The Legacy and Works of Lu Xun

The Legacy and Works of Lu Xun Lu Xun (é ² Ã¨ ¿â€¦) was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (å‘ ¨Ã¦  â€˜Ã¤ º º), one of China’s most famous fiction authors, poets, and essayists. He is considered by many to be the father of modern Chinese literature because he was the first serious author to write using modern colloquial language. Lu Xun  died on October 19, 1936, but his works have remained prominent over the years in Chinese culture. Early Life Born on September 25,  1881, in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Lu Xun was born into a wealthy and well-educated family. However, his grandfather was caught and nearly executed for bribery when Lu Xun was still a child, which sent his family tumbling down the social ladder. This fall from grace and the way once-friendly neighbors treated his family after they had lost their status had a profound effect on the young Lu Xun. When traditional Chinese remedies failed to save his fathers life from an illness, most likely tuberculosis, Lu Xun vowed to study Western medicine and become a doctor. His studies took him to Japan, where one day after class he saw a slide of a Chinese prisoner being executed by Japanese soldiers while other Chinese people were gathered around happily taking in the spectacle. Appalled at his countrymen’s apparent callousness, Lu Xun abandoned his study of medicine and vowed to take up writing with the idea that was no point in curing diseases in Chinese people’s bodies if there was a more fundamental problem in their minds that needed curing. Socio-Political Beliefs The beginning of Lu Xun’s writing career coincided with the beginning of the May 4th Movement, a social and political movement of mostly young intellectuals who were determined to modernize China by importing and adapting Western ideas, literary theories, and medical practices. Through his writing, which was extremely critical of Chinese tradition and strongly advocated modernization, Lu Xun became one of the leaders of this movement. Impact on the Communist Party Lu Xun’s work has been embraced and to a certain extent co-opted by  China’s Communist Party. Mao Zedong held him in very high esteem, although Mao also worked hard to prevent people from taking Lu Xun’s sharp-tongued critical approach when it came to writing about the Party. Lu Xun himself died well before the communist revolution and it’s difficult to say what he would have thought of it. National and International Influence Widely recognized as one of China’s best and most influential authors, Lu Xun remains strikingly relevant to modern China. His socially-critical work is still widely read and discussed in China and references to his stories, characters, and essays abound in everyday speech as well as academia. Many Chinese people can quote from several of his stories verbatim, as they are still taught as part of China’s national curriculum. His work also continues to influence modern Chinese authors  and writers around the world.  Nobel-prize-winning author KenzaburÃ…  Ã…Å'e  reportedly called him the greatest writer Asia produced in the twentieth century. Noted Works His first short story, â€Å"A Madman’s Diary†, made a huge splash in China’s literary world when it was published in 1918 for its clever use of colloquial language juxtaposed with the stilted, hard-to-read classical language that â€Å"serious† authors were meant to write in at the time. The story also turned heads for its extremely critical take on Chinas dependence on tradition, which Lu Xun uses metaphors to compare to cannibalism. A short, satirical novella called â€Å"The True Story of Ah-Q† was published a few years later. In this work, Lu Xun condemns the Chinese psyche through the titular character Ah-Q, a bumbling peasant who constantly considers himself superior to others even as he is relentlessly humiliated and ultimately executed by them. This characterization was on-the-nose enough that the phrase â€Å"the Ah-Q spirit† remains widely used even today, nearly 100 years after the story was first published. Although his early short fiction is among his most memorable work, Lu Xun was a prolific writer and he produced a wide variety of pieces including a large number of translations of Western works, many significant critical essays, and even a number of poems. Though he only lived to be 55, his complete collected works  fill 20 volumes and weigh over 60 pounds. Selected Translated Works The two works mentioned above,  A Madman’s Diary† (ç‹‚ä º ºÃ¦â€" ¥Ã¨ ® °)  and â€Å"The True Story of Ah-Q† (é˜ ¿Qæ ­ £Ã¤ ¼  )  are available to read as translated works.   Other translated works include  The New Year’s Sacrifice,  a powerful short story about women’s rights and, more broadly, the dangers of complacency. Also available is  My Old Home,  a more reflective tale about memory and the ways in which we relate to the past.

Getting through the most awkward interview moments

Getting through the most awkward interview moments At some point in your career, you’re going to have an awkward interview moment. It may be something you say; it may be coming from the interviewer; it could be anything. In the end, all you can do is laugh it off and hope for the best (or start working on the next opportunity), but there are also some strategies you can implement that can make things a little smoother in the meantime. 4 ways to ease interview awkwardness1. When you don’t know the answer to a questionYour brain is shouting, â€Å"Stall for time!† while you think about the answer to a question you don’t understand- or just plain don’t know. The problem is that the interviewer can tell that you’re a) stalling for time or b) bluffing your way through if you try to get around the answer. Your best bet is just to be honest.â€Å"I don’t know† isn’t a great response, but try framing it differently. â€Å"That’s a good question! Can you clarify what you m ean by the [X-Y-Z] process?†2. When you’re trying to avoid an elephant in the roomLet’s say you’re interviewing at Y Corp, and Y Corp just happens to be infamous for shady corporate behavior or poor reviews by former employees. You definitely don’t want to lead with that, but you might have legitimate concerns about what it would be like to work there. Instead of putting the interviewer on the defensive, try framing it as a question about what the culture is in the office, and whether the company is addressing some of the issues raised in public. If your query comes from a place that’s thoughtful and curious, rather than accusatory, it creates less friction with the interviewer.3. When you’re being asked about highly personal informationIt’s illegal for employers to hire (or not hire) based on factors like religion, family status, or ethnicity. So if you find yourself being asked questions about this (either directly or in an indirect way, like through small talk), you can redirect. You don’t have to come on strong, talking about legal employment statutes, but it’s okay to steer the conversation away.For example: if you think the interviewer is trying to figure out if you’re likely to have children in the near future, emphasize that you’re committed to the job as a priority, regardless of what is going on in your personal life.4. When you got fired from your last jobIt happens. Not every job ends with a seamless transition to the next one. If you’re trying to cover a firing (even if you were fired for something you did), it’s not necessarily a dealbreaker, and you should be prepared to talk about it. Practice your response ahead of time for a question like, â€Å"Why did you leave your last job?† or â€Å"Can you tell me about the circumstances when you left your last job?† Practicing it beforehand can decrease anxiety in the moment- a plan in place means you know exactly what to say. It can also help you modulate your tone, because you really don’t want to seem angry or defensive in front of a potential new employer.Be sure to limit your answer to just the pertinent info. If you find yourself inclined to start with, â€Å"Okay, here’s the story of what really happened. My boss was a total jerk, and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  then it’s time to edit. Keep personal details and opinions out of it. And it’s fine to give a brief, one-or-two sentence discussion of what happened. The interviewer isn’t looking for a saga- just the basic understanding.And above all else- be positive. Even the worst situations can provide valuable learning opportunities, so you can say, â€Å"It was a challenge, but it taught me much more about how to handle a situation like this proactively and helped me refocus my energies on the skills I needed to build.†Being able to get through these awkward moments can make the difference between a failed interview and a saved one. Staying calm and talking through it can usually fix an embarrassing moment and hel p you get things back on track.