Everyone | how to stay ahead of the norm of globalization

Lu Xun

How to stay ahead of the norm of globalization

Text | Chen Sihe

△ New Youth, Vol. II, No. 1

This year is 2016, 100 years ago it was 1916; Last year was 2015, and 100 years ago it was 1915. From 1915 onwards, a lot happened in China. In 1915, Chen Duxiu founded "New Youth" in Shanghai, raising the two banners of "democracy" and "science"; In 1917, Hu Shi published the "Discussion on literary improvement", and began to advocate vernacular literature; In 1918, Lu Xun published "Diary of a Madman", Li Dazhao began to introduce the Marxist concept, and in 1919, the "May Fourth" student patriotic movement was set off. Further back, the Founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921... This period of time is exactly 100 years ago now, a period of intense alternation between the old and new cultures in China, and a period of dawn and youthful vitality for the transformation of the old and the old China into a young China, so who plays the most important role in this great movement that affects the future destiny of China?

The age of the most active forerunners at that time: Lu Xun was born in 1881, which is the age of the post-80s scholars we are here today; Chen Duxiu was born in 1879, and today he is the person standing at the end of the post-70s. At such an age, they have become the leaders of the new cultural movement, and through the new cultural movement, they have won the right to influence the future destiny of the country, that is, the question of where China is going. Hu Shi was born in 1891, and today, 100 years later, he is still a fellow student pursuing a doctorate here, and he has already shouldered the heavy responsibility of the standard-bearer of the New Culture Movement. The oldest of the group is Cai Yuanpei, who was born in January 1868 and is also a rabbit (Ding Di Nian). It was they who ushered in a new era in modern China. The era to which they belong is truly the age of youth.

△ Left to right: Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, Hu Shi

Was China only Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, and Hu Shi in China at that time? This is also a bias. We are now compiling modern literary history, starting with "May Fourth", "May Fourth" is a beacon to illuminate history, but where the light of the lamp can not be illuminated, such as the history of life before or outside the "May Fourth", such as the history of the "old man" born in the 50s, it does not enter our field of vision. Is such a situation normal? Theoretically, it is not abnormal, because the reason for this kind of history is only to encounter that sudden change in the 10 years, the world situation (world war, October Revolution, etc.) and the Situation of China collided fiercely, so that a revolutionary and creative group was born, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity given by history, creating a group that has never been seen before.

I interpret such a phenomenon as a "pioneer" factor in the development of Chinese culture, the May Fourth New Culture Movement itself is avant-garde rather than normal, the paradigm of the times has suddenly changed, the cultural discourse power has been handed over at once, China's fate has changed, and China in the 20th century no longer becomes a country under the shroud of feudal imperial power that has lasted for more than two thousand years.

However, the "vanguard" also has its own problems. When the "pioneer" is slowly accepted by the mainstream culture, once the rebel becomes a celebrity, scholar, and star, he is no longer a "pioneer". What is the significance of discussing Lu Xun and thinking about Lu Xun's spiritual tradition today? Which part of Lu Xun is the most worthy of learning from us at present? For example, just to study topics such as "Confucianism and Buddhism in Lu Xun's Thought" and "How Lu Xun Became a Master of Sinology", or to use Lu Xun as a great individual born out of The Era of Cultural Mutation in China in the 20th Century? That's what I'm thinking about.

Today is the era of globalization, we log on to the Internet, we enter any kind of media, we go to the streets and alleys of daily life, we meet, is there pure "Chinese culture"? Even when one of the most culturally literate people walked into McDonald's, he had face-to-face contact with global culture. In such an era, of course, the first thing we need to think about is not the problem of "taking" or not "taking", but how to maintain a pioneering individual in the normal state of globalization. Individuals like Lu Xun are slowly formed in painful choices.

I think Lu Xun is more extreme and likes to take a more extreme road. I don't know if it is right or wrong to understand Lu Xun in this way? It's my opinion, maybe in layman's terms. But I think Lu Xun doesn't like the loneliness he is trapped in, he hopes that there will be a collective, a team, and a new force to cooperate with him. Lu Xun is not a person who deliberately indulges in loneliness, he participated in the GuangfuHui in his early years, later joined the "New Youth" camp, participated in the Northern Expedition Revolution in Guangdong, and finally joined the Left League, every stage of his life was looking for the sharpest political force in Chinese society, the most revolutionary group, he has been standing at the forefront of the position and constantly making choices...

△ The old appearance of the street surface of Liangyou Book Printing Company

After Lu Xun clashed with the Left League in his later years, he no longer looked outward for vanguard forces. He was reluctant to engage with more radical social organizations (such as Trotskyism) than the Left League, when Lu Xun completed the fighting character of an independent individual. In his later years, Lu Xun consciously pulled Xiao Hong, Xiao Jun, Hu Feng, and others to the outside of the Left League, and consciously cultivated young people such as Ba Jin, Huang Yuan, and Zhao Jiabi, but no longer combined with other political forces. He gathered this group of young people, and we should note that behind this group of young people were the new media at that time: cultural life publishing house, Liangyou Book Company, declaration of "Free Talk", "Middle Stream", "Translation", "Writer", "Haiyan" and so on, more than a dozen publishing houses, magazines and newspaper supplements, restoring the influence of that time, comparable to today's Internet. At that time, the writers of new literature paid less attention to the urban mass media, while the writers of civic literature (popular literature) paid more attention. At that time, the new literary writers still belonged to the academic faction, or the left-wing fighting group, and they were more ambitious. However, Lu Xun has always taken the initiative to participate in the media, uniting the new media people of that era and forming a very independent force of his own in Shanghai. It is a pity that Lu Xun died at the age of 55, his life fire burned out, and many new attempts could not be sustained.

In such a cultural atmosphere, Lu Xun, as a great "pioneer" and an independent individual, has revealed to our descendants in China what he has revealed to our descendants? In what sense do we understand and feel Lu Xun's tradition? That should be what we are thinking about today.

(This article is a speech at the forum "Fetchism and Cultural Subjectivity: China and the World from the Lu Xun Tradition", which was abridged due to limited space)

About the Author

Chen Sihe

Vice Dean of the School of Humanities, Head of the Department of Chinese, Professor, Fudan University. Vice Chairman of Shanghai Writers Association, Editor-in-Chief of Shanghai Literature, Member of the Seventh Plenary Committee of China Writers Association. He is the author of the monograph "Ba Jin's Treatise" (cooperation), "Review and Prospect of Ba Jin's Research", "The Development of Personality - The Biography of Ba Jin", the large-scale picture album "Ba Jin Says to You", the essay and essay collection "Pen Walking Dragon Snake", "Horseshoe Sound Breaking", "Sheep Riot and Monkey Disturbance", "Chicken Wind and Rain", "Talking about Tigers and Rabbits", etc., and editing "Fire Phoenix Library" and so on.