Zhu Ran (182 – 249^[1]) was a military general of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. Despite being a childhood friend of the first emperor of Eastern Wu, Sun Quan, he was never tasked with important position nor assignment before Lü Meng's invasion of southern Jing Province in 219, wherein he assisted in capturing the enemy commander Guan Yu. Following the Battle of Xiaoting, the Cao Wei state launched a three-pronged strike on Eastern Wu's northwestern, middle, and eastern borders. Zhu was sent to the northwestern border, where he defended the city of Jiangling with only 5,000 troops against an enemy force about ten times greater. He rose to fame and became feared throughout Cao Wei. He then participated in a series of military operations against Cao Wei, during which he defeated several enemy units, but the overall objectives had never been met. Before his death, Zhu was granted authority to oversee matters within the army.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Originally from Guzhang (故鄣), Danyang (present-dau Anji County, Huzhou), Shi Ran was a nephew of Sun Ce's veteran general, Zhu Zhi, who had a liking to the 13-year-old Shi Ran and asked Sun to grant him permission to adopt the child. Since Zhu had contributed considerably to Sun's pacification of Jiangdong and had not bore a son, Sun specifically ordered the Governor of Danyang to bring presents to the family of Shi for the ceremony and celebration. Thus, Shi Ran became an adopted son of Zhu Zhi and had his last name changed into Zhu. In addition, he studied together with Sun Ce's younger brother, Sun Quan as a young boy, and the two became very intimate. Because of this, after Sun Ce died and was succeeded by Sun Quan, Zhu Ran was made a Prefect of Yuyao (余姚) at the mere age of 19. Zhu was later appointed as chief of Shanyin (山陰), acting on authority of a captain, to oversee five local counties around the area. Pleased with his abilities, Sun further promoted him to be the Administrator of Linchuan (臨川), and gave him command over 2,000 soldiers.

Capture of Guan Yu[link]

During his tenure as an administrator, he had the merit of subjugating the Shanyue ethnic group within his jurisdiction, and was able to do so in less than a month. However, when the hegemonic warlord, Cao Cao led his massive army to invade the Wu area, Zhu stayed in the back just as most other officials at the time did; and was not assigned significant tasks for some time until the Battle of Ruxukou, where Zhu proved his loyalty in personally going to the frontline to help resist Cao's 400,000 strong army. Although Zhu didn't engage the enemy in this battle, he was promoted by Sun to be a Major General, as a way to reaffirm his trust in Zhu. In 219, Zhu Ran participated in Lü Meng's Jing Province campaign as Lu's aide. When the enemy commander, Guan Yu, was abandoned by his troops and trapped in Maicheng, Zhu was ordered by Lu to lay the first line of blockades to Guan's escape. However, for reason unknown, Zhu let Guan slip by, and Pan Zhang, who was responsible for the second layer, succeeded in capturing Guan Yu alive. Regardless, Sun credited both Pan and Zhu for Guan's capture. When Lü Meng laid on his death bed shortly after the Jing Province campaign, Sun asked his input on who could succeed him as the new commander for the army, wherein Lü highly praised the abilities of Zhu Ran and recommended the latter be the replacement. Heeding Lü's dying words, Sun gave the staff of authority to Zhu, and tasked him with the defense of Jiangling, capital city of Nan Commendary and a vital strategic stronghold on the front-line.

Two years later, the emperor of Shu Han, Liu Bei, led a grand force of more than 100,000 troops to invade Wu, and Zhu led his 5,000 troops to join the Wu commander, Lu Xun, for the tactical defense of Xiaoting. When the next summer came, Zhu led a separate force against Shu. After breaking Liu Bei's vanguard, Zhu Ran's forces took up a position at the rear of Shu army, blocking their escape as they attempted to flee from a fire attack executed by Lu Xun. Together, Lu Xun and Zhu Ran chased the Shu emperor into the deep hills, pushing him back to Baidecheng, where he would admit defeat and die shortly afterwards.

Defense of Jiangling[link]

Throughout the whole course of the Wu-Shu conflict, the Wei military had assembled troops but never mobilized. However, immediately following the success of Lu Xun's battles against Shu, the Wei Emperor, Cao Pi suddenly launched a three-pronged campaign against Wu after Sun Quan refused to send his eldest son, Sun Deng, as hostage. Even though Cao Pi's plan was detected by Lu Xun, who ordered Xu Sheng to perform a double-back to return to Jianye and informed Sun to prepare for war, the Wu forces still faced a dire situation. Their troops were stretched thinly across at least four fronts; on the western front facing Baidecheng, where Liu Bei's declaration of war was still in effect; the Nan Commandery, which was pressed by the Wei generals Zhang He, Xu Huang, Cao Zheng, and Xiahou Shang; at Ruxukou, where Wei Grand General Cao Ren was leading his team to land on the Middle Island; and at the eastern battlefield on the Yangtze River, Dongkou, where Zhang Liao and Cao Xiu defeated Lü Fan's navy. At the time, there was an extreme shortage of military personnel. Furthermore, an outbreak of disease greatly reduced the morale and number of soldiers in Zhu Ran's army, leaving him with only 5,000 men capable to do battles, who were intimidated by the news that the Wu reinforcements led by Sun Sheng (孫盛) were eliminated by Zhang He. At Jiangling, Xiahou Shang had also built numerous pontoon bridges for his soldiers to cross the shallow waters and attack the castle. With each passing day, the number of Wei troops besieging the castle increased by the thousands. Not knowing how and where the Wei forces were crossing the shallows of the river, the Wu reinforcements under Pan Zhang and Zhuge Jin had no effective way to lift the siege.

Surrounded in his castle, Zhu was heavily outnumbered by Cao Zheng, who encircled the fortress with several layers and deployed a variety of siege weapons. Yet Zhu showed no signs of fear, and encouraged his comrades and subordinates to counter the enemy. When Cao relaxed his guard, Zhu's forces were able to destroy two of the Wei encampments. Six months had passed; however, the Wei army still continued the siege, and Cao Pi had arrived at Wan city to bolster their morale. One of Zhu's officers, seeing that the Wei troops were numerous and that the food supply within Jiangling castle was running out, planned to defect to Wei. He secretly contacted the Wei troops outside of the castle walls and promised to open the gate to permit their forces entry. When the betrayer was about to open the castle gate, he was noticed by Zhu and executed. At the time, Pan Zhang had gone upstream and collected one million bundles of reeds. He fitted these to rafts and set them on fire, sending them downstream so that they would burn the pontoon bridges being used by Wei. Knowing what Pan had done, the Wei forces returned north before the retreat route could be destroyed. Because of his extraordinary performance in this battle, Zhu Ran's name became known throughout the Kingdom of Wei as a powerful enemy general.

Late life[link]

In 241 he led an assault on Fancheng and surrounded it. However, the army of Wei under the command of Sima Yi defeated him, and he retreated. In 246 he again invaded Wei and attacked Zhazhong (柤中), and when his escape route was cut off by Li Xing (李興) of Wei, he defeated Li Xing's forces and withdrew.

In 245, Lu Xun died and Zhu Ran was given command over the armies of Wu by Sun Quan. He died four years later in 249, and received the third largest funeral after Lu Meng and Ling Tong. At his funeral service, Sun Quan is said to have wept greatly for him. His son, Zhu Ji, succeeded him and continued to serve Eastern Wu.

Tomb of Zhu Ran[link]

In June 1984^[2], during the construction of a factory, Zhu Ran's burial site was discovered in Ma'anshan, Anhui. Many historically important decorative items of clothing and some of the world's oldest discovered lacquer were unearthed after being discovered within. The tomb had been underground for nearly 1,700 years.^[3] Though the tomb was raided, it was still home to 140+ of many valuable items. Most of the remaining buried items included mainly lacquered items made of wood, such as wooden plates, wooden clogs, and some wooden tables with educational stories and images drawn on them.^[4] The road on which the site was discovered was renamed to "Zhuran Road" in his honour.

Family[link]

• Zhu Zhi, uncle
• Zhu Ji (朱績), son

In fiction[link]

In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhu Ran was killed by Zhao Yun while pursuing Liu Bei's defeated force in Battle of Xiaoting in 222.

Modern references[link]

In Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series, he is instrumental in the fire attack on Liu Bei's army in the Battle of Yiling, which is the turning point of the battle, causing Liu Bei to lose most of his army and morale and being forced to retreat.

See also[link]

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms

References[link]

• Chen Shou. Records of Three Kingdoms, Chapter 56, Biography of Zhu Ran.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

Zhou Yu
Qing Dynasty block print illustration of Zhou Yu
General of Sun Quan
Born	175
Died	210 (aged 35)
Names
Simplified Chinese	周瑜
Traditional Chinese	周瑜
Pinyin	Zhōu Yú
Wade-Giles	Chou Yü
Style name	Gongjin (公瑾)
Other names	"Zhou the Handsome Youth" (美周郎)

Zhou Yu (175–210)^[1] was a military general and strategist who served his close friend, the warlord Sun Ce, during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. After the death of Sun Ce, another prominent warlord, Cao Cao, led a massive force southward with the intention to conquer the Jiangdong region, Zhou Yu was assigned by Sun Ce's brother and successor, Sun Quan, to be the naval commander for the defensive forces and he defeated Cao Cao's forces at the decisive Battle of Red Cliffs in 208. The subsequent Battle of Jiangling, which had Lieutenant General (偏將軍) Zhou Yu serving as the commander-in-chief of Sun Quan's forces, solidified the survivability of the future Eastern Wu regime. Thus, Zhou Yu was praised by Sun Quan to be the sole person who enabled him to become an emperor years after Zhou's death.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Zhou Yu was born in Lujiang Commandery in an influential family with many members who served in high ranking positions in the government. Zhou Jing (an elder cousin of Zhou Yu's father) and Zhou Jing's son Zhou Zhong both took the post of Grand Commandant in the Han imperial court. Zhou Yu's father, Zhou Yi, was the Chief of Luoyang, the capital.^[3] When the coalition against Dong Zhuo was formed, Zhou Yi led his family to migrate to Lujiang. There, Sun Jian's son Sun Ce and Zhou Yu studied together and became lifelong friends. Zhou Yu's uncle later became the governor of Danyang under the warlord Yuan Shu , Zhou went visit his uncle and stayed there, while his best friend, Sun Ce, was planning to establish independence over the soil of Jiangdong.

Sun Ce, under a commission from Yuan Shu, entered Yang Province to aid his relatives, Wu Jing and Sun Ben, who were attacked by Liu Yao. When Sun was about to cross the Yangtze River to begin his Jiangdong campaign, he sent a letter to Zhou Yu, stating his ambition. In response, Zhou Yu led his troops to Liyang (歷陽, present-day He County, Anhui, China) to catch up with Sun Ce, who exclaimed upon Zhou's arrival, "with you, greatness can be attained!"^[4]

Service under Sun Ce[link]

Zhou Yu was involved in the first half of Sun Ce's campaign to unify Yang Province, wherein the focus was to defeat the warlords in the area. He was credited with the capture of Hengjiang (橫江; southeast of present-day He County, Anhui, on the northern shore of the Chang River) and Dangli (當利; east of present-day He County, Anhui). After this, Zhou Yu followed Sun Ce across the Yangtze River and conquered Huji (湖孰; present-day Husu, Jiangning, Jiangsu), Jiangcheng (江乘; near present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), and Qu'e (曲阿; present-day Situ Town, Jiangsu). The area's strongest opponent, the Inspector of Yang Province, Liu Yao, fled from Moling (秣陵; near present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu) because Sun Ce's forces had been bolstered by local peasant forces numbering several tens of thousands. Thinking that he could complete his objective with these troops, Sun Ce ordered Zhou Yu back to defend Dangyang.^[5]

Fed by Sun Ce's victories, Yuan Shu's became more ambitious, to a point that he wanted to declare himself emperor. Sun Ce sent a letter to Yuan Shu trying to dissuade him from doing so, declaring his loyalty to the Han Emperor Xian, but his counsel fell on deaf ears. Yuan Shu sent his cousin to replace Zhou Shang as Administer of Dangyang and kept him and Zhou Yu in Shouchun (present-day Shou County, Anhui). In order to control Sun Ce, Yuan Shu had Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's families imprisoned. As a result, Zhou persuaded Yuan to grant him the position of Chief of Juchao, with the intention of escaping and returning to Sun Ce via Juchao (present-day Chaohu City, Anhui).

Upon knowledge of this plan, Sun Ce sent Lü Fan to secretly retrieve the families and take them to the southern side of the Yangtze River.^[6] Sun Ce severed ties with Yuan Shu and allied with Lü Bu, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei to oppose him. It was during Zhou Yu's journey to Wu that he encountered a wealthy merchant called Lu Su, whom he took to Sun Ce. This merchant would later become a prominent advisor to the Sun family.

Marriage[link]

It was around this time that Zhou Yu and Sun Ce married the Qiao sisters, with Sun Ce marrying the elder Qiao and Zhou Yu the younger. Very soon afterwards, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu pacified most of Yang Province on the south of the Yangtze River and extended their power into the Wu region and north into the Huai River region, defeating Liu Xun and the remnant forces of Yuan Shu in the north as well as Huang Zu and the forces of Liu Biao to the west.

Serving Sun Quan[link]

In 200, Sun Ce was assassinated and was succeeded by his younger brother, Sun Quan. Zhou Yu took control of military affairs while Zhang Zhao was in charge of domestic affairs. Around this time, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao and demanded that Sun Quan send a family member hostage. Zhou Yu advised against sending a hostage. This raised Zhou Yu's prestige within the Sun family, and he was treated as an older brother by Sun Quan. In 206, Zhou Yu attacked the local bandits and captured over 10,000 people and resettled them. When he was stationed on the border, he repelled an attack by Liu Biao's general, Deng Long, who was captured in the battle.

In 208, Sun Quan ordered an attack on Jiangxia, which was controlled by Huang Zu. Zhou Yu was assigned the Grand Commander, Lü Meng the navy commander, and Ling Tong the vanguard commander for the campaign. Even the battles were harder than expected, Huang Zu was ultimately captured and executed.

Not long later, Cao Cao started a campaign aimed at wiping out all opposition in southern China. As his army conquered Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan) and was closing in on Sun Quan, the latter's court was divided upon the issue of whether to surrender or resist. Sun Quan consulted Zhou Yu, who replied: "Although Cao Cao pretends to be a minister of the Han Dynasty, he is actually a thief who is attempting to steal the empire from Han. My lord, with your brilliant talent and your father and brother's military prowess, have ruled and pacified Eastern Wu. The territory stretches thousand of li, the soldiers are well trained, brilliant advisors of great talents are at your disposal. It is the time to get rid of Cao Cao and restore the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao has come down south and presented himself as an opportunity for you, my lord. Now I will analyse for you the dire situation Cao Cao has placed himself into: Even if the north has been completely unified, can Cao Cao's ground based army fight against our superior navy and marines? The truth is that the north has not been completely pacified. Ma Chao will remain a thorn in Cao Cao's flesh. Cao Cao's superior cavalry is useless against the mountainous and watery terrain of the south. Winter is upon us, and yet Cao Cao's large army has to depend on a long supply line halfway across China. Cao Cao's army are mainly composed of northerners, and they are not used to the environment of the south, thus they will easily become sick. With all of these problems, I promise you that with 30,000 men, I can easily defeat him." Greatly relieved, Sun Quan decided to resist Cao Cao's invasion.

The Battle of Red Cliffs ensued. Contrary to popular belief, Zhuge Liang did not contribute much and Zhou Yu was the supreme commander of the united forces against Cao Cao. In this battle, a series of stratagems were employed by Zhou Yu to destroy Cao Cao's naval fleet. Huang Gai proposed a plan in which he pretended to surrender to Cao Cao and infiltrated the enemy camp. There, he set his own ships on fire and rammed them into Cao Cao's ships before jumping into the river. Many of Cao Cao's ships were set ablaze and he was forced to flee back to Xuchang.

Afterwards, Zhou Yu led his army in pursuit of Cao Cao's army and laid siege to Nan Commandery. While on the front lines, Zhou Yu was seriously wounded by a stray arrow and forced to withdraw from the direct command of troops. Cao Ren, the defending general, heard of Zhou Yu's injury and ordered his soldiers to yell insults outside Zhou's camp in an attempt to dishearten his army. Zhou Yu personally inspected his troops to raise their morale. Seeing that the advantages he had hoped to gain were lost, Cao Ren retreated. After a year of siege, Nan Commandery was taken and Zhou Yu was appointed governor of the commandery.

Death[link]

In 210, Zhou Yu proposed to Sun Quan his plan to attack Liu Zhang of Yi Province (covering the Sichuan Basin) and unify all of southern China under Sun Quan to resist Cao Cao in northern China. In addition, he proposed an alliance with Zhang Lu of Hanzhong and Ma Chao of Liang Province (covering present-day Gansu), whom Zhou Yu correctly predicted would soon oppose Cao Cao (Ma Chao rebelled a year later, and Zhang Lu supported him). While preparing for the long campaign, he died at age 35 in Baqiu (present-day Yueyang, Hunan).

Zhou Yu was buried in his ancestral home in Lujiang. Lu Su succeeded him as commander-in-chief of Sun Quan's military, while his oldest son Zhou Xun inherited his title of nobility.

Family[link]

• Great-great-grandfather: Zhou Rong (周榮), served as Imperial Secretary during the reigns of Emperor Zhang and Emperor He

• Father: Zhou Yi (周異), served as Prefect of Luoyang

• Spouse: Xiaoqiao

• Children:
  • Zhou Xun, eldest son, married Sun Quan's daughter Sun Luban, served as Cavalry Commandant, died at a young age
  • Zhou Yin (周胤), second son, served as Commandant of Xingye, married a woman of the Sun clan, granted title of Marquis of Duxiang, later exiled to Luling Commandery for committing a crime, died of illness
  • Lady Zhou (周氏), personal name unknown, married Sun Quan's eldest son Sun Deng

• Other relatives:
  • Zhou Jing (周景), elder cousin of Zhou Yi, served as Inspector of Yu Province, Imperial Secretary, and Grand Commandant
  • Zhou Zhong (周忠), Zhou Jing's son, served as Administrator of Danyang and Grand Commandant
  • Zhou Shang (周尚), Zhou Yu's uncle, served as Grand Commandant
  • Zhou Jun (周峻), son of Zhou Yu's elder brother, appointed Lieutenant-General

Appraisal[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (December 2010)

Zhou Yu was an intelligent young man, who was considered handsome and good-looking by his contemporaries. He was open and made friends with his humility. Cheng Pu, a senior general who had served the Sun family since Sun Jian's time, made fun of Zhou Yu's young age, but Zhou took his remarks stoically and they became friends later. Zhou Yu was also a multi-talented person with interest in poetry and music. There was a saying at that time about Zhou Yu's skill in music, "If the tune has a problem, Zhou Yu will fix it." (曲有誤, 周郎顧).^{[citation needed]} Zhou Yu was also well known for his loyalty towards his lord. Even though Sun Quan regarded him as an older brother, Zhou Yu always respected Sun as his lord and served him with humility and care.

In fiction and popular culture[link]

In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhou Yu is depicted as a rival of Zhuge Liang. He was extremely jealous of Zhuge Liang's talent and he relentlessly attempted to outwit the latter but never succeeded. His role in the novel was also overshadowed by Zhuge Liang, especially in the events of the Battle of Red Cliffs. Furthermore, Zhou Yu's death was dramatized in the novel and altered to be caused intentionally by Zhuge Liang. Zhou Yu sustained an arrow wound during the earlier Battle of Jiangling, and his condition deteriorated as he was infuriated by Zhuge Liang, who foiled his plans three times. On the third time, he coughed blood and lamented, "If (Zhou) Yu has already been born, why is (Zhuge) Liang to be born?" (既生瑜, 何生亮?), before collapsing and dying.^[7]

In Chinese opera, Zhou Yu is cast as a xiaosheng (young man) or wusheng (military dress man), even when he appears together with Zhuge Liang, who was actually younger than he was. In Kun opera, Zhou Yu appears as a zhiweisheng, as in the scene The Swaying Reeds, in which he is captured and later released by Zhang Fei.^{[citation needed]}

Modern references[link]

• In the anime series Ikki Tousen, the character Shuuyu Koukin is roughly based upon Zhou Yu. His cousin and ward, Sonsaku Hakufu, is based on Zhou Yu's close friend Sun Ce. Like his counterpart in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Shuuyu Koukin resents Zhuge Liang, though for a different reason.

• In the anime series Koutetsu Sangokushi, Zhou Yu (again in the original Japanese as Shuuyu Koukin) was not able to prevent Sun Ce's assassination, but serves as Sun Quan's level-headed advisor and admiral, as well as something of a story foil to the more impulsive and brash Taishi Ci (known as "Taishiji" in Japanese).

• Zhou Yu is featured as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series. He also appears in Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms strategy game series.

• In the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering there is a card named "Zhou Yu, Chief Commander" in the Portal Three Kingdoms set.

• Tony Leung played the role of Zhou Yu in the 2008 film Red Cliff.

See also[link]

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms
• List of Dynasty Warriors characters

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Chen Shou. (c.280). Records of Three Kingdoms, Volume 54, Biography of Zhou Yu.
• Luo Guanzhong. (c.1321). Romance of the Three Kingdoms (A historical novel).
• de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Brill. p. 1152. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.

Zhou Shuren
Born	(1881-09-25)September 25, 1881 Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China
Died	October 19, 1936(1936-10-19) (aged 55) Shanghai, China
Pen name	Lu Xun
Occupation	short story writer, critic, essayist
Period	1881–1936
Influences Nikolai Gogol, Friedrich Nietzsche,[1] Zhang Binglin
Influenced Ding Ling, Xiao Hong, Mao Zedong, Kenzaburō Ōe

Lu Xun (simplified Chinese: 鲁迅; traditional Chinese: 魯迅; pinyin: Lǔ Xùn) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles), was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (simplified Chinese: 周树人; traditional Chinese: 周樹人; pinyin: Zhōu Shùrén; Wade–Giles: Chou Shu-jen) (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua (白話) (the vernacular) as well as classical Chinese. Lu Xun was a short story writer, editor, translator, critic, essayist and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the Chinese League of the Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.

Lu Xun's works exerted a very substantial influence after the May Fourth Movement to such a point that he was highly acclaimed by the Communist regime after 1949. Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's works. Though sympathetic to the ideals of the Left, Lu Xun never actually joined the Chinese Communist Party. Like many leaders of the May Fourth Movement, he was primarily a liberal.

Lu Xun's works became known to English readers through numerous translations, beginning in 1960 with Selected Stories of Lu Hsun translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. More recently, in 2009, Penguin Classics published a complete anthology of his fiction titled The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun which the scholar Jeffrey Wasserstrom^[2] said "could be considered the most significant Penguin Classic ever published."^[3]

Life[link]

Early life[link]

Former residence of Lu Xun in Shaoxin

Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, Lu Xun was named Zhou Zhangshou (周樟壽) with his style name Yushan (豫山). The style name was later changed to Yucai (豫才). In 1898, before he went to Jiangnan Naval Academy, he took the given name of "Shuren" (樹人), figuratively, "to be an educated man".^[4]

The Shaoxing Zhou family was very well-educated, and his paternal grandfather Zhou Fuqing (周福清) held posts in the Hanlin Academy; Zhou's mother, née Lu, taught herself to read. However, after a case of bribery was exposed – in which Zhou Fuqing tried to procure an office for his son, Lu Xun's father, Zhou Boyi – the family fortunes declined. Zhou Fuqing was arrested and almost beheaded. Meanwhile, a young Zhou Shuren was brought up by an elderly servant Ah Chang, whom he called Chang Ma; one of Lu Xun's favorite childhood books was the Classic of mountains and seas.

His father's chronic illness and eventual death during Lu Xun's adolescence, apparently from tuberculosis, persuaded Zhou to study medicine. Distrusting traditional Chinese medicine, he went abroad to pursue a Western medical degree at Sendai Medical Academy (now medical school of Tohoku University) in Sendai, Japan, in 1904.

Education[link]

Lu Xun was educated at Jiangnan Naval Academy (江南水師學堂) (1898–99), and later transferred to the School of Mines and Railways (礦路學堂) at Jiangnan Military Academy (江南陸師學堂). It was there Lu Xun had his first contacts with Western learning, especially the sciences; he studied some German and English, reading, amongst some translated books, Huxley's Evolution and Ethics, J. S. Mill's On Liberty, as well as novels like Ivanhoe and Uncle Tom's Cabin.

On a Qing government scholarship, Lu Xun left for Japan in 1902. He first attended the Kobun Gakuin (Kobun Institute) (Hongwen xueyuan, 弘文學院), a preparatory language school for Chinese students attending Japanese universities. His earliest essays, written in Classical Chinese, date from here. Lu also practised some jujutsu.

Lu Xun returned home briefly in 1903. At age 22, he complied to an arranged marriage with a local gentry girl, Zhu An (朱安). Zhu, illiterate and with bound feet, was handpicked by Lu Xun's mother. Lu Xun possibly never consummated this marriage, although he took care of her material needs all his life.

Sendai[link]

Lu Xun left for Sendai Medical Academy in 1904 and gained a minor reputation there as the first foreign student of the college. At the school he struck up a close student-mentor relationship with lecturer Fujino Genkurou (藤野厳九郎); Lu Xun would recall his mentor respectfully and affectionately in an essay "Mr Fujino" in the memoirs in Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk. (Incidentally, Fujino would repay the respect with an obituary essay on Lu Xun's death, in 1937.) However, in March 1906, Lu Xun abruptly terminated his pursuit of the degree and left the college.

Lu Xun, in his well-known Preface to Nahan (Call to Arms), the first collection of his short stories, tells the story of why he gave up completing his medical education at Sendai. One day after class, one of his Japanese instructors screened a lantern slide documenting the imminent execution of an alleged Chinese spy during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). Lu Xun was shocked by the complete apathy of the Chinese onlookers; he decided it was more important to cure his compatriots' spiritual ills rather than their physical diseases.

"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." (Lyell , pp 23).

Moving to Tokyo in spring 1906, he came under the influence of scholar and philologist Zhang Taiyan and with his brother Zuoren, also on scholarship, published a translation of some East European and Russian Slavic short stories, including the works of a Polish Nobel laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz. He spent the next three years in Tokyo writing a series of essays in classical Chinese on the history of science, Chinese and comparative literature, European literature and intellectual history, Chinese society, reform and religion, as well as translating the literature of various countries into Chinese.

Career[link]

The statue of Lu Xun and his wife Xu Guangping in Guangzhou

Returning to China, Lu Xun began teaching in the Zhejiang Secondary Normal School (浙江两级师范学堂), the predecessor of Hangzhou High School (浙江省杭州高级中学), Shaoxing Chinese-Western School Middle school of Shaojun (绍郡中西学堂, the predecessor of Shaoxing No.1 High School) in his hometown. With the establishment of the republic, he took a post in the Ministry of Education in Nanjing and moved with the Republican Government to Beijing, where he began to write. Lu Xun remained at the Ministry of Education until 1926 becoming first a section head and then Assistant Secretary. In 1920, encouraged by some fellow associates, he took up part-time teaching positions at the Peking University and Peking Women's Teachers College.

In May 1918, Lu Xun used this pen name for the first time and published the first major baihua short story, Kuangren Riji (狂人日記, "A Madman's Diary"). He chose the surname Lu as it was his mother's maiden family name. Partly inspired by the Gogol short story, it was a scathing criticism of outdated Chinese traditions and feudalism which was metaphorically 'gnawing' at the Chinese like cannibalism. It immediately established him as one of the most influential writers of his day.

Another of his well-known longer stories, The True Story of Ah Q (A Q Zhengzhuan, 阿Q正傳), was published in installments from 1921 to 1922. The latter would become his most famous work. Both works were included in his first short story collection Na Han (吶喊) or Call to Arms, published in 1923.

Between 1924 to 1926, Lu wrote his essays of ironic reminiscences in Zhaohua Xishi (朝花夕拾, Dawn Blossoms Picked at Dusk), published 1928, as well as the prose poem collection Ye Cao (野草, Wild Grass, published 1927). Lu Xun also wrote many of the stories to be published in his second short story collection Pang Huang (彷徨) in 1926. Becoming increasingly estranged with his brother Zuoren, the stories are typically more melancholic than in his earlier collection. From 1926, after the March 18 Massacre, for supporting the students' protests which led to the incident, he went on an imposed exile to Xiamen, Amoy University, then to Zhongshan University at Guangzhou with his student and lover Xu Guangping.

From 1927 to his death, Lu Xun shifted to the more liberal city of Shanghai, where he co-founded the Chinese League of Left-Wing Writers.^[5] Most of his essays date from this last period. Xu Guangping gave birth to a son, Haiying, on September 27, 1929. 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.^[6] In 1930 Lu Xun's Zhongguo Xiaoshuo Shilue (中國小說史略, A Concise History of Chinese Fiction) was published. It is a comprehensive overview of history of Chinese fiction up till that time, drawn from Lu Xun's own lectures delivered at Peking University and would become one of the landmark books of Chinese literary criticism in the twentieth-century.

His other important works include volumes of translations — notably from Russian (he particularly admired Nikolai Gogol and made a translation of Dead Souls, and his own first story's title is inspired by a work of Gogol) — discursive writings like Re Feng (熱風, Hot Wind), and many other works such as prose essays, which number around 20 volumes or more. As a left-wing writer, Lu played an important role in the history of Chinese literature. His books were and remain highly influential and popular even today. Lu Xun's works also appear in high school textbooks in Japan. He is known to Japanese by the name Rojin (ロジン in Katakana or 魯迅 in Kanji).

Lu Xun was the editor of several left-wing magazines such as New Youth (新青年, Xin Qingnian) and Sprouts (萌芽, Meng Ya). Because of his leanings, and of 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. He was among the early supporters of the Esperanto movement in China.

Last days and death[link]

Lu Xun's residence until his death

Lu Xun's tomb

By 1936, Lu Xun's lungs had been greatly weakened by tuberculosis. He was a chronic smoker. In March of that year, he was stricken with bronchitic asthma and a fever. The treatment for this involved draining 300 grams of fluid in the lungs through puncture. From June to August, he was again sick, and his weight dropped to only 83 pounds. He recovered some, and wrote two essays in the fall reflecting on mortality. These included "Death", and "This Too Is Life". At 3:30 am on the morning of October 18, the author woke with great difficulty breathing. Dr. Sudo, his physician, was summoned, and Lu Xun took injections to relieve the pain. His wife was with him throughout that night, but Lu Xun was found without a pulse at 5:11 am the next morning, October 19.^[7] His remains were interred in a mausoleum within Lu Xun Park in Shanghai. Mao Zedong made the calligraphic inscription above his tomb. He was survived by his son, Haiying. He was also posthumously made a member of the Communist Party for his contributions to the May Fourth Movement.

Style and thought[link]

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.^[8] 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 A Q Zhengzhuan, 阿Q正傳, The True Story of Ah Q) very 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 is a master of irony (as can been seen in The True Story of Ah Q) and yet can write impressively directly with simple engagement (My Old Home, A Little Incident).

Lu Xun is typically regarded^{[by whom?]} 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 has often been considered to have had leftist leanings. He was sometimes called a "champion of common humanity."^{[by whom?][citation needed]}

Lu Xun felt that the 1911 Xinhai Revolution 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 take seriously the critique of Chinese culture in Chinese Characteristics by the missionary writer Arthur Henderson Smith. This disillusionment with politics led the author to come to the conclusion in 1927 that "revolutionary literature" alone could not bring about radical change. Rather, "revolutionary men" needed to lead a revolution using force.^[9] In the end, he had a profound disappointment in the new government, which he viewed as negatively affecting China.

Legacy[link]

Lu Xun's importance to modern Chinese literature lies in the fact that he contributed significantly to every modern literary medium except the novel 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 (A Call to Arms or Outcry) and Panghuang (Wandering), are often taken to mark the beginning of modern Chinese literature, and are established classics. Lu Xun's translations were important in a time when Western literature were seldom read, and his literary criticisms remain acute and persuasively argued.

The relationship between Lu Xun and the Communist Party of China after the author's death was a complex one. On one hand, Party leaders depicted him as "drawing the blueprint of the communist future". 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 freewheeling intellectual discussions. As the Party sought more control over intellectual life in China, 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. 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". Thus, during the Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party 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.^[10] However, starting in 2007 some of his bleaker works were removed from school textbooks. Julia Lovell, who has translated Lu Xun's writing suggests, "Perhaps also it was an attempt to discourage the youth of today from Lu Xun's inconveniently fault-finding habits."^[11]

The work of Lu Xun has also received attention outside of China. In 1986, Fredric Jameson cited "A Madman's Diary" as the "supreme example" of the "national allegory" form that all Third World literature takes.^[12] Gloria Davies compares Lu Xun to Nietzsche, saying that both were "trapped in the construction of a modernity which is fundamentally problematic".^[13]

A major literature prize in China, the Lu Xun Literary Prize is named after him. Asteroid (233547) 2007 JR27 was named after him. A crater on Mercury is named after him.

Works[link]

Lectures[link]

"What Happens After Nora Leaves Home?" A Talk given at the Beijing Women's Normal College, December 26, 1923 Ding Ling and Lu Hsun, The Power of Weakness.' The Feminist Press (2007) 84-93

Stories[link]

• (怀旧, "Return to the Past" was his first short story, it appeared in 1909.
• from 《呐喊》 Call to Arms (1922)
  • 狂人日记 "A Madman's Diary" (1918)
  • 孔乙己 "Kong Yiji" (1919)
  • 药 "Medicine" (1919)
  • 明天 "Tomorrow" (1920)
  • 一件小事 "An Incident" (1920)
  • 头发的故事 "The Story of Hair" (1920)
  • 风波 "Storm in a Teacup" (1920)
  • 故乡 "Hometown" (1921)
  • 阿Q正传 "The True Story of Ah Q" (1921)
  • 端午节 "The Double Fifth Festival" (1922)
  • 白光 "The White Light" (1922)
  • 兔和猫 "The Rabbits and the Cat" (1922)
  • 鸭的喜剧 "The Comedy of the Ducks" (1922)
  • 社戏 "Village Opera" (1922)
• from《彷徨》"Wandering"
  • 祝福 "New Year Sacrifice" (1924)
  • 在酒楼上 In the Drinking House (1924)
  • 幸福的家庭 A Happy Family (1924)
  • 肥皂 Soap (1924)
  • 长明灯 The Eternal Flame (1924)
  • 示众 Public Exhibition (1925)
  • 高老夫子 Old Mr. Gao (1925)
  • 孤独者 The Misanthrope (1925)
  • 伤逝 Sadness
  • 弟兄 Brothers
  • 离婚 Divorce (1925)
• from《故事新编》"Old Tales Retold" (1935)
  • 补天 Mending Heaven (1935)
  • 奔月 The Flight to the Moon (1926)
  • 理水 Curbing the Flood (1935)
  • 采薇 Gathering Vetch (1935)
  • 铸剑 Forging the Swords (1926)
  • 出关 Going out (1935) = Leaving the Pass
  • 非攻 Opposing Aggression (1934)
  • 起死 Resurrect the Dead (1935)

Essays[link]

• 我之节烈观 My Views on Chastity (1918)
• 我们现在怎么做父亲 What is Required to be a Father Today (1919)
• Knowledge is a Crime (1919)
• 说胡须 My Moustache (1924)
• 看镜有感 Thoughts Before the Mirror (1925)
• On Deferring Fair Play (1925)

Collections[link]

• 《呐喊》 Call to Arms (Na han) (1923)
• 《彷徨》 Wandering (Pang huang) (1925)
• 《中国小说史略》 Brief History of Chinese Fiction (Zhongguo xiaoshuo shilüe) (1925) a substantial study of pre-modern Chinese literature
• 《故事新编》 Old Tales Retold (Gu shi xin bian) (1935)
• 《野草》 Wild Grass (Ye cao) （1927）
• 《朝花夕拾》 Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk (Zhao hua xi shi)（1932） a collection of essays about his youth

See also[link]

	China portal
	Biography portal

• Zhou Zuoren
• Zhou Jianren

Further reading[link]

• Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Lu Xun. Ed. Arthur Sze. (Trinity University Press, 2010).

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lu Xun

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lu Xun

• Lu Xun and other historical figures
• Special Issue about Lu Xun (Japanese) at web.bureau.tohoku.ac.jp
• Lu Xun bibliography at mclc.osu.edu
• Pioneer of Modern Chinese Literature at www.coldbacon.com
• Lu Xun webpage (Chinese)
• Selected works by Lu Xun (Chinese (Taiwan))
• A Brief Biography of Lu Xun with Many Pictures
• Lu Xun and Japan(Japanese)
• An Introduction to Lu Xun and his Stories

Translations[link]

• Kong Yi Ji, Lu Hsun translated by SparklingEgnlish
• Reference Archive: Lu Xun (Lu Hsun) at www.marxists.org
• Selected Stories, Lu Hsun (1918-1926) at www.coldbacon.com
• An Outsider's Chats about Written Language, a long essay by Lu Xun on the difficulties of Chinese characters
• 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.
• The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun. Trans. Julia Lovell. London: Penguin, 2009
• Capturing Chinese Short Stories from Lu Xun's Nahan Edited by Kevin Nadolny (Capturing Chinese Publications, 2009) -- includes short summaries to Lu Xun's stories, the Chinese text in simplified characters, pinyin, and definitions for difficult vocabulary.