Zhou Shuren, better known by his pen name Lu Xun, is generally considered the father of modern Chinese literature and was considered by many to take the pulse of the national consciousness. His first notoriety is due to his short works of fiction, often satirical, sometimes humorous and sometimes very dark ("Lu Xun"). Lu “It can be said that in all of Lu Xun's writings, his twenty-five short stories constitute a rather slim volume. But it is also worth noting that, given the relatively brief period (eight years), Lu Xun was able to demonstrate an unprecedented range and diversity of technical experimentation. (Lee 57) “Kong Yiji” and Ah-Q-The Real Story are exceptional examples of his talent and contain many similarities in terms of characterization, plot, and theme. “Kong Yiji,” which was published in 1919, is named after the protagonist: yi and ji are the first characters in a children's calligraphy textbook, and Kong is the English translation of Confucius' last name. Thus, the name loosely translates to “Confucius ABC” (“Lu Xun”). Ah-Q- The Real Story is also named after its main character whose name is also symbolic. His name is written with the Latin letter Q, perhaps suggesting a pun on the English word tail, or to suggest the image of the typical head of the Qing era Chinese man with his pigtail or his tail on top of his head (“Lu Xun”). A possible explanation of the translation of Kong Yiji's name indicates that he was not successful, that he has the typical ideology...... middle of paper ...... with Chinese symbolism, this point in the story appears to be the "end". » by Kong Yiji. With the loss of his legs, he ultimately lost his life. And in fact, we don't really know what happened to him and no one seems to care. Although wrongly accused, the crowd is satisfied when Ah-Q is executed: "Everyone agreed that Ah-Q was indeed a wicked man, clear proof of which could be found in the fact that he had in fact been executed. If he had not been, how could he have been executed (Lu Xun 172)? Works Cited Lee, Leo Ou-fan. Voice of the Iron House. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987, “Lu Xun.” Chinese fiction writers, 1900-1949. Ed. Thomas Moran. Literary Biographical Dictionary Vol. 328. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Gale Library Resources. Gale of wind. DISK. March 24, 2009 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do? p=LitRG&u=scschools>.