At present, the rapid development of new media and strong communication power are good. But the articles on the Internet and the information on the mobile phone are also uneven and cannot be trusted. I don't know how to surf the Internet on my computer, but I can also see a lot of rumors about Lu Xun on my mobile phone, involving politics, economy, emotional life and many other aspects. For example, Lu Xun touted Yuan Shikai, did not scold Chiang Kai-shek, made friends with Japanese spies, and broke with communist culture; he also said that Lu Xun's daily life was extravagant and arrogant, and said that Lu Xun had an ambiguous relationship with The Northeast female writer Xiao Hong.
All this is nonsense.
Yuan Shikai is a well-known historical figure, although it cannot be said that he has not done a single good thing in his life, he was eventually nailed to the pillar of historical shame as a traitor. After the Xinhai Revolution, he served as the Provisional President of the Republic of China, and in 1913 he officially became the President of the Republic of China. However, after working for two years, he wanted to restore the feudal imperial system, pulled the historical wheel of the republic backwards, and became the "Hongxian Emperor" for 83 days. In order to gain the support of Japanese imperialism, the Fourth Treaty of China and Japan was signed with Japan on May 9, 1915. The "Fourth Year of the People" is the fourth year of the Republic of China, that is, 1915. However, some people on the Internet said that Lu Xun praised Yuan Shikai's educational ideas, believing that he respected talents the most and cherished intellectuals the most. This statement is completely unsupported by reliable historical materials.
Lu Xun
As everyone knows, Lu Xun once worshiped Mr. Zhang Taiyan, a master of Traditional Chinese Studies, as his teacher. Mr. Taiyan was placed under house arrest at the Longquan Temple in Beijing because he scolded Yuan Shikai for his evil intentions in seizing the power of the country, and his daughter committed suicide. In Lu Xun's eyes, Yuan Shikai was a "pseudo-revolutionary counter-revolutionary", and during his reign, the city of Beijing was full of white terror of "killing, killing, killing", only to see many progressive young people being secretly arrested, but never seeing them come out alive. Lao She's famous drama "Tea House" also confirmed Lu Xun's account, and it was true that notices of "Do not talk about state affairs" were posted in the tea house at that time, because public places such as hotels and inns were full of plainclothes detectives. As for Lu Xun's signature on the traitorous "Twenty-One Articles," it is even more absurd. Lu Xun was not a diplomat, and it was possible to sign foreign treaties on behalf of the government. What's more, the "Twenty-One Articles" were unilaterally proposed by Japan to plunder China, and in the end they did not form a written diplomatic document.
It is also a paradoxical statement to say that Lu Xun never scolded Chiang Kai-shek in his article. Lu Xun was a warrior, but opposed shirtless fighting and advocated "trench warfare." Although Lu Xun did not criticize Chiang Kai-shek by name, he always criticized Chiang Kai-shek's acts of undermining cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists and slaughtering Communists, always criticized Chiang Kai-shek's traitorous policy of "taking care of the outside world before settling in the country," and even shot up cases in essays such as "The Theory of 'Surprise of Friends'", scolding "a good 'friendly personage' of the Kuomintang government!" Something! I would like to ask, among the writers at that time, who had the courage of Lu Xun? Because of this, after Chiang Kai-shek came to power, Lu Xun's essays and translated works basically became banned books. Doesn't this show Lu Xun's political stance?
To say that Lu Xun was friends with Japanese agents refers to the owner of the Uchiyama Bookstore in Shanghai. Uchiyama, a Christian, opened a bookstore in Shanghai in 1917 and began selling Bibles, later social science books, Chinese Japanese editions, and 350 copies of the Mann Collection alone. The bookstore has been in operation for a total of three decades and has become a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and Japan. Lu Xun said that of course, selling books is to make money, but it does not sell human blood. Saying that Uchiyama was a Japanese spy was a rumor created by the Kuomintang secret service more than eighty years ago, lu xun openly refuted it. Uchiyama was not only not a Japanese spy, but also repeatedly covered up progressives such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, and Tao Xingzhi. In 1927, when Chiang Kai-shek sabotaged the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists, Guo Moruo secretly met with Li Minzhi, secretary of the Shanghai Branch of the General Political Department of the National Government in Wuhan, at the Neishan Bookstore, and then met with Zhou Enlai at Li Minzhi's home to report on Chiang Kai-shek's anti-communism in Jiujiang, Anqing and other places. Zhou Enlai immediately drafted a letter to the CPC Central Committee entitled "Rapid Dispatch to Attack Chiang Kai-shek" and launched the "August 1st" Nanchang Uprising, with Guo Moruo serving as the director of the General Political Department of the rebel forces. Because Uchiyama had progressive tendencies, he was detained by the Metropolitan Police Department in August 1937, interrogated and detained in September, and confiscated his belongings. In 1950, Uchiyama participated in the initiation of the Japan-China Friendship Association, and in 1959, he was invited to participate in the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in Beijing. Today, the Japanese friend is buried with his wife at the Shanghai Cemetery (now renamed Soong Ching Ling Mausoleum). Did any of the people Lu Xun befriend became spies? Of course, the most well-known is Jing Youlin. Lu Xun supported him in running the People's Literature and Art Weekly. After Lu Xun's death, he joined the Kuomintang secret service, which was suppressed in Nanjing in the early days of the founding of New China. People's thinking will change, and the crowd will be differentiated, which does not affect Lu Xun's sun and moon.
As for Lu Xun's break with communist culture in his later years, I am afraid that it is the wishful imagination of some people at present. If some people are concerned about Lu Xun's attitude toward the Communist Party of China, what his attitude toward the National United Front against Japan is, and what his attitude is toward the Soviet Union at that time, I suggest that they still look at the articles that Lu Xun wrote in black and white at that time. These articles are all included in the Complete Works of Lu Xun, and it is not difficult to consult at all. As for how to evaluate it, it is another matter, but the historical truth cannot be changed by anyone.
People who portray Lu Xun's break with communist culture in his later years often come up with three pieces of evidence:
First, according to the memories of Li Jiye, a literary youth cultivated by Lu Xun in those years. In April 1936, Li Jiye returned from England and visited Lu Xun in Shanghai, where he mentioned a mutual friend, Feng Xuefeng. Lu Xun gave an example of Xuefeng being an honest and generous communist. In 1928, when the "revolutionary literary controversy" occurred in the literary circles, some writers of the Creation Society and the Sun Society mistakenly believed that Lu Xun was a "laggard of the times". Many of the members of the Later Creation Society and the Sun Society were young and politically immature Communists, so Lu Xun asked Xuefeng, "When you come, I will flee, because I am probably the first to be killed." Xuefeng quickly shook his head and waved his hand, "Na Fu Hui, Na Fu Hui!" Then laugh at each other. This is obviously Lu Xun's complaint, aimed at some left-leaning infantile disease patients. Feng Xuefeng, who chatted with Lu Xun, was an important cadre of the Communist Party. It is also the CPC Central Committee and the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial CPC Committee that correct the erroneous tendencies of the Sun Society and the Creation Society.
Second, in the "Controversy over Two Slogans" from 1935 to 1936, Lu Xun sternly criticized Zhou Yang and others for being like "slave masters" and "taking the whip as the only achievement," but at the same time solemnly declared: "I have seen and supported the policy of the anti-Japanese united front put forward by China's current revolutionary party to the people of the whole country, and I have joined this front unconditionally, and the reason is because I am not only a writer, but also a Chinese." "Criticizing the inappropriate words and deeds of certain people in the Communist Party is by no means the same as opposing the entire organization of the Communist Party. Mao Zedong made it very clear: "There are parties outside the party and factions within the party; there are no parties and no factions, and there are all kinds of strange things." "So you must not equate a person or a faction with the organization as a whole.
Third, some people also say that Lu Xun's refusal to visit and recuperate in the Soviet Union is also a sign of his break with communist culture. In my opinion, there is no such thing as Lu Xun's "refusal" to visit the Soviet Union. In 1932, the Soviet Writers Association invited Lu Xun to visit the Soviet Union through the Chinese poet Xiao San, and Lu Xun gladly agreed and made some arrangements and preparations, but due to the neuralgia in his right foot, his recovery was very slow and he failed to make the trip. Later, there were many multi-channel invitations, but they failed to fulfill their wishes. There are many reasons: First, when it was inconvenient to travel to the Soviet Union, it was necessary to take a long-distance train, and the road was very hard, which was beyond Lu Xun's body to bear. Second, Lu Xun grew old in 1929 and had many difficulties in language and life as a family of three. Third, Lu Xun thought that his position was in China, and the initial idea of spending a year or two in the Soviet Union was unrealistic. Because once he left China, Lu Xun felt that he could not write articles. Fourth, the enemy had spread the rumor that Lu Xun had been bought by the golden ruble, and Lu Xun had gone to the Soviet Union to meet their hearts.
Some people may disagree with me, thinking that Lu Xun did not go to the Soviet Union because Stalin was engaged in purge and anti-expansion. In fact, Lu Xun was not clear about the political struggle within the CPSU. The Soviet purge began in 1934, but was massively expanded from 1937 to 1938, when Lu Xun had died. Lu Xun's affirmation of the Soviet Union and the October Revolution in lu xun's works mainly focuses on two points: First, the liberation of human rights, that is, the subversion of serfdom, and the people became the masters who could control their own destiny. The second is the emancipation of the productive forces, that is, the Transformation of the Soviet Union from an agrarian country to an industrial country after the October Revolution. The above two points are still the criteria for judging the merits of the social system.
Regarding Lu Xun's daily life, I once made an introduction based on the recollections of Lu Xun's wife, Xu Guangping, saying that Lu Xun's life was civilian. For example, I like to eat farm fried rice, Shanghai's crab shell yellow - this is a kind of southern baked cake, the outside is browned yellow and the inside is crunchy, shaped like a crab. I don't like to eat fish, because I have to pick thorns and waste time. When improving your life, you like to cook some ham meat. He also said that when he was studying in Nanjing, he had no cotton pants in winter, and he relied on eating peppers for warmth, and he developed a habit, so that eating hurt his stomach. Is that right? Of course, there is a historical basis. But recently there was an article circulating on the Internet, the author claimed to be based on a "Lu Xun Family Recipe", saying that Lu Xun in the Shanghai period, the family simply did not open a gang, three meals a day are the restaurant's "high-end takeaway customization", what Cantonese cuisine, Shaoxing cuisine, Shanghai cuisine, basically do not repeat. Seeing Lu Xun 'overeating', some young writers were "simply stunned." Some people also say that if the Republic of China period was also ranked as a "writer rich list", then Lu Xun was absolutely the chief. This statement is not only taken out of context, but also made up out of thin air.
First of all, this family recipe was donated by Xu Guangping to the Shanghai Lu Xun Memorial Hall in 1950, a total of two copies, neither of which has a clear date. One is from November 14 to April 5 of the following year. The other is from April 5 to June 1. "Lu Xun's Family Recipe" is the name added by the finisher, and the determination of the time as November 14, 1927 to June 1, 1928 is also the finisher's inference, and other years are not impossible.
As we all know, a person's life situation will change in his lifetime. Because the young Lu Xun fell into a difficult situation because his family was well-off, his living conditions would naturally not be too good, so he went to Nanjing to study in a school that was free of tuition and miscellaneous fees. At that time, there was no heating in Nanjing in winter, and it was in line with the actual situation to rely on eating peppers for heating. Lu Xun studied in Japan for seven years basically living on official expenses, at that time the public funds for public students were not small, at least food and clothing, but Lu Xun loved to buy books, and even went to Germany to mail order, so he often could not make ends meet, saying that he was "poor again". After returning to China, the Xinhai Revolution coincided with the political situation and the unstable work income. It was not until he took up his post in the Ministry of Education of the Beiyang Government that he had a relatively fixed monthly salary, with two or three hundred oceans per month. This monthly salary ratio is insufficient, more than the lower, should be medium. However, the Beiyang government often owed wages, so Lu Xun likened himself to "a rich man in spirit and a poor person in material things." Lu Xun was a hurried visitor in Both Xiamen and Guangzhou, because Xiamen University was a private university run by patriotic overseas Chinese Chen Jiageng, and although the economy was sluggish at that time, the treatment of professors was quite high. In October 1927, Lu Xun settled in Shanghai, neither as a civil servant nor a professor, and made a living from writing fees and royalties. Thanks to the help of Lu Xun's friend Xu Shousheng and the help of Cai Yuanpei, president of the Academia Sinica, Lu Xun was given the name of a "special writer", and from December 1927 to December 1931, he received a monthly salary of 300 oceans for four years, enabling Lu Xun's family and three members to settle down in Shanghai, a difficult city, and write articles in a down-to-earth manner.
From 1932 to October 1936, Lu Xun lived exclusively on the fee. His standard for publishing articles in newspapers and periodicals was five to ten yuan per thousand words, which was the highest standard at that time, but Shanghai's consumption was high, and ten yuan could not rent a small room. Lu Xun's royalties "cannot be less, but they are only enough to spend" (letter to Li Xiaofeng on October 2, 1932). The royalties mainly came from the Beixin Bookstore, and the total income should be as much as 120,000 yuan in the 24 years from May 1912 to October 1936. However, Beixin Bookstore often defaulted on royalties, and almost triggered a lawsuit with Lu Xun. In addition to supporting a family of three in Shanghai, Lu Xun's income also had to support relatives far away in Beiping, and helped his third brother who was in financial difficulties, as well as many progressive writers who lived in difficulty, such as Xiao Jun, Xiao Hong, and Ye Zi. Therefore, on the whole, although Lu Xun is not short of food and clothing, there is still a huge gap between him and the "exquisite" and "arrogant" life. As Lu Xun said: "If the trade-off, that is, not the whole person, plus inhibition, more out of the truth." ("Undetermined Grass VI") Not to mention that it is uncertain how many people eat the dishes on these two recipes. If the time of this recipe is determined to be from November 1927 to June 1928, then Lu Xun has just arrived in Shanghai, whether to settle down has not yet been decided, temporarily living in Jingyunli near Baoshan Road, so he calls for takeaway and never opens a gang. In addition to Lu Xun and his wife, there are also three brothers Zhou Jianren's family, and even Zhou Jianren's colleagues, most of the time it is four families of seven people who eat together, so this account cannot all be recorded on Lu Xun's head. Looking at the recipe itself, at most it is just chicken, duck and fish meat, and there is no mountain treasure and seafood, let alone "overeating". Lu Xun has had stomach problems for many years, how can he "overeat"?
Some people also compared Lu Xun's diet with his brother Zhou Zuoren, saying that Zhou Zuoren ate stinky tofu and drank corn paste in his later years. This is more of a ridiculous contrast, a malicious distortion. After the founding of New China, although Zhou Zuoren's identity was a cultural traitor, he was still taken care of by the government, and the People's Literature Publishing House paid him three hundred yuan per month for his manuscripts. The three hundred yuan was the salary of senior cadres at that time. I graduated from college and started working, the monthly salary is 54 yuan, and I have to support my family. Therefore, Zhou Zuoren belongs to a special class. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou Zuoren was criticized for fighting, and in his later years, his health was not good, and it was possible to eat stinky tofu and drink corn paste, but that was a special situation in a special period. To this day, I also love to eat stinky tofu and drink polenta, which does not prove that I am hungry and hot.
As for the relationship between Lu Xun and Xiao Hong, some articles and literary and artistic works have also ambiguousized it. In fact, Xiao Hong was an exiled writer in northeast China who began to correspond with Lu Xun in 1934. Lu Xun wrote the preface to her novel The Field of Life and Death. At the end of the same year, Xiao Hong and her lover Xiao Jun began to communicate with Lu Xun from Qingdao to Shanghai. Lu Xun affirmed her creative talent, and also appreciated the "wildness" of Erxiao, that is, frankness and simplicity. Later, Xiao Hong found out that Xiao Jun had an affair, and his heart was painful, and he often went to Lu Xun's house to talk about it, but Lu Xun was ill, and most of the people who received her were Lu Xun's wife Xu Guangping. Lu Xun's love for Xiao Hong is the mentor's love for the youth, a kind of father's love and mother's love, and also a kind of friendship for left-wing writers in distress. Recently, it was said that an auction company auctioned a red bean given to Xiao Hong by Lu Xun and Xu Guangping for 241,500 yuan, and I felt a little inexplicable. If this is an ordinary red bean, or a plaything given to Xiao Hong by Lu Xun and Xu Guangping, then this kind of sky-high price cannot be auctioned in any way. If Xu Guangping transferred the love object that Lu Xun gave her to Xiao Hong, it was even more incredible and counterintuitive. Lu Xun wrote in "And The Collection of Small Miscellaneous Feelings": "When I saw the short sleeves, I immediately thought of the white arm, and immediately thought of being completely naked... Chinese imagination can only leap forward at this level. This sentence does break the psychology of some people.
In short, I think that in order to understand the real Lu Xun in history, we should mainly rely on the text he left behind in black and white, and we should not trust those hearsay anecdotes.
The author is a research librarian at the Lu Xun Museum