# The True Story of Ah Q (Leung)/Appendix

Appendix
Mr. Chou Shu-jen (周樹人), who writes under the pen name Lu-hsün (魯迅), was born in 1881 in the city of Shaohsing, in Chekiang province. Before we consider the early struggles of this great writer of the modern school, it may be well to translate a passage, which he wrote after his book had received recognition and which will serve not only to reveal one pronounced side of his nature but also to cheer the reader as he follows the early trials with a foreknowledge that the dreamer does not always suffer at the hands of an ungrateful world even if he is so daring and magnanimous as Lu-hsün. The translated passage reads as follows: "In the days of my youth, I had woven dreams without number, but as time passed by, I let most of them slip into oblivion. I myself, however, felt no regret. Although in calling to mind these dreams, it may be said that they had in them the power to gladden the heart, still, at times, they could not but fill one with dreary silence, making the spirit cling to the memory of solitary stillnesses in times past. So, what interest could they hold for me! It came about that I felt exceedingly harassed in that I could not forget those dreams ​altogether; but from my inability to forget, there was brought into being at this present moment this collection of short stories, entitled 'Ne-han,' [from which the translator has chosen "The True Story of Ah Q"]."
To return to the early part of the tale, the author's father was a scholar; his mother, a village woman, whose maiden name was Lu. Although the forty or fifty mow of farming land owned by the family kept them in comfortable circumstances, there came, when he was thirteen years of age, a bitter reverse, which swept away nearly all that the family possessed. The boy was sent to live with relatives, who often called him a beggar, and it was not long before he decided to return home. He did return, only to find that his father was seriously ill. Three years later his father died.
His mother managed to obtain eight dollars for his most stringent necessities and taught him to seek a "free" school. He himself was stoutly determined not to tread the two well-beaten paths, which the other village youths followed, — namely, that of the merchant or that of the secretary-attendant, who is a member of the retinue of some official. When eighteen, he attended the Naval Academy at Nanking for half ​a year; next he attended the School of Mining and Railways, from which he was graduated and sent to Japan.
While in Tokyo, he decided to study medicine in the Sendai School of Medicine. He had been studying for two years when the Russo-Japanese War broke out. It was at that time that he attended a motion-picture performance and saw a captured Chinese spy, who was about to undergo the penalty of decapitation; and he felt so depressed over the matter that he wished to do something for the masses at once. Although the author says very briefly that this convinced him the more that there should be established a school of modern literature in China, the full meaning of his pregnant words was that he wanted to give voice to the masses, who, for some four thousand years, had been sadly neglected in what was considered good and recognized literature. He gave up his studies and tried to broach a scheme in Tokyo, which failed, as did his attempt to go to Germany to study.
At the age of twenty-nine, he returned to China, where he taught biology and chemistry in Hangchow for two years; after that, he became principal of the Shaohsing Middle School. At the invitation of the Minister of Education, he became a member of the Department of Education and later was transferred to Peking, where, ​until recently, he was a lecturer of the Chinese Department in the National University, the Normal College, and the Girls' Normal College, respectively. He is now a professor in Amoy University.
It was during his studies in Japan in 1918 that his friend, Mr. Ch'ien Hsüan-t'ung, asked Lu-shün to contribute to his magazine, the New Youth. This was the first time Mr. Chou used his pen name Lu-shün for the stories, fifteen of which were later collected and published as the now famous "Ne-han," of which "The True Story of Ah Q" is one of the most popular.
Lu-shün thinks that his training was not the kind which would prepare him for a writing career, but all of us know that life, that severe and thorough master, taught him more than books or schools could have.
The original Chinese of the "The True Story of Ah Q" is contained in the short story collection "Ne-han" (吶喊), which is published by the New Northern Publishing Company, 12 Ts'ui Hua Hu-T'ung, East City, Peking (北京東城翠花胡同十二號北新書局).
G. K. L.
Shanghai, August, 1926.