Editing Lu Xun (section)

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

Lu Xun was born in [[Shaoxing]], Zhejiang. As was common before the 20th century, Lu used several names. His birth name was "Zhou Zhangshou" ({{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'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 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 Boyi 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 Boyi 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 Boyi engaged in heavy drinking and opium use and his health declined. Local Chinese 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 Boyi 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|left]]

=== 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 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" />

He did very 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.

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

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>

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}}</ref> as ''Tales from Abroad'', but the book sold only 41 copies of the 1,500 copies that were printed. The publication failed for many 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 very 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 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 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 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 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, he 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 numerous 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|left|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, he visited his mother, and reported that she was pleased at the news of Guangping's pregnancy.<ref name= "DMTTL" /> Xu Guangping 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 Xun'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.

He 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 whether there were any Ah Q's left in China. Lu 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 1936.jpg|thumb|Lu Xun 11 days before his death. Photograph by [[Sha Fei]].]]
[[File:Lu Xun's remains.jpg|left|thumb|The remains of Lu Xun in Shanghai on October 19, 1936. Photograph by Sha Fei.]]
[[File:Move Lu Xun's casket.jpg|left|thumb|Lu's casket being transferred, 1956]]
[[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 Xun 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.