Lu Xun

Lu Xun (1881–1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, is widely considered the founding father of modern Chinese literature. Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, he initially studied medicine in Japan before concluding that China's problems were spiritual and cultural rather than physical — and that literature, not medicine, was the cure. His "A Madman's Diary" (1918) is considered the first modern Chinese short story written in vernacular Chinese. His major collections include Call to Arms (Nahan, 1923) and Wandering (Panghuang, 1926). His satirical essay "The True Story of Ah Q" is a devastating portrait of Chinese national psychology under imperialism. Mao Zedong praised him as "the saint of modern China," though Lu Xun died before the Communist victory and his actual political views were more complex. Lu Xun lived 1881 – 1936.