In March of 1919, Lu Xun wrote Kong Yiji. According to one source, it is considered by some people that Lu Xun wrote this story to express the sadness of the students at the time. Others have suggested that he wrote it to explain what was wrong with the 'feudal society ', where people could easily waste their entire life trying to pass pointless exams. In my opinion, the best interpretation of Lu Xun’s short story is that he wrote Kong Yiji to explain the faults of the feudal society in China during the time period. In the story, he describes the life of Kong Yiji and how he ends up becoming completely irrelevant just because he couldn’t pass the ‘imperial civil service examination’ to become a successful person. My interpretation of Lu Xun’s …show more content…
Lu Xun’s general view of China is expressed through the illustration of everyone around Kong Yiji as a society lacking any type of kindness or compassion for him. People enjoy making fun of Kong Yiji for his personal failures and disappointments in his lifetime. The 12-year-old boy, narrator of the story, only notices him because of what he hears when the wine-shop patrons make fun of Kong Yiji, and the only reason that people at the bar still remember him is because he still owes the manager ‘nineteen coppers.’ When writing this, Lu Xun is clearly not telling the story of one individual’s difficulty, rather he is showing the apathy, cruelty, dishonesty, and selfishness that describe the ways in which his society operates and devours human beings whole, which is his prediction of China’s social flaws that eventually destroy the nation. For many, personal success through a classical education is a dead-end in the age when people began questioning Chinese cultural …show more content…
Also, in the story, it is said that “Only those dressed in the long scholar’s gowns that distinguished those who worked with their heads from those who worked with their hands made for a more sedate, inner room, to enjoy their wine and food sitting down.” Lu Xun later says that Kong Yiji was the only long-gowned drinker who took his wine standing up. This goes to show the different classes in the Chinese society at the time and how they were treated so differently based on whether or not they were wealthy, just what Lu Xun was known to write
Jonathan Spence tells his readers of how Mao Zedong was a remarkable man to say the very least. He grew up a poor farm boy from a small rural town in Shaoshan, China. Mao was originally fated to be a farmer just as his father was. It was by chance that his young wife passed away and he was permitted to continue his education which he valued so greatly. Mao matured in a China that was undergoing a threat from foreign businesses and an unruly class of young people who wanted modernization. Throughout his school years and beyond Mao watched as the nation he lived in continued to change with the immense number of youth who began to westernize. Yet in classes he learned classical Chinese literature, poems, and history. Mao also attained a thorough knowledge of the modern and Western world. This great struggle between modern and classical Chinese is what can be attributed to most of the unrest in China during this time period. His education, determination and infectious personalit...
There are little to no direct accounts of how individuals’ lives were a couple thousand years ago in Ancient China. With a wealth of information on the rise, decline, and fall of empires, Michael Loewe, a sinologist who specializes in oriental studies and theology, writes an imaginary story about a hero named Bing set around 70 BCE. Bing: From Farmer’s Son to Magistrate in Han China is Loewe’s fictional portrait of life during the Han Empire. It is by no means a comprehensive historical account of Han times, in fact, it was written with those readers who are not familiar with Chinese in mind, however through the life of Bing we can gage how the lives of laborers, those involved in military service, merchants, and government officials might
Another thing that the cultural rule helped to benefit Hong Ulsu and Kang Pyongju was to provide them jobs that Koreans would never had before under Japan’s rule. The cultural rule not only helped in the expansion of schools which allowed Koreans more opportunities to gain advanced studies and more job options, but appointed more Koreans to civil services and judiciary, created advisory councils of carefully chosen Koreans, and nominally re-adjusted dual pay scale for bureaucrats. Again, Hong Ulsu met a kind Japanese person who became his boss when he work for him as an apprentice in which he was the one who helped him the most when he arrived in Japan, such as he provided meals for him, paid him his wages, and also paid for his schooling.
It's 1996,and we're in Shanghai,China.Anguish and rage is in the air.Why?Because 1996 is when Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution,when intelligence became a crime and a wealthy family background invited persecution' or worse.Ji-Li Jiang is 12-years-old.An outstanding student and leader in her school,she had everything a young girl could want:brains,ability,the admiration of her peers and a shining future in Chairman Mao's New China.Her life was perfect,but with the occurence of the Cultural Revolution,Ji-Li's world begins to crumble.She had an unfortunate situation,her family fell under one o...
Appreciably, Pearl S. Buck depicted her very characters on such a detail basis that everyone in her story seemed to move truly alive in each single page of the bound book in the meant time of reading and after. One of them comes Wang Lung, the main figure of being the peasant of Nanking, the son of an old man, the husband of O-Lan, the father of sons and daughters, the escaper of the famine, the looter of the great house in the south, the peasant-turn-wealthy of his town, and the old one of himself. Yet, is he a good man? Right here in this text, a negotiable one, he comes representing all of himself and lets the deep considerate and well concerning readers judge and say whether, "Wang Lung is a good man." or "Wang Lung is not a good man." through their respective points of view.
Li-Young Lee is a brilliant contemporary poet who used his figurative language skills to write about a complex relationship between father and son. In the poem, A Story, Lee utilizes his abilities of emotional appeal and literary devices to depict a loving father who reads stories to his five year old son; fearing that one day, his son will tire of him and leave. Lee was able to use strategic literary devices such as point of view, structure, and imagery to convey the complexity of the father and son relationship.
“It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137). This line, echoed throughout Wang Anyi 's short piece “The Destination” is the glowing heartbeat of the story. A refrain filled with both longing and sadness, it hints at the many struggles faced by thousands upon thousands trying to get by in the city of Shanghai. One of these lost souls, the protagonist, Chen Xin, was one of the many youths taken from his family and sent to live the in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Ten years after the fact, Chen Xin views the repercussions of the Cultural Revolution internally and externally as he processes the changes that both he, and his hometown have over-gone in the past ten years. Devastatingly, he comes to the conclusion that there is no going back to the time of his childhood, and his fond memories of Shanghai exist solely in memory. This is in large part is due to the changes brought on by the Cultural Revolution. These effects of the Cultural Revolution are a central theme to the story; with repercussions seen on a cultural level, as well as a personal one.
...ok, p. 251). Brook also uses characters from various stories in Li Le’s commonplace book, Miscellaneous Notes on Things Seen and Heard to contrast the wistful remembrances of Zhang Tao and Gu Yanwu (Brook, p. 254). What Brook determines from Li Le’s account is crucial, “…However thoroughly commerce had replaced paternalism and deference with wage relationship, or however well some individuals managed to step over social barriers and move up the social ladder…the class system of overlordship and deference that held the Chinese world together at the beginning of the Ming was still there at the end” (Brook, p. 260). This ultimately produces Brook’s analysis, “Without commercial networks, many gentry would not have survived the dynastic transition” (Brook, p. 262). This conclusion reveals the ultimate disparity between the ideology of the Ming gentry and the reality.
The Sun of the Revolution by Liang Heng, is intriguing and vivid, and gives us a complex and compelling perspective on Chines culture during a confusing time period. We get the opportunity to learn the story of a young man with a promising future, but an unpleasant childhood. Liang Heng was exposed to every aspect of the Cultural Revolution in China, and shares his experiences with us, since the book is written from Liang perspective, we do not have a biased opinion from an elite member in the Chinese society nor the poor we get an honest opinion from the People’s Republic of China. Liang only had the fortunate opportunity of expressing these events due his relationship with his wife, An American woman whom helps him write the book. When Liang Heng and Judy Shapiro fell in love in China during 1979, they weren’t just a rarity they were both pioneers at a time when the idea of marriages between foreigners and Chinese were still unacceptable in society.
China has gone through many changes in its history. Changes include economic, political, and social. In the early 1500 and throughout history, mostly all social classes followed Confucianism. Confucianism is a type of religion based on an ideal society (Chang 2012, 22). China was molded though Confucianism but that slowly deteriorated as years went on. One main group that has been a main part in these changes is the Chinese literati. The Chinese literati include the higher-class people such as officials and scholars. The Chinese literati were the dominant social class during the 1500’s but their power slowly decreased throughout history. Throughout my paper, I will explain the Chinese literati involvement as centuries passed.
There is no better way to learn about China's communist revolution than to live it through the eyes of an innocent child whose experiences were based on the author's first-hand experience. Readers learn how every aspect of an individual's life was changed, mostly for the worst during this time. You will also learn why and how Chairman Mao launched the revolution initially, to maintain the communist system he worked hard to create in the 1950's. As the story of Ling unfolded, I realized how it boiled down to people's struggle for existence and survival during Mao's reign, and how lucky we are to have freedom and justice in the United States; values no one should ever take for
What does it reveal about attitudes in China at this time? The effects of the movement are still adamant with the family presented in the story by trying to have the main character marry immediately once he returns home. However, the end of the story suggest a new emerging movement when the main character decides to leave the family behind and discover himself before he marries or even if he decides to
During the time that Lu Xun lived, it was a turning point in history where the May Fourth Revolution raged. At the time that “The Madman’s
‘Diary of a Madman, written by Lu Xun not only connotes the political and cultural problem of early 20th century China, but also provides the young generation with his desire for cultural renewal of China. Lu Xun accuses of China’s hypocritical Confucianism that has been sustained feudalism. Vernacular style also helps readers to catch up the main message because madman writes the diary and he expresses his thoughts obviously in the diary without considering external factors with metaphor. If he straightforwardly criticized the government and challenged the authority, the book would have not existed today. Also, as looking back closely on Lu Xun’s history and his enlightenment, it is obvious that he accentuates the values of ‘New Culture generation’. Due to his efforts, numerous young intellects during the period were greatly inspired by Lu Xun’s enlightenment, and strived against the oppression of the corrupted feudalism. However, He unfortunately does not give specific solutions, even though the story ends with phrase ‘save the children.’ I guess it is because Lu Xun might want new culture generation to find own path to renovate
Mao’s Cultural Revolution was an attempt to create a new culture for China. Through education reforms and readjustments, Mao hoped to create a new generation of Chinese people - a generation of mindless Communists. By eliminating intellectuals via the Down to the Countryside movement, Mao hoped to eliminate elements of traditional Chinese culture and create a new form Chinese culture. He knew that dumbing down the masses would give him more power so his regime would be more stable. This dramatic reform affected youth especially as they were targeted by Mao’s propaganda and influence. Drawing from his experiences as an Educated Youth who was sent down to the countryside Down to the Countryside movement, Ah Cheng wrote The King of Children to show the effects of the Cultural Revolution on education, and how they affected the meaning people found in education. In The King of Children, it is shown that the Cultural Revolution destroyed the traditional incentives for pursuing an education, and instead people found moral and ethical meaning in pursuing an education.