Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the China Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
The short story writer and essayist who wrote the first major works of fiction in modern vernacular Chinese and used them to diagnose the ills of his society.
Lu Xun trained in medicine in Japan before turning to literature, convinced that China's need was for a change of mind rather than of body. His 1918 story A Madman's Diary was one of the first important works written in vernacular rather than classical Chinese, and The True Story of Ah Q created a character still used as shorthand for self-deceiving national pride.
He went on to write hundreds of essays and to translate foreign literature, and he remains the most studied Chinese writer of the twentieth century.
He went on to write hundreds of essays and to translate foreign literature, and he remains the most studied Chinese writer of the twentieth century.
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