Question

Research the history of cannibalism in China, especially the instances mentioned in Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman.” Discuss why he concentrates on this aspect of Chinese history. What is Lu Xun saying about tradition and culture in this story?

Answer 1

A Madman's Diary" is a short story published in 1918 by Lu Xun, a Chinese writer. It was the first and most influential modern work written in vernacular Chinese in the republican era, and would become a cornerstone piece of the New Culture Movement. It is placed first in Call to Arms, a collection of short stories by Lu Xun. The story was often referred to as "China's first modern short story.

The diary form was inspired by Nikolai Gogol's short story "Diary of a Madman" as was the idea of the madman who sees reality more clearly than those around him.

The "madman" sees "cannibalism" both in his family and the village around him, and he then finds cannibalism in the Confucian classics which had long been credited with a humanistic concern for the mutual obligations of society, and thus for the superiority of Confucian civilization. The story was read as an ironic attack on traditional Chinese culture and a call for a New Culture.

Lu Xun, through his character "the Madman", provides a fairly blatant satire of traditional China, consistently referred to throughout the story as cannibalistic by nature.

As many other authors writing at the same time, Lu Xun had come to view China as an "iron house," a place from which its inhabitants could never escape. The so-called iron bars of China can easily be seen, through Lu Xun's critical lens, to represent the traditional values of Chinese culture, whose restrictions on the human mind are causing strife among its citizens, as is experienced by the Madman character that believes he is about to be devoured by his fellow villagers and family members. To Lu Xun, it is obvious that the most holistic representation of traditional China can be found in the ideals of Confucianism. The Madman of the story comes to see the physical words "Confucian Virtue and Morality" blur and morph into the phrase "Eat people," which is quite obviously as symbolic as it is allegedly insane.

Madman's Diary is, overall, Lu Xun's way of critiquing traditional Chinese values, and to encourage social change and revolution, as well as the progression of a more modern China. There is a contradiction in Lu Xun's story, however, in that the beginning does not entirely match the end. The last entry of the Madman's diary ends with: "Perhaps there are still children who haven't eaten men? Save the children...", a somewhat sinister plea, which offers something resembling hope for the future of China and its people, in that through the young population which has yet to be corrupted, the country may be able to overcome the tyranny of Confucian morality and respect individuality. However, at the beginning of the story, the reader learns that the Madman was "cured," coming to work a governmental job. What is the reader supposed to make of this? Was it too late for the Madman, because he was old enough to be, in essence, corrupted by traditional Chinese values? Or should the Madman be seen as a martyr, and potentially a sacrifice meant to pave the way for future generations? To "save" the children would be to save China, and perhaps, to Lu Xun, the existence of the Madman and his diary was simply the first step towards that seemingly impossible goal.