Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T05:24:35.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

“A Story about Hair”: A Curious Mirror of Lu Xun's Pre-Republican Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2007

Get access

Abstract

This article examines the subject of queues in the life and writings of Lu Xun (1881–1936), the most prominent figure in modern Chinese literature. The long-standing reluctance of readers and critics to associate this backward hairstyle with Lu Xun's iconic figure has restricted our understanding of the topic to two well-known satirical portraits in his short fiction, Ah Q and Sevenpounder. This article, however, proposes that the queue is of more than satiric interest—that the author's own experience raises fundamental questions about how he discloses and transmutes certain experiences in his writings. Starting from some little-studied events featuring queues in his pre-Republican years and a puzzling short story that recounts them, this essay analyzes the queue's autobiographical connections and their varied literary manifestations. It also makes a case for reexamining the uses of autobiography for a writer whose life story is an important part of his influence.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Chen, Shuyu. 1987. Lu Xun shishi qiuzhen lu [Factual Researches on the Life of Lu Xun]. Changsha: Hunan wenyi chubanshe.Google Scholar
Chen, Shuyu et al. , eds. 1981. A Pictorial Biography of Lu Xun. Beijing: People's Fine Arts Publishing House.Google Scholar
Cheng, Weikun. 1998. “Politics of the Queue: Agitation and Resistance in the Beginning and End of Qing China.” In Hair: Its Power and Meaning in Asian Cultures, ed. Hiltebeitel, Alf and Miller, Barbara D.123–42. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Chou, Eva Shan. 2002. “Learning to Read Lu Xun, 1918–23: The Emergence of a Readership.” China Quarterly 172: 1042–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, Zeng. 1978. Lu Xun xiaoshuo chatu ji [Illustrations of Lu Xun's Short Stories]. Beijing: Xinhua shudian.Google Scholar
Hanan, Patrick. 1974. “The Technique of Lu Hsun's Fiction.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 34: 5396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Yinqiang. 2001. Pohui tie wuzi de xiwang: “Nahan” “Panghuang” xinlun [In Hope of Destroying the Iron House: New Essays on Call to Arms and Hesitation]. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Huang, Qiaosheng. 1998. Dujin jiepo: Zhoushi san xiongdi [Together for the Ages: The Three Zhou Brothers]. Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe.Google Scholar
Hung, Eva. 2001. “Reading between the Lines: The Life of Zhu An (1878–1947).” In China and Her Biographical Dimensions: Commemorative Essays for Helmut Martin, ed. Neder, Christina, Roetz, Heiner and Schilling, Ines-Susanne245–57. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Lee, Leo Ou-fan. 1987. Voices from the Iron House: A Study of Lu Xun. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Li, Yunjing. 1990. Lu Xun de hunyin yu jiating [Lu Xun's Marriage and Family]. Beijing: Shiyue wenyi chubanshe.Google Scholar
Lin, Zhihao. 1991. Lu Xun zhuan [Biography of Lu Xun]. Rev. ed.Beijing: Shiyue wenyi chuban.Google Scholar
Lu, Jin. 1996. Nahan lun [On Call to Arms]. Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin jiaoyu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Lu, Xun. 1981. Lu Xun quanji [Collected Works of Lu Xun]. 16. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Lyell, William A. Jr., trans. 1990. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Mao, Dun [Yanbing]. 1926. “Du Nahan” [On Reading Call to Arms]. In Guanyu Lu Xun ji qi zhuzuo [On Lu Xun and his works], ed. Jingnong, Tai, 5362. Beiping: Weiming she.Google Scholar
Mao, Dun. 1936. “Xinhai nian de guangtou jiaoyuan yu jianbian yundong[Bald Teachers and the Queue-Cutting Movement in 1911]. Yuefeng 20:1823.Google Scholar
McDougall, Bonnie S. 2001. “Brotherly Love: Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Zhou Jianren.” In China and Her Biographical Dimensions: Commemorative Essays for Helmut Martin, ed. Neder, ChristinaRoetz, Heiner and Schilling, Ines-Susanne259–76. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
McDougall, Bonnie S. 2002. Love-Letters and Privacy in Modern China: The Intimate Lives of Lu Xun and Xu Guangping. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, Mau-sang. 1988. The Russian Hero in Modern Chinese Fiction. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.Google Scholar
Ni, Moyan and Chen, Jiuying, eds. 2003. Xu Shoushang wenji [Collected Letters of Xu Shoushang]. 2 vols. Shanghai: Baijia chubanshe.Google Scholar
Pollard, David E. 2001. “The Life of Lu Xun as Told in China.” In China and Her Biographical Dimensions: Commemorative Essays for Helmut Martin, ed. Neder, Christina, Roetz, Heiner and Schilling, Ines-Susanne239–44. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Pollard, David E. 2002. The True Story of Lu Xun. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qu, Zhengping. 1984. Lun Lu Xun xiaoshuo zhong de renwu. [On the People in Lu Xun's Fiction]. Hohhot: Nei Menggu renmin gongchang chubanshe.Google Scholar
Rhoads, Edward J. M. 2000. Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Semanov, V. I. 1980. Lu Hsun and His Predecessors. Ed. and trans. Alber, Charles J.White Plains, NY: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Shanghai, Lu Xun Museum. 1996. Shanghai Lu Xun jinianguan cang wenwu zhenpin ji [Manuscripts, Books, and Objects from the Shanghai Lu Xun Museum]. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe.Google Scholar
Sun, Fuyuan. 1949. Lu Xun xiansheng er san shi [Two or Three Matters Concerning Mr. Lu Xun]. Shanghai: Zuojia shushi.Google Scholar
Sun, Fuyuan. 1999. “Toufa de gushi[A Story of Hair]. Lu Xun yanjiu yuekan. 1:3237.Google Scholar
Wang, Chi-chen, trans. 1941. Ah Q and Others. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Wang, Dehou. 1996. Lu Xun xinjie [Personal Readings of Lu Xun]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang wenyi chubanshe.Google Scholar
Wang, Dongfang. 1997. Maixiang jindai: jianbian yu fangzu [Striding into the Modern Age: Cutting Queues and Unbinding Feet]. Liaoning: Liaohai chubanshe.Google Scholar
Wang, Shiqing. 1981. Lu Xun: A Biography. Trans. Peiji, Zhang. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.Google Scholar
Xu, Qinwen. 1956. Nahan fenxi [Analysis of Call to Arms]. Beijing: Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe.Google Scholar
Xu, Shoushang. 1953. Wang yu Lu Xun yinxiang ji [Impressions of My Late Friend Lu Xun]. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Yang, Xianyi and Yang, Gladys, trans. 1956. Lu Xun: Selected Works. 4. Peking: Foreign Languages Press.Google Scholar
Yang, Xianyi and Yang, Gladys. 1981. The Complete Short Stories of Lu Xun. Bloomingdale: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Yu, Fang. 1981. Wo jiyi zhong de Lu Xun xiansheng [The Lu Xun I Remember]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zheng, Hui and Xu, Shan eds., and Wen Xi and Yi Meng, illus. 1953. Lu Xun huazhuan [Pictorial Biography of Lu Xun]. Shanghai: Quanqiu shuju.Google Scholar
Zhou, Jianren. 1988. An Age Gone By: Lu Xun's Clan in Decline (As Told to Zhou Ye). Trans. Ping, Zheng and Long, Huang. Beijing: New World Press.Google Scholar
Zuoren, Zhou. 1954. Lu Xun xiaoshuo li de renwu [People and Things in Lu Xun's Stories]. Shanghai: Shanghai chubangongsi.Google Scholar