Abstract
Reading foreign literature in the original language is the ultimate goal of many foreign language students. Asking to read thousands of words of Chinese literature is especially challenging for Chinese students. Lu Xun is the most famous writer in China and is often referred to as the "father" of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun was read to experience the decline of the Qing Dynasty and the rise of the Chinese life in the Republic of China. His characters are very beautiful, his style is ironic, and his story is unforgettable. Although his story is full of incomprehensible Chinese phrases, hints and historical references to Chinese classics, his story is too important to read. Through some help and history, Chinese students can enjoy his story and read one of the world's greatest writers in their original language. In this article, I will explore my experience of reading Lu Xun in original Chinese and hope to motivate you to do the same.
Read "The Father of Modern Chinese Literature" - Lu Xun's "Scream"
Mastering a foreign language is like mastering another culture. When you start learning a foreign language, you can start yourself through another way of life and another way of thinking. When you really master a foreign language, you also master the history and culture of the language. How many people can say that they are fluent in English and have not read some of the best British writers like Shakespeare or Mark Twain? There are too many idioms and cultural references in literature. When you learn another language without a cultural framework, you will find yourself lost on certain topics.
One of the highest goals of learning another language is the ability to read literature. I find literature so fascinating because it gives insight into local perspectives. Primitive language literature provides a primordial path for understanding the history of another culture, culture and philosophy.
In this article, I will discuss my experience of reading Lu Xun's "screaming", in which I learned a lot about Chinese history and culture through the "father" of modern Chinese literature. Julia Lovell, a translator of Lu Xun's work, said: "Reading Lu Xun is to capture a snapshot of the late empire and early Republican China." [Liu 2009]
Although Lu Xun is a pioneer in writing academic papers and short stories in vernacular, his Chinese is still somewhat different from the Chinese in your novel today. Also, please remember that Lu Xun's work is difficult even for native speakers. His short stories are associated with the history and politics of his time and are difficult to understand without understanding Lu Xun's wisdom and satirical history.
In order to overcome these problems, let us take a look at the brief history of Chinese writing, and then look at the Chinese history of Lu Xun.
Written Chinese - A Brief History
In Lu Xun's "silent night" article, he wrote, "We only have two ways to go. One is to stick to our classic language and die; the other is to leave this language aside and live." When Lu Xun said When it comes to "our classical language," he refers to literary Chinese, which is called classical Chinese in Chinese. This style of writing originated from the classical Chinese [ancient Chinese] used in the Han Dynasty [1045 BC to 256 BC] to the Han Dynasty [206 BC - 220 BC]. The grammar, vocabulary and style of literary Chinese stem from these early roots. After the Han Dynasty, spoken Chinese continued to evolve with more and more dialects, but literary Chinese is still roughly the same. The difference between the two can be compared to the difference between German and Latin. Although German has the roots of Latin, the Germans certainly cannot understand Latin, let alone write in Latin without a long-term educational language. Literary Chinese is basically a different language with its own vocabulary and grammar.
As an example of a literary Chinese, let's take a look at the excerpt from Lu Xun's "Madman's Diary" shown below.
"The two brothers I don't need to mention here are my good friends in high school; but after years of separation, we gradually lost contact. Since I returned to my old home, I broke my journey. They, I only saw one, he told me that this patient is his younger brother." [Hsien-yi and Yang 1960]
Chinese students may find the original Chinese very difficult. Literary Chinese uses simple phrases, usually twice as much as spoken Chinese. The vocabulary is more vague and difficult for many Chinese to understand. During my study of The Madman's Diary, I asserted many of the native language and English translations of this passage. Many times, meanings don't match and sometimes conflict. Lu Xun believes that literary Chinese like this is the main obstacle to China's popularization of culture and regards its reform as the cornerstone of modernization.
His pseudonym Lu Xun's first short story is "The Madman's Diary", the first short story written in vernacular. When you read this story, in addition to the first two paragraphs, you will find that its style is similar to Chinese spoken language. In most cases, the text is easy to understand and can be read aloud.
This form of writing is called baihuawen. The transition from literary Chinese to Baihuawen can be seen as a Catholic church using white words instead of Latin. Traditionalists are angry, but now more people can read. With the increasing popularity of vernacular, the Chinese also began to use Western punctuation and Arabic numerals. Chinese traditional literature has almost no punctuation.
Therefore, although Lu Xun's story is still very difficult for students, even for Chinese natives, his works are easier to obtain than Lu Xun's previous works.
A brief history of Lu Xun China
Before reading Lu Xun, we must understand the background of the world in which he lives. After the first Opium War in 1839, China was forcibly opened to the outside world, and the Chinese began to grasp the urgent needs of their modernization. Western powers are inferring China's sovereignty, and even their neighbor, Japan, is beginning to use China. China is divided into many different spheres of influence. The Germans are in Shandong, the Japanese are in Manchuria, and the British are in Hong Kong. Major port cities such as Shanghai and Tianjin have many foreign franchises.
The Qing Dynasty was overthrown in February 1912, followed by the Republic of China. When Sun Yat-sen [Sun Yat-sen] was founded in the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, a soldier, soon seized power and continued to rot the Qing Dynasty in front of him. He even announced in 1916 that he was a new power emperor and then died later that year.
On the other side of the world, Europe participated in the First World War from 1914 to 1919. China provided 140,000 troops to the Allies, provided that Shandong returned to China under German control. After the war ended, Shandong did not return to China, but was ceded to Japan in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. On May 4, 1919, China refused to sign a treaty and large-scale demonstrations in Beijing to protest against the government's inability to obtain China's interests during the peace talks.
Shortly before Yuan Shikai's death, in 1921, in order to commemorate this protest, it was generally called the May Fourth Movement, also known as the New Culture Movement. During this time in China, Lu Xun began to write his short stories, hoping to inject new spirit into the Chinese. Lu Xun wrote in the preface to "Scream": "The most important thing is to change their [Chinese] spirit, because at the time I felt that literature was the best means to achieve this goal, and I was determined to promote a literary movement." [Hsien-yi and Yang 1960] In the new cultural movement, Lu Xun's creation began to influence Chinese thought. His friend is editing a magazine called "New Youth" and asked Lu Xun to write for them. His first story, The Madman's Diary, was published in the New Youth in 1918. Since Lu Xun became the main spokesperson for this movement, the movement is seeking to define China's future.
The history behind his story
The audience of Lu Xun's story is the Chinese population in these turbulent times in Chinese history. Many of his stories refer to "backward traditions" or current events at the time. If you don't understand some of the historical references, most of Lu Xun's humor will be lost, and the story will lose a lot of meaning. However, through a historical introduction, his story became fascinating and provided insights into Chinese thoughts of those times.
Let us explore Lu Xun's two famous short stories "Medical" and "Kong Yi Ji".
Medicine
Medicine began to be dark and mysterious, and his father went out in the early morning with a large piece of silver in his pocket. Father came home with a red mantou wrapped in lantern paper. He left his family savings on this skeleton, and they warmed up to give their sick son. Their son coughs madly, and they hope to give him this sputum to cure his tuberculosis. The secret ingredient of this expensive item is the blood it is stuffed with. The blood came from a young revolutionary and was executed that morning. The revolutionaries were exposed by his own family members and they received a good reward. As we all know, human blood can't cure tuberculosis, but according to some Chinese myths, human blood is definitely cured. Because this family is eager to save their only child,...
Orignal From: Read "The Father of Modern Chinese Literature" - Lu Xun's "Scream"
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