Lu Xun Xiao Shuo Ji: Vocabulary

The revolutionary writer and literary critic Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren, 1881–1936) is celebrated at home and abroad as one of the most groundbreaking and influential writers of modern China. A first-hand witness to China's social and political upheaval in the first half of the 20th century, he is remembered not only for his astute polemical essays and political articles but also for the short stories which explore the effects of contemporary social and cultural issues on the Chinese psyche.The stories in this collection are based on the 1955 compilation Lu Xun Xiao Shuo Ji, originally published in two collections, Call to Arms (1923) and At the Crossroads (1926). The ten stories included are: "Kuang ren riji" (A Madman's Diary), "Kong Yi Ji" (Kong Yiji), "Yao" (Medicine), "Mingtian" (Tomorrow), "Yi jian xiao shi" (An Incident), "Toufa de gushi" (A Story of Hair), "Fengbo" (Storm in a Teacup), "Guxiang" (My Old Home), "Zhufu" (New Year Sacrifice), and "Zai jiulou shang" (In the Restaurant).Targeted specifically for students of Chinese, the book is conveniently organized with the original Chinese text on the left-hand page and supplementary English explanations and Romanized spelling (pinyin) of difficult vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and other phrases on the right (with more than 2,500 total). While literary and cultural treasures in themselves, Lu Xun's works have been largely inaccessible to students of Chinese, who often find themselves forced to constantly consult a dictionary while frequently missing important nuances in the text. This edition aims to eliminate such tedious and inefficient approaches to Lu Xun, while allowing students to appreciate these wonderful stories in the original Chinese.

Professor D. C. Lau (1921–2010) joined the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies in 1950 where he taught Chinese until 1978, before returning to Hong Kong to join the staff of the Chinese University. This book came about after years of teaching undergraduates in London in the hope of making Lu Xun's work more accessible to foreign students