fangming |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYd5AAAAIAAJ&q=%E9%AD%AF%E8%BF%85+%E2%80%9C%E5%9B%9B%E5%8D%81%E2%80%9D |title=典範的追求 |date=1994 |publisher=聯合文學出版社 |isbn=978-957-522-076-1 |page=318 |language=zh |trans-title=The Quest for Paradigm |quote=一九四九年國民黨逃亡到台灣,展開積極的反共政策,從此出現了以後長達四十年的反魯迅傳統。}}</ref> He was among the early supporters of the [[Esperanto]] movement in China.

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'' (''Call to Arms'') and ''Panghuang'' (''Wandering''), are often acclaimed as classics of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun's translations were important at a time when foreign literature was seldom read, and his literary criticisms remain acute and persuasively argued.

Lu Xun was also a leader of the Woodcut Movement in China (1930–1950) and widely recognized as a pioneer of the rise of the [[woodcut]] print in China.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gan Zhenglun {{!}} Lu Xun and Uchiyama at the Woodblock-Printing Class {{!}} China |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/77150 |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref> After encountering new printmaking techniques in Japan, Lu embraced the art form, envisioning it as a medium to promote social change and "an alternative socialist road to art."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Corban |first1=Caroline |last2=Art |first2=Bowdoin Journal of |title=Lu Xun (1881-1936) and the Modern Woodcut Movement |url=https://www.academia.edu/13157636 |journal=Bowdoin Journal of Art}}</ref> Through writings, lectures, and woodcut print publications, Lu Xun was instrumental in inspiring a generation in China towards the black-and-white woodcut.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-20 |title=Lu Xun's Legacy: Printmaking in Modern China {{!}} SOAS |url=https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/lu-xuns-legacy-printmaking-modern-china |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=www.soas.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>

The work of Lu Xun has also received attention outside China. In 1986, Fredric Jameson cited "Diary of a Madman" as the "supreme example" of the "national allegory" form that all [[Third World]] literature takes.<ref name="Jameson">{{cite journal|last=Jameson|first=Fredric|date=Autumn 1986|title=Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism|journal=Social Text|publisher=Duke University Press|volume=15|issue=15|pages=65–88|doi=10.2307/466493|jstor=466493}}</ref> Gloria Davies compares Lu Xun to Nietzsche, saying that both were "trapped in the construction of a modernity which is fundamentally problematic".<ref name="Davies">{{cite journal|last=Davies|first=Gloria|date=July 1992|title=Chinese Literary Studies and Post-Structuralist Positions: What Next?|journal=The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs|publisher=Contemporary China Center, Australian National University|volume=28|issue=28|pages=67–86|doi=10.2307/2950055|jstor=2950055|s2cid=155250111}}</ref> According to Leonardo Vittorio Arena, Lu Xun cultivated an ambiguous standpoint towards Nietzsche, a mixture of attraction and repulsion, the latter because of Nietzsche's excesses in style and content.<ref name="Arena">{{cite book|last=Arena|first=Leonardo Vittorio|year=2012|title=''Nietzsche in China in the XXth Century''|publisher=ebook}}</ref>
* A major literature prize in China, the [[Lu Xun Literary Prize]] is named after him. 
* [[233547 Luxun|Asteroid (233547) 2007 JR27]] was named after him.
* [[Lu Hsun (crater)|A crater on Mercury]] is named after him.
* The artist [[Shi Lu]] chose the second half of his pen name to reflect his admiration for Lu Xun.<ref>{{cite book|last=King|first=Richard|title=Art in Turmoil: The Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966–76|date=2010|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|location=Hong Kong|isbn=978-9888028641|page=62|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y_VLkX4tjAMC&pg=PA62}}</ref>

== Style and thought ==
Lu Xun was a versatile writer. He wrote using both traditional Chinese conventions and 19th century European literary forms. His style has been described in equally broad terms, conveying both "sympathetic engagement" and "ironic detachment" at different moments.<ref name="Hesford">{{cite journal|last=Hesford|first=Walter|date=April 1992|title=Overt Appropriation|journal=[[College English]]|publisher=National Council of Teachers of English|volume=54|issue=4|pages=406–417|doi=10.2307/377832|jstor=377832}}</ref> Particularly in his early novellas, Lu wrote about characters who were weak, indecisive, frustrated, and largely the victims of oppressive Chinese culture.<ref name=":Laikwan">{{Cite book |last=Laikwan |first=Pang |title=One and All: The Logic of Chinese Sovereignty |date=2024 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=9781503638815 |location=Stanford, CA}}</ref>{{Rp|page=125}}

His essays are often incisive in his societal commentary, and in his stories his mastery of the vernacular language and tone make some of his literary works (like "The True Story of Ah Q") hard to convey through translation. In them, he frequently treads a fine line between criticizing the follies of his characters and sympathizing with those very follies. Lu Xun was a master of [[irony]] and satire (as can be seen in "The True Story of Ah Q") and yet could also write impressively direct prose ("My Old Home", "A Little Incident").
[[File:Chinese Peasant ca 1909. - 1090198~3.jpg|thumb|Chinese peasant in Tianjin {{circa|1909}}]]

Lu Xun is typically regarded by Mao Zedong as the most influential Chinese writer who was associated with the May Fourth Movement. He produced harsh criticism of social problems in China, particularly in his analysis of the "Chinese national character". He was sometimes called a "champion of common humanity".{{By whom|date=February 2011}}{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

Lu Xun felt that the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 had been a failure. In 1925 he opined, "I feel the so-called Republic of China has ceased to exist. I feel that, before the revolution, I was a slave, but shortly after the revolution, I have been cheated by slaves and have become their slave." He even recommended that his readers heed the critique of Chinese culture in ''Chinese Characteristics'' by the missionary writer [[Arthur Henderson Smith|Arthur Smith]]. His disillusionment with politics led him to conclude in 1927 that "revolutionary literature" alone could not bring about radical change. Rather, "revolutionary men" needed to lead a revolution using force.<ref name="Lee">{{cite journal|last=Lee|first=Leo Ou-Fan|date=July 1976|title=Literature on the Eve of Revolution: Reflections on Lu Xun's Leftist Years, 1927–1936|journal=Modern China|publisher=Sage Publications, Inc.|volume=2|issue=3|pages=277–326|jstor=189028|doi=10.1177/009770047600200302|s2cid=220736707}}; Lydia Liu,"Translating National Character: Lu Xun and Arthur Smith," Ch 2, ''Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity: China 1900–1937'' (Stanford 1995).</ref> In the end, he experienced profound disappointment with the new Nationalist government, which he viewed as ineffective and even harmful to China.

Lu contended that "[i]f [[Chinese characters]] are not exterminated, there can be no doubt that China will perish."<ref name=":Mullaney">{{Cite book |last=Mullaney |first=Thomas S. |title=The Chinese Computer: a Global History of the Information Age |date=2024 |publisher=[[The MIT Press]] |isbn=9780262047517 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=87}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
Lu Xun's works became known to English readers as early as 1926 with the publication in Shanghai of ''The True Story of Ah Q'', translated by [[George Kin Leung]], and more widely beginning in 1936 with an anthology edited by Edgar Snow and [[Nym Wales]] ''Living China, Modern Chinese Short Stories,'' in which Part One included seven of Lu Xun's stories and a short biography based on Snow's talks with Lu Xun.<ref>New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1937. Reprinted: Westport, CT: Hyperion Press, 1973. {{ISBN|088355092X}}.</ref> However, there was not a complete translation of the fiction until the four-volume set of his writings, which included ''[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun]]'' translated by [[Yang Hsien-yi]] and [[Gladys Yang]]. Another full selection was William A. Lyell's ''Diary of a Madman and Other Stories'' (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990). In 2009, [[Penguin Classics]] published a complete translation by Julia Lovell of his fiction, ''The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun'', which the scholar Jeffrey Wasserstrom<ref>[http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5310 Jeffrey Wasserstrom], UC Irvine, Department of History</ref> said "could be considered the most significant Penguin Classic ever published."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Wasserstrom |first=Jeffrey |date=7 December 2009 |title=China's Orwell |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1943086,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]}}</ref>

''The Lyrical Lu Xun: a Study of his Classical-style Verse''—a book by Jon Eugene von Kowallis (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996) – includes a complete introduction to Lu Xun's poetry in the classical style, with Chinese characters, literal and verse translations, and a biographical introduction which summarizes his life in relation to his poetry.

In 2017, [[Harvard University Press]] published a book of his essays translated by Eileen J. Cheng, titled ''Jottings under Lamplight''.

=== Short stories ===
* Nostalgia (1913) {{lang|zh-hant|吶喊}} ({{Lang-zh|p=Nàhǎn}}),1923, translated as ''Call to Arms'' (Yang and Yang), ''Cheering from the Sidelines'' (Lyell) and ''Outcry'' (Lovell):
*[[Diary of a Madman (Lu Xun)|Diary of a Madman]] ({{Lang-zh|c=狂人日記|p=Kuángrén Rìjì}}), 1918
*[[Kong Yiji]] ({{Lang-zh|c=孔乙己|p=Kǒng Yǐjǐ}}), 1918<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=125}}
*[[Medicine (Lu Hsun)|Medicine]] ({{Lang-zh|t=藥|p=Yào}}), 1919<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=125}}
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#Tomorrow|Tomorrow]] ({{Lang-zh|c=明天|p=Míngtiān}}), 1920
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#An Incident|An Incident]] ({{Lang-zh|c=一件小事|p=Yījiàn Xiǎoshì}}), 1920
*[[The Story of Hair]] ({{Lang-zh|p=Tóufà de gùshì|t=頭髮的故事}}), 1920
*[[A Storm in a Teacup (Lu Xun)|A Storm in a Teacup]] ({{Lang-zh|p=Fēngbō|t=風波}}), 1920
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#My Old Home|My Old Home]], also translated as "Hometown" ({{Lang-zh|t=故鄉|p=Gùxiāng}}), 1921<ref name=":Laikwan" />{{Rp|page=125}}
* [[The Dragon Boat Festival]], also translated as "The Double Fifth Festival"{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} ({{Lang-zh|p=Duānwǔjié|t=端午節}}), 1922
* [[The White Light]] ({{Lang-zh|c=白光|p=Báiguāng}}), 1922
* [[The Rabbits and the Cat]] ({{Lang-zh|t=兔和貓|p=Tù hé Māo}}), 1922
* [[The Comedy of the Ducks]] ({{Lang-zh|t=鴨的喜劇|p=Yā de Xǐjù}}), 1922
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#Village Opera|Village Opera]] ({{Lang-zh|p=Shèxì|c=社戲}}), 1922
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#Preface to Call to Arms|Preface to ''Call to Arms'']], 1922
{{lang|zh-hant|徬徨}}, 1926, translated as ''Wandering'' (Yang and Yang), ''Wondering Where to Turn'' (Lyell) and ''Hesitation'' (Lovell):
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#The New Year Sacrifice|The New Year's Sacrifice]] ({{Lang-zh|c=祝福|p=Zhùfú}}), 1924
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#In the Wine Shop|In the Wine Shop]], also translated as "In the Drinking House" ({{Lang-zh|p=Zài Jiǔlóu shàng|s=|c=在酒楼上}}), 1924
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#A Happy Family|A Happy Family]] ({{Lang-zh|p=Xìngfú de Jiātíng|t=幸福的家庭}}), 1924
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#Soap|Soap]] ({{Lang-zh|c=肥皂|p=Féizào}}), 1924
* The Eternal Flame, 1924
* Public Exhibition, 1925
* Old Mr. Gao, 1925
* [[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#The Misanthrope|The Misanthrope]], also translated as "The Loner" ({{Lang-zh|p=Gūdú Zhě|t=孤獨者}}), 1925
* [[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#Regret for the Past|Regret for the Past]], also translated as "Sadness", or "Regrets for the Past" ({{Lang-zh|c=傷逝|t=Shāngshì}}), 1925
* Brothers, 1925{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#Divorce|Divorce]] ({{Lang-zh|t=離婚|p=Líhūn}}), 1925
{{lang|zh-tw|故事新編}} (1935), translated as ''Old Tales Retold'' (Yang and Yang) and ''Old Stories Retold'' (Lovell):
* Mending Heaven, 1935
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#The Flight to the Moon|The Flight to the Moon]] ({{Lang-zh|p=Bēn Yuè|c=奔月}}), 1926
* Curbing the Flood, 1935
* Gathering Vetch, 1935
*[[Selected Stories of Lu Hsun#Forging the Swords|Forging the Swords]] ({{Lang-zh|t=鑄劍|p=Zhù Jiàn}}), 1926
* Leaving the Pass, 1935
* Opposing Aggression, 1934
* Resurrect the Dead, 1935

=== Novella ===
*[[The True Story of Ah Q]] ({{Lang-zh|t=阿Q正傳|p=Ā Q Zhèngzhuàn}}), 1921

=== Essays ===
* "My Views on Chastity", 1918
* "What Is Required to Be a Father Today", 1919
* "Knowledge Is a Crime", 1919
* "What Happens After Nora Walks Out?" Based on a talk given at the Beijing Women's Normal College, 26 December 1923. In Ding Ling and Lu Hsun, ''The Power of Weakness''. The Feminist Press (2007), pp.&nbsp;84–93.<ref>{{Cite web|date=19 October 2017|title=What Happens after Nora Walks Out|url=https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2017/10/19/what-happens-after-nora-walks-out/|website=MCLC Resource Center}}</ref>
* "My Moustache", 1924
* "Thoughts Before the Mirror", 1925
* "On Deferring Fair Play" (1925)

=== Miscellaneous ===
*{{lang|zh-tw|中國小說史略}} (1925), based on lectures from 1920, translated as ''[[A Brief History of Chinese Fiction]]'' (Yang and Yang, 1959)
*{{lang|zh-tw|野草}} ({{Lang-zh|p=Yěcǎo}}), 1927, prose poems, translated as ''Wild Grass'' (Yang and Yang, 2003); ''Weeds'' (Turner, 2019); and ''Wild Grass'' (Cheng, 2022)
*{{lang|zh-tw|唐宋傳奇集}},1927–28, editor of an anthology of [[Chuanqi (short story)|chuanqi]], translated as ''Anthology of Tang and Song Tales: The Tang Song Chuanqi Ji of Lu Xun'' (World Scientific, 2020)
*{{lang|zh-tw|朝花夕拾}}, 1932, a collection of essays about his youth, translated as ''Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk'' (Yang and Yang, 1976) and ''Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk'' (Cheng, 2022)
*{{lang|zh-tw|熱風}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|華蓋集}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|華蓋集続編}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|墳}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|而已集}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|三閑集}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|二心集}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|偽自由書}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|南腔北調集}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|准風月談}}
*{{lang|zh-cn|花邊文學}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|且介亭雑文}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|且介亭雑文二集}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|且介亭雑文末編}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|集外集}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|集外集拾遺}}
*{{lang|zh-tw|集外集拾遺補編}}

== See also ==
* [[Zhou Jianren]]
* [[Lu Xun Literary Institute]]
* [[Lu Xun Literary Prize]]
* [[Lu Xun Native Place]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Arena, Leonardo Vittorio. ''Nietzsche in China in the XXth Century''. 2012.
* Davies, Goria. ''Lu Xun's Revolution: Writing in a Time of Violence.'' Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2013. {{ISBN|9780674072640}}.
* {{citation |last = Denton |first = Kirk |url = http://u.osu.edu/mclc/online-series/lu-xun/ |title = Lu Xun Biography |publisher = MCLC Resource Center |year = 2002 |ref = none}} Retrieved 24 July 2014.
* [[W.J.F Jenner|Jenner, W.J.F.]] "Lu Xun's Last Days and after". ''The China Quarterly''. 91. (September 1982). 424–445.
* {{cite encyclopedia |surname=Jin |given=Ha |contribution=Zhou Yucai writes ʽʽA Madman's Diaryʻʻ under the Pen Name Lu Xin |editor-surname=Wang |editor-given=David Der-wei |editor-link=David Der-wei Wang |title=A New Literary History of Modern China |year=2017 |place=Harvard, Ma |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |pages=254–259 |url={{Google books|id=f1WsDwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y|page=|keywords=|text=}} |isbn=978-0-674-97887-4}}
* Kowallis, Jon. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DLjW2p4ojP8C ''The Lyrical Lu Xun'']. United States of America: University of Hawai'i Press. 1996. {{ISBN|0-8248-1511-4}}
* Lee, Leo Ou-Fan. ''Lu Xun and His Legacy.'' Berkeley: University of California Press. 1985. {{ISBN|0520051580}}.
* Lee, Leo Ou-Fan. ''Voices from the Iron House: A Study of Lu Xun.'' Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1987. {{ISBN|0253362636}}.
* Lovell, Julia. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r2YebvLcwSgC&pg=PA81 ''The Politics of Cultural Capital: China's Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature'']. United States of America: University of Hawai'i Press. 2006. {{ISBN|0-8248-2962-X}}
* Lovell, Julia. "Introduction". In ''Lu Xun: The Real story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China, The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun.'' England: Penguin Classics. 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-140-45548-9}}.
* Lu Xun and Xu Guangping. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wrq5R6GZJswC&pg=PP1 ''Love-letters and Privacy in Modern China: The Intimate Lives of Lu Xun and Xu Guangping'']. Ed. McDougall, Bonnie S. Oxford University Press. 2002.
* Lyell, William A. ''Lu Hsün's Vision of Reality.'' Berkeley: University of California Press. 1976. {{ISBN|0520029402}}.
* Pollard, David E. ''The True Story of Lu Xun.'' Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. 2002. {{ISBN|9629960605}}.
* [[Arthur Sze|Sze, Arthur]] (Ed.) ''Chinese Writers on Writing''. [[Arthur Sze]]. [[Trinity University (Texas)#Trinity University Press|Trinity University Press]]. 2010.
* Veg, Sebastian. [http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/794 "David Pollard, The True Story of Lu Xun"]. ''China Perspectives''. 51. January–February 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
* Kaldis, Nicholas A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SbfungEACAAJ&q=lu+xun+kaldis ''The Chinese Prose Poem: A Study of Lu Xun's Wild Grass (Yecao)'']. [[Cambria Press]]. 2014. {{ISBN|9781604978636}}.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Library resources box|about=yes|by=yes}}{{Commons and category|Lu Xun}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or|Lu Xun}}
* [http://web.bureau.tohoku.ac.jp/manabi/manabi6/mm6-3.htm Special Issue about Lu Xun] {{in lang|ja}} at web.bureau.tohoku.ac.jp
* [http://u.osu.edu/mclc/online-series/lu-xun/ Lu Xun bibliography<!-- bot-generated title -->] at u.osu.edu/mclc/
* [http://www.xys.org/pages/luxun.html Lu Xun webpage] {{in lang|zh}}
* [http://teacher.whsh.tc.edu.tw/huanyin/mofa/l/mofa_lushung.htm Selected works by Lu Xun] {{in lang|zh-tw}}
* [http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/lx.html A Brief Biography of Lu Xun with Many Pictures]
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lu-xun/index.htm Reference Archive: Lu Xun (Lu Hsun)<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.marxists.org
* [http://www.pinyin.info/readings/lu_xun/writing.html ''An Outsider's Chats about Written Language''], a long essay by Lu Xun on the difficulties of Chinese characters
* {{Gutenberg author |id =26193|name = Xun Lu }}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname = Lu Xun }}
* {{Librivox author |id = 2654 }}

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{{Portal bar|China|Literature|Novels|History|Biography}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Xun}}
[[Category:Lu Xun| ]]
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese translators]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese historians]]
[[Category:20th-century pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Peking University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Beijing Normal University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Xiamen University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Sun Yat-sen University]]
[[Category:Chinese literary critics]]
[[Category:Scholars of Chinese literature]]
[[Category:Chinese magazine writers]]
[[Category:Chinese magazine editors]]
[[Category:Chinese male short story writers]]
[[Category:Chinese Marxist writers]]
[[Category:Chinese expatriates in Japan]]
[[Category:Chinese government officials]]
[[Category:Chinese Esperantists]]
[[Category:Critics of Confucianism]]
[[Category:Educators from Shaoxing]]
[[Category:Hangzhou High School alumni]]
[[Category:Modernist writers]]
[[Category:Poets from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese essayists]]
[[Category:Short story writers from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:Tohoku University alumni]]
[[Category:Writers about activism and social change]]
[[Category:Writers from Shaoxing]]
[[Category:Chinese language reform]]
[[Category:Chinese satirists]]
[[Category:Chinese satirical novelists]]
[[Category:People from Shaoxing]]