Selected Stories of Lu Hsun

<p>Lu Hsun (also known as Lu Xun) was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (1881–1936) a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in Vernacular Chinese as well as Classical Chinese Lu Xun was a short story writer editor translator literary critic essayist and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.<P></p><p>Lu Xun was born into a family of landlords and government officials in Shaoxing Zhejiang; the family's financial resources declined over the course of his youth. Lu aspired to take the imperial civil service exam; but due to his family's relative poverty was forced to attend government-funded schools teaching "Western education." Upon graduation Lu went to medical school in Japan but later dropped out. He became interested in studying literature but was eventually forced to return to China due to his family's lack of funds. After returning to China Lu worked for several years teaching at local secondary schools and colleges before finally finding a job at the national Ministry of Education.<P></p><p>After the 1919 May Fourth Movement Lu Xun's writing began to exert a substantial influence on Chinese literature and popular culture. Like many leaders of the May Fourth Movement he was primarily a leftist and liberal. He was highly acclaimed by the Chinese government after 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded and Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's writing. Though sympathetic to socialist ideas Lu Xun never joined the Communist Party of China.</p>