Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t2.9

v2.c10.s2.t2.9

After the success of the 1917 Russian October Revolution, Lu Xun was highly inspired and together with many progressive intellectuals of the time such as Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, he wrote essays and established journals which marked the beginning of China’s New Culture Movement. He was in the frontline of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggle, actively advocating new culture, new ideas and new morals and severely criticising the old culture, old ideas and old moral values which had existed for thousands of years in China. In 1918, he published the novel *Diary of a Madman* (《狂人日记》), published in the magazine *New Youth* (新青年). This was the first vernacular novel in the history of modern Chinese literature. Partly inspired by a short story by Nikolai Gogol, it was a scathing criticism of outdated Chinese traditions and feudalism which was metaphorically 'gnawing' at the Chinese society, and daringly exposed the evils of feudal etiquette and the feudal patriarchal clan system. It immediately established him as one of the most influential writers of his day. After that, he never stopped writing, and wrote many novels, essays, satirical essays and commentaries. Another one of his well-known longer stories, *The True Story of Ah Q* (《阿Q正传》), was published in installments from 1921 to 1922, and came to be regarded as one of his finest works.