2 Lu Xun and chaos theory

2.1 The world of “The True Story of Ah Q”　

　Lu Xun (1881-1936) is the father of Chinese modern literature. He was the paradox that lived through the period of the Chinese revolution (1911). Therefore he broke with old tradition and required the awareness at that particular time to temporalize himself in present, past and future day.
　His style is calm and unhurried and he mostly wrote short stories and essays. He read through European literature and thought and Japanese literature such as Soseki Natsume (1867-1916) and Ogai Mori (1862-1922). He studied medicine at Sendai medical school in 1904. His first book “A Madman’s Diary” (1918) was colloquially written for the first time in the history of Chinese modern literature.
　Old China in the final days of the Qing Dynasties was invaded by imperialistic great-power countries and became a semi-feudalistic society. Therefore the evil spirit called “ma-ma-hu-hu” (human irresponsibility including a fraud) existed in the popular mind unconsciously. Lu Xun disliked the mental illness of “ma-ma-hu-hu” which afflicted Chinese people at the time and he disagreed directly with it.
　He characterized Chinese society as cannibalistic and dedicated himself to reforming the spirit rather than the body to help Chinese people at the time. At the same time, he criticized Confucianism strongly. The teaching of Confucius (load-vassal, father-son, bond of marriage, benevolence, integrity, courtesy, knowledge and belief) made the deceptive governing class and it became an instrument of Chinese hierarchy.
　The May Fourth Movement provides the setting for the times. The interests of the old German leased territory in Shandong province was inherited by Japan through the Paris Peace Treaty of World War 1 on May 4th in 1919. In response, the students of Beijing University repeated the violent anti-Japan demonstrations at Tiananmen Square.
　The May Fourth Movement also influenced the birth of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 and therefore it had an enormous influence on politics and culture. Lu Xun stood at the forefront of a new culture movement with his brother Zhou Zuoren and criticized the half measures of the Chinese Revolution and maintained his position of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism staunchly. Furthermore Lu Xun assimilated himself into the hero of “The True Story of Ah Q” and called himself and the people around him a person who applauded a shot down criminal narcissistically.

花村嘉英著（2015）「从认知语言学的角度浅析鲁迅作品－魯迅をシナジーで読む」より translated by Yoshihisa Hanamura