Editing Lu Xun (section)

== 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 very 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>