Cao Pi
A 7th century Tang Dynasty era painting of Cao Pi and ministers at his side, by Yan Liben (600-673).
Emperor of Cao Wei
Born	187
Died	29 June 226 (aged 38–39)
Predecessor	Cao Cao
Successor	Cao Rui
Names
Simplified Chinese	曹丕
Traditional Chinese	曹丕
Pinyin	Cáo Pī
Wade-Giles	Ts`ao P`i
Style name	Zihuan (子桓)
Posthumous name	Emperor Wen (文帝)
Temple name	Shizu (世祖)

Cao Pi (187 – 29 June 226^[1]), formally known as Emperor Wen of Wei, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Born in Qiao County, Pei Commandery (present-day Bozhou, Anhui), he was the second son of the late Han Dynasty warlord Cao Cao.

Cao Pi, like his father, was a poet. The first Chinese poem using seven syllables per line (七言詩) was the poem Yan Ge Xing (燕歌行) by Cao Pi. He also wrote over a hundred articles on various subjects.

Cao Pi was the eldest son of Cao Cao and his concubine (later wife) Lady Bian. Of all his brothers, Cao Pi was the most shrewd. Instead of studying hard or conducting military affairs, he was always in the presence of court officials in order to gain their support.^{[citation needed]} He was mostly in charge of defense^{[clarification needed]} at the start of his career. After the defeat of rival warlord Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu, he took the widow of Yuan Shao's son Yuan Xi, Lady Zhen, as a consort, although eventually she lost his favor and was forced to commit suicide. After he became emperor, his other favorite, Guo Nüwang, became empress.

In 220, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian, last ruler of the Han Dynasty, to abdicate and proclaimed himself Emperor of Wei. Cao Pi continued his father's war against the rival states of Shu Han and Eastern Wu but was unsuccessful. Unlike his father, he concentrated most of his efforts on his home country. During his reign, he formally established Chen Qun's nine-rank system as the base for civil service nomination, which drew many talents into his government. On the other hand, he drastically reduced the power of princes, stripping off their power to oppose him, but at the same time, rendering them unable to assist the emperor if a crisis arose within the state.

Family background and early career[link]

Cao Pi was born in 187, to Cao Cao and one of his favorite concubines Lady Bian. At the time of Cao Pi's birth, Cao Cao was a mid-level officer in the imperial guards in the capital Luoyang, with no hint that he would go on to the great campaigns he eventually carried out after the collapse of the imperial government in 190. In the period after 190 when Cao Cao was constantly waging war, it is not known where Cao Pi and his mother Lady Bian were, or what their activities were. The lone reference to Cao Pi during this period was in 204, when he took Yuan Xi's wife Lady Zhen as his wife. (Lady Zhen gave birth to Cao Pi's eldest son Cao Rui only eight months later—which created murmurs that Cao Rui might have been biologically Yuan Xi's son and not Cao Pi's, although the possibilities appeared farfetched.)

The next immediate reference to Cao Pi's activities was in 211, when he was commissioned to be commander of the imperial guards and deputy prime minister. This position made him assistant to his father, who was then prime minister and effectively in control of the imperial government. His older brother Cao Ang had died earlier, and Cao Pi was then the oldest son of Cao Cao. Further, his mother Lady Bian was now Cao Cao's wife (after Cao Ang's adoptive mother, Cao Cao's first wife Lady Ding, was deposed), thus making Cao Pi the presumptive heir to Cao Cao.

However, his status as heir was not immediately made legal, and for years there were lingering doubts on whom Cao Cao intended to make heir. Cao Cao greatly favored Cao Zhi, a younger son of his also by Lady Bian, who was known for his literary talents. Both Cao Pi and Cao Zhi were talented poets, but Cao Zhi was more highly-regarded as a poet and speaker. By 215, the brothers were in concord on the surface but each had his own set of associates fighting each other under the surface. Initially, Cao Zhi's party appeared to be prevailing, and in 216 they were successful in falsely accusing two officials supporting Cao Pi -- Cui Yan and Mao Jie. Cui was executed, while Mao was deposed. However, the situation shifted after Cao Cao received advice from his strategist Jia Xu, who concluded that changing the general rules of succession (primogeniture) would be disruptive—using Yuan Shao and Liu Biao as counterexamples. Cao Pi was also fostering his image among the people and created the sense that Cao Zhi was wasteful and lacking actual talent in governance. In 217, Cao Cao, who was by this point Prince of Wei, finally declared Cao Pi as his crown prince. He would remain as such until his father's death in 220.

As King of Wei[link]

Cao Cao died in the spring of 220, while he was at Luoyang. Even though Cao Pi had been crown prince for several years, there was initially some confusion as to what would happen next. The apprehension was particularly heightened when, after Cao Cao's death, the Qing Province (青州, modern central and eastern Shandong) troops under the powerful general, Zang Ba, suddenly deserted, leaving Luoyang and returning home. Further, the well-known military general Cao Zhang arrived in Luoyang in a hurry, creating the apprehension that he was intending to seize power from his brother. Upon hearing this news at Cao Cao's headquarters at Yecheng, Cao Pi hastily declared himself the new Prince of Wei and issuing an edict in the name of his mother, Princess Bian, before receiving an official confirmation from Emperor Xian of Han, of whom he was still technically a subject. After Cao Pi's self-declaration, neither Cao Zhang nor any other individual took action against him. He then ordered his brothers, including Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi, back to their fiefs. With the help of Jiang Ji, the political situation soon stabilized.

As emperor of Cao Wei[link]

Succeeding Emperor Xian[link]

In the winter of 220, Cao Pi made his move for the imperial throne, strongly suggesting to Emperor Xian that he should yield the throne. Emperor Xian did so, and Cao Pi formally declined three times (a model that would be followed by future usurpers in Chinese history), and then finally accepted, ending the Han Dynasty and starting a new Wei Dynasty. The former Emperor Xian was created the Duke of Shanyang. Cao Pi posthumously honored his grandfather Cao Song and father Cao Cao as emperors, and his mother Princess Dowager Bian as empress dowager. He also moved the imperial capital from Xu (許縣, in modern Xuchang, Henan) to Luoyang.

Military failures against Sun Quan[link]

Block print of Cao Pi wearing anachronistic clothing

After news of Cao Pi's ascension (and an accompanying false rumor that Cao had executed Emperor Xian) arrived in Liu Bei's domain of Yi Province (益州, modern Sichuan and Chongqing), Liu Bei declared himself emperor as well, establishing Shu Han. Sun Quan, who controlled the vast majority of modern southeastern and southern China, did not take any affirmative steps one way or another, leaving his options open.

An armed conflict between Liu and Sun quickly developed, because in 219 Sun had ambushed Liu's long-serving general Guan Yu to retake his western Jing Province (荊州, modern Hubei and Hunan), which Liu had controlled. Liu then wanted to take vengeance on Guan Yu's death. To avoid having to fight on two fronts, Sun formally paid allegiance to Cao, offering to be a vassal of Cao Wei. Cao's strategist Liu Ye (劉曄) suggested that Cao decline and instead attack Sun on a second front. This would effectively partition Sun's domain with Shu Han, and would eventually allow Cao to destroy Shu Han as well. Cao declined this suggestion, in a fateful choice that most historians believe doomed his empire to ruling only the northern and central China; Such an opportunity would not come again. Indeed, against Liu Ye's advice, he created Sun the Prince of Wu and granted him the nine bestowments.

Sun's submission did not last long, however. After Sun's forces, under the command of Lu Xun, defeated Liu Bei's forces in 222, Sun began to distance himself from Cao Wei. When Cao demanded that Sun send his heir Sun Deng (孫登) to Luoyang as hostage, Sun refused and formal relations broke down. Cao personally led an expedition against Sun, and in response, Sun declared independence from Cao Wei, establishing Eastern Wu. By this time, having defeated Liu, Eastern Wu's forces enjoyed high morale and effective leadership from Sun, Lu, and a number of other capable generals. Cao's forces were not able to make significant advances against them despite several large-scale attacks in the next few years. The division of the Han empire into three states has become firmly established, particularly after Liu Bei's death in 223. Liu Bei's prime minister Zhuge Liang, serving as regent for his son Liu Shan, re-established the alliance with Sun, causing Cao Wei to have to defend itself on two fronts and unable to conquer either. Exasperated, Cao made a famous comment in 225 that "Heaven created the Yangtze to divide the north and the south."

Domestic matters[link]

Cao Pi was generally viewed as a competent, but unspectacular, administrator of his empire. He commissioned a number of capable officials to be in charge of various affairs of the empire, employing his father's general guidelines of valuing abilities over heritage. However, he was not open to criticism, and officials who dared to cricitize him were often demoted and, on rare occasions, put to death.

Treatment of princes[link]

Since Cao Pi was still fearful and resentful at Cao Zhi, he soon had the latter's fief reduced in size and had a number of his associates executed. Ding Yi, who was chief among Cao Zhi's strategists, had his whole clan wiped out as a result of assisting the latter in the past. Cao Pi's younger brother, Cao Xiong, was also said to have committed suicide out of fears for his brother. Legend also says Cao Pi assassinated his own brother, Cao Zhang.^[2] In 223, Cao Zhang was summoned to the palace by Cao Pi. During a casual conversation, Cao Zhang asked his brother if he could see his royal seal. This got Cao Pi worried and made up his mind to kill his brother. Since Empress Dowager Bian favored Cao Zhang, so Cao Pi had to make Cao Zhang's death seem natural. A few weeks later, Cao Pi invited his brother to a game of weiqi during their mother's birthday. The match was very close in the middle game when Cao Pi's servants brought some prunes, some of them were poisoned. Cao Pi made sure he ate the unmarked ones that were not poisonous and made sure his brother ate the other ones. When Cao Zhang realized that he had been poisoned, he screamed for help. Empress Dowager Bian got to the scene on her bare feet and tried to search for water to flush down the poison that was now in Cao Zhang's body. But unfortunately for Cao Zhang, the crafty Cao Pi had secretly placed all the containers away beforehand, so Empress Dowager Bian failed to get the water; Cao Zhang then died as a result.

In summary, under regulations established by Cao Pi, not only were the Cao Wei princes (unlike princes of the Han Dynasty) distanced from central politics, they also had minimal authority even in their own principalities and were restricted in many ways, particularly in the use of military.

Treatment of officials[link]

Cao Pi was recorded to frequently ridicule his subordinates. For example, Yu Jin was captured by Shu and was imprisoned in Eastern Wu. When Shu became a vassal, he was returned to Cao Pi. Cao reinstated Yu to be Borders-Pacifying General (安遠將軍) and announced to send him back to Eastern Wu - where he had been imprisoned - as an envoy. However, before Yu's departure, he was instructed to travel to Ye to pay his respects at Cao Cao's tomb. When Yu arrived, he found that the emperor had had artists paint on the tomb, scenes of the Battle of Fancheng, in which Yu was shown begging for his life to be spared and succumbing to the victorious Guan Yu, while his subordinate, Pang De, was shown dying an honorable death by resisting the invading forces to his last breath. Upon seeing the vivid mural, Yu was so filled with regret and shame that he fell ill and soon died. Cao further gave the deceased Yu a notorious posthumous title of "Marquis Li" (厲侯), for people to remember the latter as the "stony marquis (or vicious marquis)"^[3] Wang Zhong, a general who followed Cao Cao for many years, was also ridiculed by his young master. Even the Grand General of the Supreme Army, Cao Zhen, was taken advantage by Cao Pi for his chubby bodyshape.

Marriage and succession issues[link]

An immediate issue after Cao Pi became emperor in 220 was who the empress would be. Lady Zhen was his wife, but by this point had long lost favor due to a variety of reasons including the struggle she had with a favorite concubine of Cao's, Guo Nüwang. Lady Guo used the unlikely possibility that Zhen's son Cao Rui might be biologically Yuan Xi's son to full advantage in creating conflicts between Cao Pi and Lady Zhen. Cao therefore refused to summon Lady Zhen to Luoyang after he ascended the throne but instead ordered her to remain at Yecheng, which caused Lady Zhen to be resentful. When words of her resentment reached Cao, he became angry and forced her to commit suicide. In 222, Cao created Consort Guo empress.

Empress Guo, however, was sonless. Lady Zhen's son Cao Rui was the oldest of Cao Pi's sons, but because she had been put to death and because of Cao Pi's lingering doubt as to his paternity, was not created crown prince. Instead, he was made only the Prince of Pingyuan following Cao Pi's ascension. Cao Pi, however, did not appear to have seriously considered any other son as heir. (It might have been because the other sons were all significantly younger, although their ages were not recorded in history.) In the summer of 226, when Cao Pi was seriously ill, he finally created Prince Rui crown prince. On his deathbed, he entrusted his successor Cao Rui to the care of Cao Zhen, Chen Qun, and Sima Yi. Following Cao Pi's death, Prince Rui ascended the throne at the young age of 21.

An illustration depicting the emperor of Wei, Cao Pi

Family[link]

• Father: Cao Cao

• Mother: Lady Bian

• Spouses:
  • Empress Zhen Wenzhao, bore Cao Rui and Princess Dongxiang, forced to commit suicide in 221
  • Empress Guo, promoted from concubine to empress in 222
  • Lady Li (李夫人)
  • Consort Li (李貴人), bore Cao Xie
  • Consort Yin (陰貴人)
  • Consort Chai (柴貴人)
  • Lady Pan (潘淑媛), bore Cao Rui (曹蕤)
  • Lady Zhu (朱淑媛), bore Cao Jian
  • Lady Chou (仇昭儀), bore Cao Lin
  • Consort Xu (徐姬), bore Cao Li
  • Consort Su (蘇姬), bore Cao Yong
  • Consort Zhang (張姬), bore Cao Gong
  • Consort Song (宋姬), bore Cao Yan
  • Lady Liu (劉氏), daughter of Emperor Xian
  • Lady Liu (劉氏), daughter of Emperor Xian
  • Lady Ren (任氏)

• Children
  • Cao Rui, instated as Duke of Qi in 221, promoted to Prince of Pingyuan a year later. Instated as crown prince in 226, became second emperor of Cao Wei in the same year. See Cao Rui#Family for details on Cao Rui's family.
  • Cao Jie (曹喈), died at a young age
  • Cao Xie (曹協), died at a young age, posthumously granted title Duke Sang of Jing in 231 and Prince Ai of Zan in 234
  • Cao Rui (曹蕤), instated as Prince of Yangping in 226, later promoted to Prince Dao of Beihai in 232, died a year later
  • Cao Jian (曹鑒), instated as Prince Huai of Dongwuyang in 225, died in the same year
  • Cao Lin (曹霖), instated as Prince of Hedong in 222, later promoted to Prince of Guantao in 225 and Prince Ding of Donghai in 232, died in 249.
  • Cao Li (曹禮), instated as Duke of Qin in 221, later promoted to Prince of Jingzhao in 222 and Prince Ai of Yuancheng in 225, died in 229
  • Cao Yong (曹邕), instated as Duke of Huainan in 221, later promoted to Prince of Huainan in 222, Prince of Chen in 223, and Prince Huai of Handan in 225, died in 229
  • Cao Gong (曹貢), instated as Prince Dao of Qinghe in 222, died in 223
  • Cao Yan (曹儼), instated as Prince Ai of Guangping in 222, died in 223
  • Princess Dongxiang (東鄉公主), personal name unknown

Era name[link]

• Huangchu (黃初) 220-226

Appointments and titles held[link]

The following appointment and title were inherited by Cao Pi from his father Cao Cao. Cao Pi held them briefly before he became Emperor.

• Chancellor (丞相)
• King of Wei (魏王)

The following two titles were granted to Cao Pi posthumously

• Emperor Wen of Wei (魏文帝)
• Era Ancestor (世祖)

Modern references[link]

Cao Pi appears 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 series.

See also[link]

Poetry portal

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

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Chen Shou. Records of the Three Kingdoms, Volume 2, Biography of Cao Pi.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cao Pi

Zhao Yun
Qing Dynasty illustration of Zhao Yun
General of Shu Han
Born	(Unknown)[1]
Died	229[2]
Names
Simplified Chinese	赵云
Traditional Chinese	趙雲
Pinyin	Zhào Yún
Wade-Giles	Chao Yun
Style name	Zilong (子龍)
Posthumous name	Marquis of Shunping (順平侯)

Zhao Yun (died 229^[2]) was a military general who lived during the late Han Dynasty and early Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. For most of his career, Zhao served the warlord Liu Bei, playing a part in the establishment of state of Shu Han. In literature and folklore, he is lauded as the third member of the Five Tiger Generals.

Due to limits in historical records, many facts about Zhao's life remain unclear or unknown. The original records in Chen Shou's Records of Three Kingdoms are only a couple of hundred words long. Pei Songzhi's annotations provide a relatively clear, though still incomplete picture of Zhao's life.

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Zhao Yun was born in Zhending, Changshan (south of present-day Zhengding, Hebei). He joined the warlord Gongsun Zan around late 191 or early 192 as a commander of a small group of county volunteers. In 192, he became a subordinate of Liu Bei, who was serving as a major under Gongsun Zan then. Zhao commanded a contingent of several thousand Wuhuan cavalry under Liu Bei. He left Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei to attend his older brother's funeral later.

Zhao Yun rejoined Liu Bei in 200, when Liu was defeated by Cao Cao and was seeking shelter under Yuan Shao. Zhao Yun had a close friendship with Liu Bei, as they shared the same bed while they were living in Ye then. Around the same time, Liu Bei sent Zhao Yun to secretly recruit more men to join his army, while they were both still under Yuan Shao. Zhao Yun succeeded in recruiting a few hundred men, when asked, they all claimed to be Liu Bei's personal militia, and Yuan Shao was unable to know if his men deserted him for Liu. From then on, Zhao Yun followed Liu Bei in his sojourns throughout northern China.

"Zhao Yun's Fight at Changban" inside the Long Corridor on the grounds of the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. The rider in white is Zhao Yun.

In 208, Zhao Yun distinguished himself at the Battle of Changban against Cao Cao's forces. Liu Bei left his family behind while fleeing during the chaos. At the same time, Zhao Yun disappeared to the north, incurring suspicion that he had surrendered to Cao Cao. When someone reported that to Liu Bei, Liu angrily threw a handaxe and said, "Zilong (Zhao Yun's style name) would never desert me". As expected, Zhao Yun returned with Liu Bei's infant son Liu Shan and wife Lady Gan. For his success, Zhao Yun was promoted to "General of the Standard" (牙門將軍).

Efforts in establishing Shu[link]

After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhao Yun played a major role in conquering territories in Jiangnan for Liu Bei. He was promoted to Major-General (偏將軍) and appointed Grand Administrator of Guiyang, replacing Zhao Fan, who surrendered the area to Liu Bei's forces.

When Liu Bei entered Yi Province (covering the Sichuan Basin) with his major advisor, Pang Tong, he appointed Zhao Yun as the main officer overseeing his base in Gong'an. Liu Bei's wife, Lady Sun, was the younger sister of the warlord Sun Quan, who was Liu's patron and chief ally. Emboldened by her brother's power and influence, Lady Sun and her militia often ran wild and broke the law. Liu Bei considered Zhao Yun to be serious, firm and unwavering, so he granted Zhao special authority to oversee internal affairs in Gong'an, as well to keep close watch on Lady Sun and her followers. Not long after Liu Bei left Jing Province, Sun Quan secretly summoned his sister back to Jiangdong. Lady Sun wanted to bring the young Liu Shan along with her, but Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei stopped her on the Yangtze River and retrieved their lord's son.

In 214, Liu Bei's invasion of Yi Province, governed by Liu Zhang, faced desperate resistance when he reached the city of Luo (雒; northwest of Chengdu). There, rival generals Liu Xun, Zhang Ren, and Ling Bao played a staunch defense, and Pang Tong was killed in action. Zhao Yun accompanied Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang to Yi Province to assist in the war.^[3] Zhao Yun held a separate command, with his army marching from Jiangzhou (present-day Chongqing), through Jiangyang (present-day Luzhou) and Jianwei, to enter the region. The arrival of Zhao Yun replenished the tired soldiers who were worn by the three-year campaign, and together they surrounded Chengdu, forcing Liu Zhang to yield. Liu Bei appointed Zhao Yun as "General of the Flying Army" after occupying Chengdu. At that time, many suggested to Liu Bei to grant estates and plantations around Chengdu to his generals for them to settle in. Zhao Yun argued that it was more suitable to return the lands to the locals, and Liu Bei accepted his advice.

Battle of Han River[link]

In 219, Liu Bei and Cao Cao battled for control over Hanzhong in the Hanzhong Campaign. Cao Cao had huge amounts of food supplies stocked up near the north mountain. Zhao Yun sent his soldiers to follow Huang Zhong to attack Cao Cao's army and seize the supplies. When Huang Zhong did not return on time, Zhao Yun brought a dozen men with him to find Huang. They ran into Cao Cao's vanguard army and were preparing for engagement when Cao's main force arrived. The situation became perilous for Zhao Yun as he was vastly outnumbered. Zhao Yun attacked the frontline of Cao Cao's army, surprising the enemy and causing them to momentarily disperse. However, Cao Cao's troops soon regrouped and surrounded Zhao Yun, so Zhao fought his way towards his own camp. When Zhao Yun saw that his subordinate Zhang Zhu was injured and had fallen behind, he turned back to rescue him. Cao Cao's army pursued Zhao Yun back to his camp. Zhang Yi, Administrator of Mianyang, who was stationed in Zhao Yun's camp, thought it would be best to close all the gates. However, upon entering the camp, Zhao Yun ordered all flags and banners to be hidden, all drumming to be stopped, and the gates left completely open. Cao Cao's force feared an ambush in the camp and hastily retreated. Just then, Zhao Yun ordered his drummers to beat the drums loudly and his archers to fire arrows at the enemy. Cao Cao's army was taken by surprise and disintegrated into chaos. Many of Cao Cao's soldiers drowned as they tried to flee towards the Han River to escape.

The following day after the battle, Liu Bei arrived to inspect the battle situation. He praised Zhao Yun for the victory, "Zilong has valor through and through", and threw a feast in honor of Zhao. From then on, Zhao Yun became known as "General of Tiger's Might" (虎威將軍) in Liu Bei's army.

In 221, Liu Bei proclaimed himself Emperor of Shu Han, and declared war on Eastern Wu to avenge the death of Guan Yu and the loss of Jing Province. Zhao Yun attempted to dissuade Liu Bei from waging war on Wu, and advised him to attack Wei first, but Liu Bei ignored his advice. Liu Bei then left Zhao Yun in charge of Jiangzhou, while he personally led an army to attack Wu, but was defeated at the Battle of Xiaoting.

Later life[link]

Liu Bei died in 223 and was succeeded by his son, Liu Shan. In the same year, Zhao Yun was named "South Conquering General" (征南將軍) and "Central-Protector-of-Army" (中護軍), and received the title of "Marquis of Yongchang" (永昌亭侯). He was promoted to "East Guarding General" (鎮東將軍) subsequently. In 227, Zhao Yun followed Zhuge Liang to Hanzhong to prepare for the first Northern Expedition.

Zhao Yun's last battle[link]

During the first expedition, as opposed to what was mentioned in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the honor of being the vanguard did not go to Zhao Yun. Instead, Zhao Yun was sent as a decoy against the main Wei force in Ji Valley, led by Cao Zhen. With Cao Zhen's men mostly tied up by Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang's army marched without much opposition at first. Upon learning that the Wei emperor Cao Rui dispatched Zhang He as reinforcement, Zhuge Liang promoted Ma Su over more experienced generals such as Wei Yan and Wu Yi (吳懿) to the commander of the vanguard in order to fend off Zhang He at Jieting. Ma Su was defeated by Zhang He and the Shu forces were forced to retreat. Later, Zhuge Liang lamented on his loss in the first Northern Expedition, he pointed out "his huge army at Mount Qi and Zhao Yun's army in Ji Valley, were larger than that of the enemies."^[4] However, his defeat by a smaller force was largely a result of Zhuge Liang's allocation of resources. A log in Records of Three Kingdoms explains why Zhao Yun was defeated—the entry says " (Zhao) Yun and (Deng) Zhi's troops were weak, while the enemy was strong, so they lost at Ji Valley (雲、芝兵弱敵強，失利於箕谷)." From the record, Zhuge Liang had reserved the elite troops for his favorite, Ma Su, and himself; Zhao Yun was given only weaker soldiers.^[5] In the aforementioned dialogue of Zhuge Liang, Zhuge presumed that numbers alone would help him prevail over his rival, without considering giving more power to veteran generals like Zhao Yun, Wei Yan and others; it was only after his failure did Zhuge realize army size alone did not determine the outcome of a battle(今欲減兵省將，明罰思過，校變通之道於將來；若不能然者，雖兵多何益！).

Unable to muster a victory, Zhao Yun managed to minimize his losses by rallying his surviving men to firmly defend their positions, he then personally went to the rear to prevent enemy pursuit, and did not hurry his retreat, so supplies were not lost, and no one was left behind. When he safely returned to Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang was surprised by Zhao Yun's smooth retreat and told Zhao to distribute the excess silk fabrics to his soldiers as a consolation. However, Zhao Yun rebuked his supervisor, and said to the latter, "How can rewards be given when our campaign failed? Please store the silk in a warehouse, and distribute them in October."^[6] Zhuge Liang was delighted when he heard what Zhao Yun said. Zhao Yun was demoted to "General of Peace Maintenance" (鎮軍將軍) as an overall campaign failure, despite his role as a decoy.

Death[link]

Zhao Yun died in 229 in Hanzhong and was granted the posthumous title of "Marquis of Shunping" (順平侯) by Liu Shan in 261.^[7] Liu Shan's order for Zhao Yun to be honoured read, "When Zhao Yun was serving the late emperor (Liu Bei), his contributions were already remarkable. When I was young, I relied on his loyalty to save me from great danger. That is why I am bestowing upon him the honour." Zhao Yun was one of 12 Shu subjects to be granted posthumous titles of nobility.^{[citation needed]}

Zhao Yun had two sons, Zhao Tong (趙統) and Zhao Guang. The latter followed Jiang Wei on the campaigns against Wei, and was killed in action in Tazhong.

Appraisal[link]

Zhao Yun was a disciplinarian who was able to differentiate between personal friendship and official relation. In 202, he participated in the Battle of Bowang against Cao Cao's general Xiahou Dun. In that battle, he captured Xiahou Lan (夏侯蘭), an old acquaintance who was from the same hometown as him. Zhao Yun turned Xiahou Lan in to Liu Bei, despite their close tie, but pleaded for Xiahou's life, to which Liu agreed. Xiahou Lan, as a person who was proficient at laws, became a military judge under Zhao Yun's recommendation; however, Zhao never kept Xiahou close. Such was his carefulness in handling relationships.

Zhao Yun was also able to remain sensible when facing temptation. When Zhao Yun and Zhao Fan got acquainted, the latter proposed a marriage between the former and Lady Fan, the widowed wife of Zhao Fan's older brother, while Zhao Yun politely declined, saying to Zhao Fan, "I share the same surname with you, therefore I regard your older brother as mine." Zhao Yun explained later why he did not agree to the marriage, "Zhao Fan was forced to succumb, his intentions are not yet clear. Besides, there are many other women in this world."^[8] Zhao Fan indeed escaped, indicating he harbored ill intentions. On the other hand, Zhao Yun remained unharmed because of his rationalism.

In fiction[link]

Many of Zhao Yun's actual exploits were highly dramatized in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the novel, Zhao Yun is described as being almost perfect, possessing unparalleled physical power as well as unwavering loyalty to his lord, tremendous courage, keen intelligence and serene charisma. These traits have often been reflected in almost all modern material about Zhao Yun to date. The novel portrays him as a courageous, loyal, and heroic warrior, and depicting him surviving insurmountable odds many times single-handedly.

Rescuing Liu Shan in Changban[link]

The novel portrayed Zhao Yun quickly and single-handedly slaying numerous enemy generals as he rode from point to point during the Battle of Changban, while asking civilians the whereabouts of Lady Gan, Lady Mi, and Liu Shan. As proof of his resolve, he stated that he would search everywhere to find them and if he could not, he would die on the battlefield. One of the many generals that fell to Zhao Yun was Xiahou En, who carried one of Cao Cao's prized swords, the "Qinggang" (青釭). The sword was said to be able to cut through metal as if it were mud, and Zhao Yun took it with him after slaying Xiahou En. Upon finally finding Lady Mi and Liu Shan near an old well, Lady Mi, who was injured in the leg, gave the child to Zhao Yun and refused to go with him, saying that she would be a burden to them. With enemy soldiers approaching, the two argued until Lady Mi committed suicide by throwing herself into a nearby well. Zhao Yun strapped the child to his chest and covered him with his breast plate armour and fought his way out through overwhelming encirclement of enemy troops, armed with only a spear and the newly acquired Qinggang sword. Zhao Yun's valor impressed Cao Cao, who ordered his archers not to fire at Zhao, but capture him alive instead in hope that Zhao would surrender to him. Throughout the battle, Zhao Yun charged in and out of the enemy formation seven times, killing over 50 enemy commanders.

Zhao Yun eventually fought his way to Changban Bridge, where he met Zhang Fei, who stayed behind to block the incoming enemy troops. Zhao Yun finally returned to Liu Bei's side, returned Liu Shan to him and expressed remorse for his failure to bring back Lady Mi. Liu Bei threw the infant to the ground, saying that his son was not worth the risk taken by the general to save him. Zhao Yun barely caught the child in his arms.

Rescuing Liu Shan from Lady Sun[link]

In chapter 61 (a fictionalization of a real incident), Lady Sun returned to Jiangdong to visit her ill mother after receiving news from her older brother, Sun Quan. In fact, Sun Quan was lying, as he wanted to trick Lady Sun into bringing Liu Shan along, and hold the boy hostage in exchange for Jing Province from Liu Bei. When Zhao Yun heard that Lady Sun was leaving with Liu Shan, he rushed to the pier and saw that Lady Sun had just boarded the vessel bound for Jiangdong, manned by Zhou Shan.

Zhao Yun boarded a small fishing boat and caught up with the vessel and leapt onto it. Zhao Yun fought his way through and managed to seize back Liu Shan from Lady Sun, but was unable to get off safely. Just then, the vessel was intercepted by a fleet led by Zhang Fei. Zhou Shan attempted to stop them but was slain by Zhang Fei. Lady Sun eventually agreed to let Liu Shan leave with Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun while she returned home alone.

Modern references[link]

Zhao Yun has been featured prominently in Chinese popular culture, literature, art and anecdotes. Zhao Yun was already a relatively well-known hero from the Three Kingdoms period, as folk tales about his heroics have been passed down through centuries. He became a famous household name due to the popularity of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Recently, Zhao Yun's popularity has moved beyond Asia and into the Western world, through various media, including the Internet and video games.

Film and television[link]

A dramatised version of Zhao Yun's life story is featured in the 2008 film Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, starring Andy Lau as "Zhao Zilong" (a reference to Zhao Yun by his style name). Hu Jun played Zhao Yun in Red Cliff, another film based on the Three Kingdoms that was released later in the same year. In the 2010 television series Three Kingdoms, directed by Gao Xixi, Zhao Yun was portrayed by Nie Yuan.

Video games[link]

Zhao Yun appears as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series. He is usually featured prominently on the cover of each title, and is most often used by the developers in screenshots and other promotional materials for upcoming releases. He also appears in all installments of Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms strategy game series.

See also[link]

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

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zhao Yun

References[link]

• Chen Shou. Records of Three Kingdoms, with annotations by Pei Songzhi.
• Luo Guanzhong. Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
• ""Andy Lau to Star in Two Period Films - Stratege and Zhao Zilong" on MonkeyPeaches". http://www.monkeypeaches.com/0507M.html#02A. Retrieved 2007-03-03. 

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