Lu Xun Museum in Beijing

Above: My 2011 started with a visit to Lu Xun Museum, the writer of The True Story of Ah Q. Photo gallery below.


Lu Xun Museum in Beijing
PICTORIAL - THE MAN WHO BELIEVED CHINA COULD DO BETTER

Lu Xun (1881-1936) was an individualist, observer, society critic, cultural leader, and writer. He was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province and lived in Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. He studied in Nanjing and in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture in Japan.

Lu Xun became founder of modern Chinese literature. He developed a non-standard perspective, wrote the way people spoke. Some of his short stories were A Madman's Diary (1918), The True Story of Ah Q (1922), Remembering the Past, and collections Call to Arms and Hesitation.
 Lu Xun believed that there was need for "medicine of the spirit, modernized education and changes of social habits". Here some famous conclusions:

To my enemies,
I would stare them with furious, cold eyes.
To my people,
I would serve like a humble ox.
- this was quoted by Chaiman Mao (posters)

The Chinese never look at foreigners as equal, either they are
looked up as saints, or looked down as brutes.

The Chinese act like slaves before strong people,
and like masters in front of the weak.

Lies written in ink cannot hide truths written in blood.

Never bend your head in front of pointing fingers.

Almost 100 years later Lu Xun is still important. Many in China feel proud of their traditional culture which encourages to be humble. Humbleness is considered as a virtue, and hierarchy is accepted. But success can turn that humbleness into arrogance, as Henry Kissinger famously analyzed.

It was cold but sunny day, no queue at Lu Xun Museum's ticket office. I walked across small courtyard, passed the famous white Lu Xun statue. Around, then into the Exhibition Hall lobby which had writings on the walls. Further inside I found photos, publications and the life story.

Near Exhibition Hall was museum's bookshop and opposite to it his home during two Beijing years. His home looked almost new but its small scale fitted to his profile.

Probably everyone in China knows about Lu Xun and The True Story of Ah Q. But yet, his museum doesn't seem to interest many visitors. Wildcats in the yard, I counted them on one hand fingers, the same number as us visitors that day.


-- BeijingMan

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Pictures by Canon 40D with EF-S 17-85mm zoom and 580EX flash. Click to enlarge.


Above-1: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Courtyard.
The museum was opened in 1956, the Exhibition Hall was added in 1980. My driver got into museum's yard parking.


Above-2: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Courtyard.
Lu Xun was the literary name, probably no Chinese have such a name. Lu Xun's real name was Zhou Shuren.


Above-3: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Courtyard.
For long his stories were readings in Chinese schools.


Above-4: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Lu Xun had courage to criticize his culture.


Above-5: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Into The Exhibition Hall.


Above-6: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-7: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Entrance hall. Walls covered by Lu Xun's texts.


Above-8: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-9: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-10: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-11: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-12: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-13: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-14: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-15: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-16: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-17: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-18: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-19: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-20: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Wikipedia
The True Story of Ah Q
"Ah Q is known for deluding himself into believing he is the victor every time he loses a fight. In one scene, Ah Q is beaten and his silver is stolen. He slaps himself on the face, and because he is the person doing the slapping, he sees himself as the victor."


Above-21: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Revolutionists.


Above-22: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Wikipedia
A Madman's Diary
A Madman's Diary (1918) was first published in New Youth and then the first story in collection book Call to Arms. Story became the cornerstone of cultural movement of the time. The story includes diary entries of a madman who had been cured of his paranoia.


Above-23: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Catalogue of books of stone rubbings and tomb carvings compiled and edited by Lu Xun.


Above-24: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Items collected by Lu Xun. Front, left: stone hedgehog, a pig, whistle from Song Dynasty era, TongXiaoNuJi ancient copper crossbow.


Above-25: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Lu Xun collected Asian coins.


Above-26: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Lu Xun donated these items to Museum of Chinese History.


Above-27: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-28: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-29: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Life in Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Nanjing.
INFO PANEL
"In 1898, Lu Xun left Shaoxing for Nanjing to begin the study of modern engineering and science, and finally entered the School of Mines and Railroads free of tuition, where he had received a scholarship four years later. During this period, he was much taken with new books such as Huxley's Evolution and Ethics, which provided a critical introduction to social Darwinism. He did this reading in the wake of China's defeat by Japan in 1894-5 and the suppression by conservative Empress Dowager of the Hundred Days' Reform backed by the young Guangxu Emperor and his progressive advisors such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. This heightened Lu Xun's concern for China's fate in the world of competing imperial powers."


Above-30: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Short story Remembering the Past about 1911 revolution, published in Fiction Monthly.


Above-31: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Lu Xun's family members. Mother in the middle, between the Japanese wives of his brothers, standing in the back row. Lu Xun is not in this photo. In Japan, Lu Xun history can be found in Sendai City Museum, and statue in Tohoku University Katahira Campus, where he studied medical science.


Above-32: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
This photo was preserved by Lu Xun. LX is not in this photo.
INFO PANEL
"Group photo of teachers of the Zhejiang Normal School, after the victory won in expelling headmaster Xia who was an advocate of loyalty-to-the-monarch."


Above-33: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
In August 1909, Lu Xun returned to China from Japan.
INFO PANEL
"Lu Xun returned to China because of financial problem in his home. At first he taught in Zhejiang Normal School in Hangzhou and then he served as the headmaster of a normal school in Shaoxing. Although the 1911 Revolution brought about the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, Lu Xun was deeply disappointed by the vicissitudes of local politics and corruption of officials. In 1912, through the recommendation of a friend, he was appointed to the Ministry of Education by the newly established interim government of Republic of China in Nanjing."


Above-34: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-35: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.


Above-36: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Lu Xun was born in Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province in 1881, and stayed there his first 17 years, till 1898.


Above-37: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Exhibition Hall.
Steps up then left, an orange cat, see also pic 49.


Above-38: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Courtyard.
View from The Exhibition Hall, middle: Lu Xun's white statue from behind, flagpool and the gate. High buildings are further outside.


Above-39: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Beside The Exhibition Hall, framed texts: Lu Xun's old residence.


Above-40: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
His home for two years looked still almost new but its small scale fitted to his profile.


Above-41: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Kitchen.


Above-42: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Lilac, planted by Lu Xun on April 5, 1925.


Above-43: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Maid's room.


Above-44: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Courtyard. In the middle, door to the backyard.


Above-45: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
The well in the backyard.


Above-46: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Lu Xun's home through backyard window. Yes, allowed, to visit inside was not arranged.


Above-47: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Backyard.


Above-48: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Residence.
Courtyard. Door out to street.


Above-49: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Courtyard.
Orange cat relaxed at the Exhibition Hall. Some losses but no hesitation.


Above-50: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Courtyard.
She was at museum's gate: strong, alert and confident.


Above-51: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing. The Courtyard.


Above-52: Lu Xun Museum, Beijing.
Museum address: Near Beijing Financial Street, JinRongJie
No.19 GongMenKou Erlao, FuChengMenNei


Lu Xun Museum, Beijing
+ The Exhibition building, collections and his small scale home
+ No entrance fee the day I visited
- LX is sort of out of fashion, right now not a hot topic in China

***** MODERNIZER WITH VOICE *****

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© BeijingMan 2022