Lu Xun (1881–1936)

Abstract

The Chinese writer Lu Xun (born Zhou Shuren: Lu Xun was his pen name) is a central figure not only in the history of modern Chinese literature, but also in the political and cultural identity of the revolutionary period in China during the first half of the twentieth century. His literary work is characterized by an insistence on the need for cultural transformation in China, one which provides a rational humanist confrontation with the traditions and customs of what he viewed as China's backward society. He set himself to transform the cultural and spiritual values of Chinese society through the power of literature and saw that literature had the ability to play a revolutionary role in China through its capacity for questioning commonplace traditions and customs.