Lu Xun's portrait, this is a print drawn by Li Qun in 1936. Due to Lu Xun's strong advocacy, woodblock prints became popular in China. (File photo)
The courtyard of No. 21 West Santiao at the entrance of the palace is Lu Xun's last address in Beijing, which is the main house of the courtyard, where Lu Xun's family lives, and a small room of less than ten square meters behind the house, commonly known as "Tiger Tail", is the place where Lu Xun usually writes. (Source: Visual China)
On September 25, 1881, Lu Xun was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. This year marks the 140th anniversary of Lu Xun's birth. In Lu Xun's not very long life journey, Beijing is an important stop. He spent fourteen years in Beijing, with several different addresses, and his literary career officially began in Beijing. In addition to his identity as a writer, Lu Xun was also a public official and a teacher.
Shaoxing Guild Hall: In order to work north, I lived for more than seven years
On May 6, 1912, a strange face appeared in the Shaoxing Guild Hall in the southern half-cut hutong outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing. In the old days, Beijing City was divided into North City and South City, and the South City was full of guild halls all over the place, providing a temporary residence for fellow villagers who came to Beijing. This strange face was Zhou Shuren, and at this time the name Lu Xun had not yet come out. Lu Xun lived in shaoxing guild hall for more than seven years, the accommodation conditions are very problematic, he entered Beijing this time, because the work unit moved to Beijing.
As the history books say, the fruits of the Xinhai Revolution were usurped by Yuan Shikai, who insisted on becoming the provisional president in Beijing and not to take office in Nanjing, where the Provisional Government moved to Beijing in April of that year. As a public official in the Ministry of Education, Lu Xun naturally had to move from Nanjing to Beijing. Lu Xun has long served as the chief of the first section of the Department of Social Education in the Ministry of Education, in charge of libraries, museums, art galleries and other businesses.
Today's National Library and capital library have received strong support from Lu Xun in the early stage of development. The "Four Great Collections" that the National Library is proud of are the Dunhuang Testament, the Zhao Cheng Golden Collection, the Yongle Canon and the Four Libraries, and Lu Xun contributed a lot to the latter two into the National Library of Tibet, of course, at that time, there was no name for the National Library, but it was called the Beijing Normal Library. The history of the Beijing Normal Library can be traced back to 1909, when Lu Xun was in charge of the Beijing Normal Library, he required all publishing institutions that had been registered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to submit a copy of their publications to the Beijing Normal Library for collection, which marked that the Beijing Normal Library began to perform some functions of the National Library. National libraries must have a literature collection that can match it, not to mention that China is a big country of literature. In 1914, the "Four Libraries Complete Book", which was originally stored in the Wenjin Pavilion of the summer resort, was transported to Beijing, and it was supposed that its best home was undoubtedly the library, but it was intercepted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and with the efforts of Lu Xun and others, it was finally admitted to the Library of the Beijing Division.
One of the predecessors of the Capital Library was the Beijing Normal Library, which opened in October 1913, which was a library directly founded by Lu Xun. The division of labor between the popular library and the Beijing Normal Library is different, the Beijing Normal Library focuses on the collection of books, and the documents such as the Four Libraries and the Yongle Classic are indeed rare, but the distance from the people is still very far, while the popular library is close to the reading interests of the people and provides lending services. Under the planning of Lu Xun, the popular library opened in Zhongshan Park in 1917, and the amount of borrowing increased greatly. At that time, all provinces also opened popular libraries, which cost less and borrowed a lot, and Lu Xun attached great importance to the work of popular libraries, hoping that it could play a certain role in educating and enabling the people to cultivate their temperament in reading.
When Lu Xun lived in the Shaoxing Guild Hall, he met his colleagues in the New Youth, and they asked Lu Xun for a manuscript, and Lu Xun began his literary career. At that time, "New Youth" was vigorously advocating the construction of a new literature, and Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi, and Lu Xun's younger brother Zhou Zuoren competed to publish their own ideas on literary reform or revolution, but it was Lu Xun who really wrote the first masterpiece in the history of new literature. In May 1918, the fourth article on The New Youth, Vol. 4, No. 5, was Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman", which was the first time that Lu Xun's pen name appeared in front of the eyes of readers, which was not only Lu Xun's first vernacular novel, but also the first vernacular novel of new literature, Lu Xun exposed the horror of feudal etiquette and cannibalism with a fairly modern writing style, which greatly shocked the readers of "New Youth", and Lu Xun also became an idol of the new youth.
Badaowan No. 11: "The True Biography of Ah Q" was born here
In the turbulent year of 1919, Lu Xun returned to his hometown of Shaoxing in December. In the novel "Hometown", Lu Xun said that this return to his hometown was "specially for him", that is, the one who held a steel fork under the moonlight and held a steel fork to the new owner, and the accompanying itinerary was to hand over the old house that had been sold to the new owner before the old calendar year. Today, in the scenic spot of Lu Xun's hometown in Shaoxing, along Lu Xun Middle Road from east to west, it will pass through the Zhou family's old Taimen, Sanwei Bookstore, and Zhoujia Xintaimen in turn, the old Taimen is the house of Lu Xun's ancestors, the new Taimen is the place where Lu Xun was born and grew up, and the Baicao Garden is here.
Lu Xun's farewell "never bid farewell to the old house of acquaintance, and far away from the hometown of acquaintance, and moved to a different place where I was plotting", in fact, this farewell also never left the hometown of acquaintance. After selling the old house and getting a sum of money, plus the savings of Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren, and having to borrow money from friends, Lu Xun bought a set of courtyards at No. 11 Badaowan, Xinjiekou, and Lu Xun ended his days living in Shaoxing Guild Hall. This courtyard was enough for the three Lu Xun brothers to live together, but the three brothers did not live under the same roof for a long time, and Zhou Jianren soon went to Shanghai to work.
Today, this former residence of Lu Xun is preserved in Beijing Thirty-Five Middle School, and when I visited here, the Thirty-Fifth Former Residence was renovated and arranged some exhibitions. According to the reminiscence article, we can understand its original layout: this courtyard has three entrances, there are three main rooms in the middle courtyard, Lu Xun's mother and wife Juan live here, there are three boxes on the east and west sides, the three boxes on the west side are Lu Xun's study and bedroom, the backyard is arranged for zhou Zuoren's family and Zhou Jianren's family, and the guest rooms are also arranged in the backyard.
Lu Xun wrote a series of influential works at No. 11 Badaowan, such as the "Hometown" mentioned above, and exactly one hundred years ago, "The True Biography of Ah Q" was also published at No. 11 Badaowan. On December 4, 1921, Lu Xun began to serialize "A Q Zheng Biography" in the newly founded Morning News Supplement under the pseudonym of the Ba people, interestingly, it was originally published under a column called "Happy Words", but some passages in "A Q Zheng Biography" even though people read to laugh, but the laughter contained a strong bitterness, which really could not make people feel happy, and then moved to another column to serialize.
"The True Biography of Ah Q" is one of The most famous texts of Lu Xun's criticism of national nature, in fact, it is the atrophy and numbness of the national spirit that stimulates Lu Xun to abandon the medical practice, and he ruthlessly exposes the weakness of the national spirit with sharp brushstrokes. Ah Q's spiritual victory method, in particular, made many readers sit on the needle felt, and at that time, some readers sat in the right seat, eager to know who this Ba person really was, because some of the details in the text were not about their own privacy. A Q is a unique literary image created by Lu Xun casting a lot of common points Chinese, and everyone seems to be able to see some of their own shadows from it, which is a realm that only writers who have a deep insight into human nature can reach, and there are only a few such writers.
Literary critic Li Changzhi has a special section in the "Criticism of Lu Xun" to comment on "A Q Zheng Biography", which is the only batch of works criticizing Lu Xun that Lu Xun has read during his lifetime, and has an important position in the history of Lu Xun's research. Li Changzhi saw that although Lu Xun had a criticism of Ah Q who was "angry and indisputable, mourning his misfortune", the criticism contained care, and he believed that "Ah Q is Lu Xun's most concerned, the most uneasy, the most anxious, in short, a character he loves." Others gave Ah Q a ridicule, others gave Ah Q a desolation, others gave Ah Q a spiritual sting and trauma, but Lu Xun cared for him, although far away."
Different readers' interpretations of Ah Q are different, and the attitude towards Ah Q in different eras is also different, and a history of Ah Q's acceptance reflects the spiritual fluctuations of an era. At the same time, A Q is not only Chinese, but also the world. "The True Biography of Ah Q" is the first modern Chinese novel translated abroad, and it has won a place for New Chinese literature in the world.
No. 21 Xisantiao, Gongmen: Lu Xun's last residence in Beijing
Lu Xun lived at No. 11 Badaowan until the summer of 1923, when lu Xun decided to move away with his mother and wife due to the deterioration of relations with Zhou Zuoren, who remained at No. 11 Badaowan in his later years until 1967, when his life ended.
After Lu Xun's family moved away, they temporarily lived in No. 61 (now No. 84) Brick Tower Hutong, the oldest hutong in Beijing, where Zhang Hexhui also lived. Lu Xun lived in brick tower alley for nine months, and the "Blessing" that portrayed the classic role of Xiang Lin was written at this time. Compared with the openness of No. 11 Badaowan, the conditions of No. 61 Brick Tower Hutong are not difficult. During this period, Lu Xun had been looking for a house, and finally in October 1923, he took a fancy to the house at No. 21 Xisanjo, the entrance of the Fucheng Gate Inner Palace, and in May 1924, Lu Xun's family moved in. This former residence of Lu Xun is the place where the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing is located today.
From 1920 onwards, Lu Xun was employed by Peking University, Beijing Women's Normal University and other schools to teach courses such as the history of the Chinese novel, Lu Xun was not only an outstanding novelist, but also had a profound study of classical novels, and Lu Xun's "Outline of the History of Chinese Novels" published by the Xinchao Society from 1923 to 1924 was originally his course lecture notes. Lu Xun's role as a teacher of the history of fiction could not be more appropriate. So, what is Lu Xun like in the classroom, and what is his teaching style?
The novelist Lu Yan, who had listened to Lu Xun's course on the history of Chinese novels at Peking University, wrote in a reminiscence that Lu Xun "spoke in a gentle voice, neither suppressing nor enthusiastic tone, his hands holding chalk and lecture notes, never having an expression posture, helping his language, his face was always so calm, and the thin muscles were completely condensed... Everyone was listening to his "History of the Chinese Novel", but it was as if they had heard the history of the soul of all mankind, and every state of affair, even the overlapping coats of the human heart, had been torn off by him. So the people in the classroom all laughed, and the laughter was mixed with joy and sorrow, love and hatred, shame and anger... So everyone's eyes revealed a bright lamp, and under the light reflected a wide and boundless avenue... Everyone looked up and saw Mr. Lu Xun's pale and calm face floating with a kind and kind glow, like the sun in the harsh winter. ”
For young friends, Lu Xun was always kind and kind, doing his best to help them in their lives and work, and supporting them to devote themselves to the revolutionary movement. On March 18, 1926, the masses from all walks of life in Beijing held a "National Demonstration Conference Against the Eight-Nation Ultimatum" to oppose the ultimatum issued by Japan, britain, the United States and other eight countries to the Beiyang government to remove the Jingu Defense Line, and Lu Xun, a student of Beijing Women's Normal University, participated in it, and Li Dazhao was the one who commanded the rally. When the demonstrators marched to the front of Duan Qirui's government, the reactionary warlords actually shot at the masses, and Liu hezhen died tragically.
Lu Xun heard this bad news that afternoon at the home of Xi Sanjo at the palace gate, and on the same day he wrote an article denouncing the reactionary warlord He Zeng for having a little conscience. On April 1, 1926, a week after attending Liu Hezhen's memorial service, Lu Xun wrote "Remembering Liu Hezhenjun", in which he hoped that China would have more "true warriors", "true warriors, dare to face the bleak life, dare to face the dripping blood", "the living will faintly see the faint hope in the pale red blood; the real warriors will move forward more vigorously". Lu Xun wrote several articles about the Massacre of March 18, which caused him great trouble, and reactionary warlords targeted him, for security reasons, Lu Xun had to leave his home and hide elsewhere. This was followed by the entry of the Feng warlords into Beijing, and in order to avoid the war, Lu Xun extended his days of refuge outside.
When the situation subsided, Lu Xun had decided to teach at Xiamen University. On August 26, 1926, Lu Xun embarked on a train heading south, ending his life in Beijing. (Chen Yuzhi)