Who was Lu Xun?
Lu Xun (鲁迅) was the name that Zhou Shuren (周树人) wrote under in as a major force in early 20th Century Chinese culture. Born in 1881, he is often considered the founder of modern Chinese literature as a writer of fiction, poetry, criticism and essays. From 1927 to 1936, he was the leader of the Chinese League of the Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai, although he never joined the Communist Party.
Like Chekhov, he was also a doctor, and his works continued to be acclaimed by the Communist societies that that followed their deaths. The works of Lu Xun are still very popular in China, taught as curriculum in Japan, and because of his leftist past – were banned in Taiwan until the 1980s.
Lu Xun’s work as an artist is highly regarded for both the breadth of works he contributed to and for his lucid yet subtle approach to prose. This style brought him great acclaim early in his career, while it became more problematic for regimes that did not promote “veiled or roundabout discussions”.
In 2007, Asteroid (233547) 2007 JR27 was named after him.
