Editing Lu Xun (section)

=== 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>