The first aspect is Lu Xun's criticism of China's rogue spirit.
1In the two or three years after 927, Lu Xun used the word "rogue" for many times to make speeches and write articles. He sharply criticized the principles of politicians in China. Just a bunch of hooligans who kill people at will. China's politics is naturally rogue politics.
When I carefully studied Lu Xun's essays and novels, I found a very wonderful phenomenon: he severely criticized the peasant uprisings of past dynasties. From Chen Sheng, to Huang Chao, to Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Zicheng and Zhang, in today's official history textbooks, he holds a very firm critical attitude towards these positive figures and leaders representing the interests of farmers. From these people, he discovered a profound and long-standing rogue spirit in China culture. In fact, few of these so-called "peasant uprising leaders" really have the status of peasants, so more accurately, they are rogue proletarians. We read The Water Margin by one of China and Four Great Classical Novels. A scholar named Samengwu found that few of Liangshan's 108 heroes seem to be real farmers. On these "refugees", the most negative thing in China's national character is the tendency of destruction and violence.
In several articles, Lu Xun talked about Zhang, the general of the uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, in a very angry way. Zhang Uprising was not to liberate the peasant class, but a grand ideal entrusted to him by later generations. In fact, his uprising was nothing more than overthrowing an emperor and then becoming a new emperor himself. When he found that Li Zicheng ascended the throne in Beijing, and he could not sit still as emperor, he frantically slaughtered the people in the areas he occupied and the places where his troops passed. The tragic degree of this massacre exceeded that of the officers and men of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu army. Especially the Zhang massacre in Sichuan. I come from Sichuan. I have read a lot of local chronicles of Sichuan in recent years, from which I have seen many shocking records. Zhang's idea is that I can't own this house anyway, so I'm going to destroy it. I would rather destroy it than let others have it. This rogue spirit has continued to this day and has not fundamentally changed. The history and reality of China is the process of "success or failure" of hooligans.
The second aspect is the criticism of actor culture.
I have such an article in the book "Iron Grinding Iron", which is entitled "Friendship League China". Everyone knows that "dream" is a kind of address for actors in ancient China, and "dream" is also called "player", which is a derogatory address. In several of his essays, Lu Xun repeatedly emphasized that the whole of China is actually a big stage, that is, a big theater. On this big stage, everyone has a dual identity and a dual role. On the one hand, I performed on this stage, on the other hand, I sat down to watch the performance. The two identities and roles of performing and watching performances are always changing in everyone. Everyone's excellent life eventually created a huge "lie empire", and "acting" and "lying" became one of the basic lifestyles of most people in China.
Lu Xun has a very famous short story "Blessing", which is included in the middle school Chinese textbook. I believe that most of my friends here have studied this novel, but the Chinese teacher's explanation is far from the original intention of the novel. This is not a work reflecting class struggle, but a work explaining China people's mental trauma. There is such a detail in "Blessing", that is, after Sister Xianglin's son Amao was eaten by a wolf, he told the villagers about this tragic situation everywhere, and people in the village came to listen to her story one after another. Some old ladies didn't hear her, but they also came from other places to listen to her. These people listened to Xianglinsao's story, but they didn't sympathize with Xianglinsao. Their mentality is the same as going to a social drama or a performance. They come here for entertainment and excitement. Of course, in the process of going to the theater and the opera house, people will also cry. When the tears were over, everyone went home contentedly and discussed the details with relish. In this way, Xianglinsao's personal misery has become a good material for people's entertainment. As we all know, in our poor countryside, ordinary farmers have little entertainment, so this scene has become their best entertainment. People get some pleasure from other people's tragic stories, so that their humiliating position and pain in real life can be successfully alleviated, anesthetized and transferred. This just exposed the cruelty of China society and China culture.
The cruelty of actor culture is also reflected in another novel of Lu Xun, Medicine. Yu Xia, a character in this novel, wants to awaken his compatriots and people with his justice and lofty dedication. But their compatriots regard such people as actors and actresses. Therefore, those old men with white beards, men in their twenties, and executioner Kang Dashu and others are happily discussing how Yu Xia will be executed. They dramatized a very solemn and sacred thing. The martyr lost his dignity. This makes it impossible for any real tragedy or serious things to happen in this troubled land of China. I wrote in an article that these people's actions are actually the second killing and murder of Xia, a pioneer of the Enlightenment. This kind of killing is more terrible than the Manchu government.
The third aspect of Lu Xun's criticism of national character is to expose the slave psychology of China people.
I've been reading some historical materials during the Anti-Japanese War recently. In the memoirs of Dong, the Japanese invaders, several Japanese soldiers took two or three thousand China civilians and captured soldiers, and arranged them in rows of dozens. The people in the back row tied the people in front with ropes, dug a hole, pushed the people in the first row into the hole, and then the people in the next row did the same to the people in front. In this way, in one day, these Japanese soldiers didn't kill thousands of people in China. Whenever I read such a passage, I find the practical significance of Lu Xun's thought. Lu Xun said: "China people have never been qualified to be' people'. They were slaves at best, and they still are. However, when they are not as good as slaves, they are not uncommon. " In order to escape the bad luck of being a slave, "at this time, people hope to have another master who cares more about their slave rules." Whether they are still or newly released, there is a rule that enables them to embark on the track of slavery. " How accurate his generalization is!
Lu Xun clearly put forward the difference between slaves and minions. Slaves have no self-knowledge of their own living circumstances and living conditions, and they continue their lives very numbly; Slaves are a small group of extremely clever slaves. He has a clear understanding of his slave status. In order to become a "higher slave" among slaves, he does not hesitate to help his master persecute other slaves more cruelly. Lu Xun said in an essay that when their owners haven't told them to bite a poor man, the bulldogs raised by these rich people will take the initiative to pounce and bite. It treats the poor more mercilessly than its master, and it knows that it can generally gain the appreciation of its master. In the slave and slave lifestyle, the slave is more worthy of condemnation and criticism. Lu Xun said that the so-called slaves can be described in four words, that is, "slaves in the heart", that is, people who consciously regard themselves as advanced slaves in their hearts. They also strive to make the dual model of "slave" and "master" more solid.
So, how can we get rid of slave life? That is "establishing people". Yi Daqi, a writer living in the United States, pointed out in his article Examining Our Times-China People in the Post-Lu Xun Era that Lu Xun had been clamoring for China people to become their "people" all his life. He said: "the country is a matter, and the first thing is to establish people. People should establish people and then do everything; If it is Taoism, it is necessary to respect personality and spirit. " To "cultivate people", it is necessary to release individuals from the cage of nationalism and collectivism. In a civil society that abides by the principles of democracy and freedom, individual rights, public rights and universal human rights are inseparable, which is the basis of fairness, justice and dignity. People roll their eyes in hunger and die in groups like bugs, which is undignified; People have no dignity if they are forced to bite each other. Nowadays, we can have a safe meal, and political exposure and informers gradually fade out of our daily life, which is indeed the progress of the times. But even this would not be enough Even some acquired rights are not guaranteed by the system and laws. The dignity of being a man is by no means an iron ticket for the powerful. If the rebellious pigs in Animal Farm can really win that "all men are created equal", they will change from pigs to people. But after the success of the revolution, they divided animals into three or six categories, and the free "rationing right" was in the hands of pig families, so they were still not people, just a group of pigs. The tragic deaths of Sun Zhigang and Li Siyi show how far it is to achieve the goal of "establishing a human being" in China today.
As a warrior in the spiritual world, Lu Xun's life is a life of enlightenment and redemption. The purpose of his enlightenment and redemption is to "establish a man". "Cultivating people" is a very important concept in Lu Xun's thought, which was clearly put forward in his early paper "On Moro Poetry". Lu Xun emphasized that "the founding of a country must first establish people" and translated it into today's "human rights are higher than sovereignty". Sovereignty without human rights is illusory sovereignty and the sovereignty of a few rulers. If a country is to be truly powerful, everyone must become a civilized, democratic and civic-minded individual with independent thinking ability in modern society. Only by establishing people first can this country be established. Lu Xun believes that China people never know the qualification of being a human being, and China people have been struggling in the era of wanting to be slaves and temporarily being slaves. Two kinds of life alternate constantly. At the same time, the people of China were either ravaged by foreign invaders, enslaved by domestic slaves, robbed by robbers, or killed by officers and men. Mr. Lu Xun himself assumed a responsibility from conscience and reason. He insisted on exposing the essence of autocracy. Lu Xun used his words full of blood and tears to show that if the Chinese nation wants to be a dignified nation and China people want to be dignified people, they must carry out profound and national cultural criticism and spiritual repentance, so as to obtain the "phoenix nirvana" of cultural spirit and national character.
There is a serious contradiction between Lu Xun and his time and the times after that. Lu Xun steadfastly rejected all kinds of "ism" and all kinds of political forces to win over and hurt. Lu Xun was the sharpest accuser of the darkness of his time and a keen critic of China's history and future. It is impossible for him to live a happy life in any historical period in China. Finally, I want to ask a question, that is, "What would happen if Lu Xun lived after 1949?" This is a problem that Lu Xun's research circles dare not face for a long time. 1966, Red Flag magazine published an editorial in the 14th issue, saying: "What Lu Xun deserves our study most is his incomparable reverence and love for the great leader Chairman Mao. He had "hesitation" in his early years, but when he found Marxism, especially the China * * * production party represented by Chairman Mao, and found the revolutionary line represented by Chairman Mao, he made up his mind, obeyed and was willing to be a "pawn" of the proletarian revolution. Regardless of the white terror of the Kuomintang reactionaries, regardless of the rumors of Trotsky gangs, regardless of Zhou Yang's deceptive attacks, Lu Xun has always firmly followed Chairman Mao and bravely defended the correct line represented by Chairman Mao. " This is the most brutal and shameful distortion and castration of Lu Xun that I have seen so far. However, Mr. Lu Xun knew before his death that flies and mosquitoes would buzz around his body after death.