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1. Lyell, in Lu Hsün’s Vision of Reality, vii. Nevertheless, in 1957 during the rightest campaign, when Chairman Mao was asked how Lu Xun would be faring were he still alive, Mao replied frankly that he would either be in prison or he would be silent. Zhou Haiying, Lu Xun yu wo quishi nian, 425–426.

2. Huters, “Blossoms in the Snow,” 60. Huters was speaking about the narrative voice in Lu Xun’s first four stories, but the point applies more broadly.

3. See the webpage created by Asia for Educators, entitled “The Mejii Restoration and Modernization,” for this compact summary of Meiji era achievements.

4. For example, Gu in Chinese Theories of Fiction, 35–36, 55–56, and elsewhere, engaged with Lu Xun’s scholarly judgments on particular works.

5. Huters, Bringing the World Home, 15.

6. For a thorough, nuanced introduction to the intellectual context of literature of the late Qing predecessors to the May 4th period writers and subsequent literary thought up through the early years of World War II, see Denton’s “General Introduction” to Modern Chinese Literary Thought, 1–46; also Lovell's fine "Introduction" in The Real Story of Ah-Q.

7. Sun Yat-sen was the central figure in several political parties that over time evolved into the Nationalist Party (Guomindang). For an analysis of Sun’s role in this evolution, see Hsü, The Rise of Modern China, 452–486.

8. See Spence, Search for Modern China, for a balanced history of this period.

9. Kowallis, Lyrical Lu Xun, 6–7.

10. In 1911 Lu Xun authored a story, “Reminiscences of the Past” (Huai jiu 怀旧), which critics, beginning perhaps with Průšek in “Lu Hsün’s ‘Huai Chiu’: A Precursor of Modern Chinese Literature,” have considered a “modern” story even though it was written in classical Chinese. See Průšek, The Lyrical and the Epic, 102–109.

11. In discussing Lu Xun’s works, I cite the edition of his writings, Lu Xun Quan Ji (The Collected Works of Lu Xun) as LXQJ. In referencing his translations, I cite the 1973 edition of LXQJ because the 2005 edition does not include the translations themselves.

12. Several critics make this point. For example, Button wrote in Configurations of the Real (56) that “Lu Xun and Ye Shaojun [葉紹鈞; 1894–1988]