Lu XunChina's leading literary modernist, Lu Xun (b. 1881 Zhou Shuren in Shaoxing, d. 1936 in Shanghai) pioneered writing in vernacular Chinese at a time when classical Chinese was still China's dominant literary language. Best known outside of China for te biting satire of his short fiction--in particular The True Story of Ah-Q and Diary of a Madman from his landmark 1923 collection A Call to Arms (1922)--he was also a prolific essayist, translator, and critic. Weeds (1927) collects Lu Xun's prose poetry and features some of his most radically experimental writing. Lu Xun was also an activist, playing a key role in China's New Culture Movement and the League of Left-Wing Writers and supporting the careers of many young writers, though he retained a critical distance from the time's party politics. Read More Read Less