LESSON 3

LITERATURES OF ASIA
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NAME OF STUDENT
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COURSE AND YEAR
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DATE OF SUBMISSION
 CHINA: THE RED DRAGON
At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:
 Have an overview of Chinese history, philosophy,
religion and literature.
 Read and understand range of Chinese literary works.
 Express your thoughts and ideas about Chinese literary
works.
 Appreciate Chinese literature
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
 China, officially the People’s Republic of China, is a
country in East Asia.
 It is the world’s most populous country, with a land
population of around 1.4 billion in 2019.
 Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, it
is the world’s third or fourth largest country by area.
 Its capital is Beijing and its official language is
Standard Chinese.
 China emerged as one of the world’s first civilizations,
in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North
China Plain.
 Archeological evidence suggests that early hominids
inhabited China between 2.24 million and 250,000 million
years ago.

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

 The government of China formally recognizes five

religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism,
and Islam.
 Chinese philosophy refers to any of several schools of
philosophical thought in the Chinese tradition,
including Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Buddhism, and
Mohism.

CONFUCIANIS  This school was developed from the

M teachings of the sage Confucius (551 –
479 B.C.), and collected in the
Analects of Confucius. It is a system
of moral, social, political, and quasi
– religious thought, whose influence
also spread to Korea and Japan.
  The major Confucian concepts include
ren (humanity or humaneness),
zhengming (similar to the concept of
the Mandate of Heaven), Zhong
(loyalty), xiao (filial piety), and li
(ritual).
 It introduced the Golden Rule
(essentially, treat others as you
would like to be treated), the concept
of Yin and Yang (two opposing forces
that are permanently in conflict with
each other, leading to perpetual
contradiction and change), the idea of
meritocracy, and of reconciling
opposites in order to arrive at some
middle ground combining the best both.
 Confucianism is not necessarily
regarded as a religion, allowing one
to be a Taoist, Christian, Muslim,
Shintoist or Buddhist and still
profess Confucianist beliefs. Arguably
the most famous Confucian after
Confucius himself was Meng Tzu (or
Mencius) (372 – 289 B.C.)
TAOISM  Sometimes also written DAOISM, Taoism
is a philosophy which later also
developed into a religion. TAO
literally means “path” or “way”,
although it is more often used as a
meta – physical term that describes
the flow of the universe, or the force
behind the natural order. The Three
Jewels of the Tao are compassion,
moderation, and humility. Taoist
thought focuses on wu wei (“non –
action”), spontaneity, humanism,
relativism, emptiness and the strength
of softness (or flexibility).
LEGALISM  Legalism is a pragmatic philosophical
philosophy, whose main motto is “set
clear strict laws, or deliver harsh
punishment”, and its essential
principle is one of jurisprudence.
According to Legalism, a ruler should
govern his subjects according to Fa
(law or principle), Shu (method,
tactic, art, or statecraft) and Shi
(legitimacy, power or charisma).
 BUDDHISM  Buddhism is a religion, a practical
philosophy and arguably a psychology,
focusing on the teachings of Buddha
(Siddhartha Gautama), who lived in
India from the mid – 6th to the early
5th century B.C.
 It was introduced in China form India
probably some time during the 1 st
Century B.C.
MOHISM  Mohism was founded by Mozi (c. 470 –
390 B.C.). It promotes universal love
with the aim of mutual benefit, such
that everyone must love each other
equally and impartially to avoid
conflict and war.
 Mozi was strongly against Confucian
ritual, instead emphasizing pragmatic
survival through farming,
fortification and statecraft.

CHINESE POETRY

 Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken or chanted in

Chinese language. Chinese poetry generally falls into
one of two primary types, Classical Chinese Poetry and
Modern Chinese Poetry.
 Classical Chinese poetry is a traditional Chinese poetry
written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain
traditional forms, or modes, traditional genres, and
connections with particular historical periods.
 Classical Chinese poetry is characterized by its intense
inter – relationship with other forms of Chinese art,
such as Chinese painting and Chinese calligraphy.
Classical Chinese poetry has proven to be of immense
influence upon poetry worldwide.
 Modern Chinese poetry refers to post Qing Dynasty (1644
to 1912) Chinese poetry, including the modern vernacular
style of poetry increasingly common with the New Culture
and 4 May 1919 movements, with the development of
experimental styles such as “free verse”(as opposed to
the traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical
Chinese language). One of the first writers of poetry in
the modern Chinese poetry mode was Hu Shih (1891 –
1962).
MAJOR WRITERS OF CHINESE LITERATURE

1. CONFUCIUS

 Confucius was born in 551 BC in Shandong province.

Confucius’ family was extremely poor and his father
died when he was young. Despite his hardships,
Confucius became a scholar because of his voracious
reading. He began working in the local government
in his late teens and got married at the age of 19.
During this time, Confucius continued to study the
classical arts, which included music, calligraphy,
archery, poetry, and history.
 By the time he reached his mid – 30’s, Confucius
was a well – respected teacher. Not only was
Confucius interested in transmitting knowledge, he
believed that public education could help transform
people and society for the better. His belief in
education was so strong that it led to the eventual
establishment of the Imperial Examination System.
 For Confucius, it was integral for scholars to
share their knowledge with the public to create a
positive ripple effect throughout the nation.
 At the age of 56, he decided to live in exile for
12 years with a group of dedicated students. It was
during this time that many of his famous sayings
were written down in texts like ANALECTS.
 Over the centuries, the ANALECTS has become the
most important of the “Four Books of Confucianism”.
This text, which takes the form of a dialogue
between Confucius and his students, lays out the
key ideas that inform Asian society to this day;
respect for elders, reverence for rituals, and the
belief that a well – rounded education makes a
student virtuous.

2. LAO TZU

 Legend has it that Lao Tzu, who had been an archive

keeper at the imperial court, left his job at the
 age of eighty. As he was about to pass the border
from China to Tibet, a guard requested that Lao Tzu
record his philosophy in life before passing
through. The result of that exchange is the 5,000
character mystical poem we still have today: the
TAO TE CHING.
 The TAO TE CHING expresses philosophy of non –
action and non – interference into the natural flow
of life. Tzu suggests that when humans stop trying
to arrange nature to our own specifications, they
attain to the peace and sublimity of the Tao.
 The TAO TE CHING remains the first and central text
of the Chinese religion called Taoism.
 The TAO TE CHING has exerted a profound effect on
the history of Chinese religion and spirituality.
Today, millions of people from all different faiths
have been inspired by Tzu’s witty, wise and
beautiful verses.

3. LI BAI

 Li Bai was born in a city near Chengdu in 701 AD.

When he turned 24, he decided to take up the life
of a wandering poet. He married a woman named Anlu
in Hubei Province and made money by writing poetry
for court officials.
 By 756, he became a poet to one of the emperor’s
sons. His poems are concerned with romantic themes
like impermanence, immortality, drunkenness, and
the sublimity of nature.
 One of the most famous verses in all of Chinese
poetry is Li Bai’s “Thoughts on a Still Night”.
Bai wrote this poem when he was on a government
assignment far away from his hometown. This short
verse remains one of the most profound poetic
expressions of homesickness in any language.

4. CAO XUEQUIN

 The most recent of China’s “Four Great Classical

Novels” is a work called THE DREAM OF THE RED
CHAMBER by a man named Cao Xuequin.
  Historians believed that Xuequin was born into a
wealthy family in Nanjing around 1715. The novel is
considered as China’s “Romeo and Juliet”.
 This novel became incredibly famous both in China
and Japan during the 18 th and 19th centuries. Believe
it or not, there’s even a field of study called
Redology dedicated to the study of this novel.

5. LU XUN

 Born in 1881 into a prominent family in Shaoxing,

Xun’s grandfather was incarcerated in 1893 for
fraud and his family faced harsh criticism from the
community.
 In 1902, Xun was able to travel to Japan to study
medicine. While in Japan, Xun started writing for
radical magazines that supported Chinese
revolutionaries.
 After returning to China, Xun landed a job in the
government in Beijing. He published his first major
short story, DIARY OF A MAD MAN in 1918. This short
story is a harsh critique of Confucian values. Xun
followed this story up with the short novel THE
TRUE STORY OF AH Q, which also attacked old Chinese
customs.
 These two stories made Xun incredibly famous among
the Chinese literati. He instantly got jobs
teaching at some of Beijing’s most prominent
colleges. During this time, he completed his
comprehensive BRIEF HISTORY OF CHINESE FICTION. He
also translated numerous texts from Russian
literature into Mandarin.
 Some of the best works from Xun’s later life
include his prose – poems and his political essays
expressing his uniquely pessimistic attitude toward
Chinese politics.

FAMOUS LITERARY MASTERPIECES

TITLE (ENGLISH AUTHOR OR COMPILER DESCRIPTION
TRANSLATION)
BOOK OF CHANGES - Cornerstone to
Chinese
philosophy. A
compendium and
 classic of ancient
cosmic principles.
CLASSIC OF POETRY Compiled by Earliest existing
Confucius (551 – anthology of
479 BC) Chinese poems and
songs concerning
basic human issues
such as love,
marriage, work and
war.
LI SAO Li Sao One of the most
famous poems of
Romanticism of
China, a
representative
work of the Chu Ci
(literally “Poetry
of Chu” form of
poetry)
THE ART OF WAR Sun Wu One of the oldest
and most
successful books
on military
strategy; likely
influenced
Napoleon.
ANALECTS OF Compiled by the Records of
CONFUCIUS disciples of Speeches by
Confucius Confucius. One of
the canons of
Confucianism
TAO TE JING Laozi Foundational text
of the
Philosophical
Taoism and central
in religious
Daoism
RECORDS OF THE Sima Qian The first
GRAND HISTORIAN (145 – 87 BC) systematic Chinese
historical text,
the Records
profoundly
influenced Chinese
historiography and
prose.
RHAPSODY ON Sima Xiangru Representative
SHANGLIN PARK (79 – 118 BC) work of fu poetry,
and model for many
 later imitators.
NINETEEN OF OLD - An anthology of
POEMS nineteen poems
collected during
the Han Dynasty.
Very influential
in regards to
later poetry, in
part because of
their innovative
use of the five –
character line.
PEACH BLOSSOM Tao Yuanming Description of the
SPRING (365 – 427) Chinese version of
Utopia.
THE RETURN Tao Yuanming A manifesto of
China recluse
culture, in which
Tao expresses his
exhilaration on
retreating from a
bureaucratic
career back to a
carefree,
reclusive life.
BALLAD OF MULAN A folksong from
Northern Dynasties
China, recounting
the story of
Mulan, a girl who
goes to war in
place of her
father. Adapted to
a movie “Mulan” in
1998 by Disney
Animation.
THOUGHTS ON A Li Bai A short poem
STILL NIGHT (701 – 762) themed on
homesickness. One
of the most famous
Chinese poems.
THREE HUNDRED TANG Compiled by Sun A selection of the
POEMS Zhu, 1763 Tang Dynasty
poetry, selected
based on their
popularity and
educational value.
For centuries, it
 was taught in
elementary schools
for students to
memorize and use
them to read and
write.

PEONY PAVILION Tang Xianzu The premier

(1550 – 1616) example of Kunqu
Opera that was
popular in the 17th
century.
JOURNEY TO THE Wu Cheng’en One of the four
WEST (1501 – 1582) greatest Chinese
classic novels.
This novel has a
strong background
in Chinese folk
religion,
mythology and
values system. It
fictionalizes the
experience of the
Xuanzang, a
Buddhist monk to
India with his
three disciples.
A DREAM OF Cao Xueqing The pinnacle of
MANSIONS (1715 – 1763) Chinese classic
fiction. The novel
is remarkable not
only for its huge
cast of characters
but also for its
precise and
detailed
observation of the
life and social
structures of
typical 18th
century Chinese
aristocracy. A
field of study
known as
“Redology” has
been developed,
devoted
exclusively to
 this novel.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHINESE LITERATURE

1. Chinese literature has profoundly influenced the
literary traditions of other Asian countries,
particularly Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
2. Chinese literature, especially poetry, is recorded in
handwriting or in print and purports to make an
aesthetic appeal to the reader that is visual as well as
aural.
3. The visual appeal of the graphs has in fact given rise
to the elevated status of calligraphy in China, where it
has been regarded for at least the last 16 centuries as
a fine art comparable to painting.
4. On the negative side, such a writing system has been an
impediment to education and the spread of literacy,
thus, reducing the number of readers of literature
because calligraphy requires knowledge of more than
1,000 graphs together with their pronunciation.
5. On the other hand, the Chinese written language, even
with its obvious disadvantages, has been a potent factor
in perpetuating the cultural unity of the growing
millions of Chinese people.
LITERARY READINGS
THE TRIAL OF THE STONE
A Chinese Folktale
The boy Ah Niew was an orphan whose mother died when he
was two years old. His grandmother brought him up by selling
cakes cooked in oil. He carried the cakes in a basket lined
with oily paper and peddled these in the streets.
One day, Ah Niew was especially lucky. He has sold the
three hundred cakes very fast. He was about to go home when
he saw an old woman crossing the street with a basketful of
fruits. In her haste, she stumbled and her fruits rolled in
the streets. Ah Niew put down his basket with the money in
it and came to woman’s rescue. He gathered the fruits,
rubbed off the dust from them, and returned them in the
basket.
When he turned to get his own basket, it was gone. He
looked around and saw it beside a big stone. But the money
was gone.
 Ah Niew cried so loud that the people came to see what
was the matter. “Oh! Oh! My money is gone…” Ah Niew wailed.
“What will my grandmother say? She worked so hard baking all
those cakes in oil… and I sold them all. But the money is
gone.”
Paw Kong, a Mandarin who was a kindhearted judge
happened to be passing by. Ah Niew ran to him for help. Paw
Kong scrutinized the faces of the onlookers. He said to
young man, “Did you take the boy’s money?”
“No,” replied the young man.
“Did you take it?” he asked the man with the big nose.
“No,” he replied.
All the people around him whom he asked denied that they
had taken the money.
Paw Kong said, “I have asked all of you and none would
admit the theft. The only remaining object nearby is this
stone, so it must be the thief. Servants, take the stone to
the court I shall try it for taking the boy’s money.”
The people laughed but they were curious to see the
trial of the stone, so they went with Paw Kong to the court.
“You must each pay twenty cents to enter the court,” Paw
Kong told them.
The judge instructed the servants to put a pot of water
at the entrance of the court. “Each person must pay twenty
cents before they enter the court,” he told the people.
Paw Kong stood by the water, looking intently at the
water as each man dropped his twenty cents. The pot was
nearly full of money.
“This is the man who took the money,” said Paw Kong.
“Servant, take him! Look in his bag and you will find
money.”
The Mandarin servants seized the man, opened his bag and
true enough! They found two hundred eighty cents.
“That is my money,” shouts Ah Niew.
“Yes, that is your money,” agreed Paw Kong.
“How did you know that it’s the boy’s money?” asked the
people.
 “Look!” said Paw Kong. Look at the water. Ah Niew put
his money under the paper lining of the basket. I saw the
paper lining of the basket. I saw the paper. So his money
has oil in it. There is oil on the water, which appeared
only when that man put his twenty cents in the pot.”
“Thank you, thank you, Sir,” replied the grateful Ah
Niew as he skipped gaily home to his grandmother.

THE ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS

The Analects, meaning “selected sayings”, also known as
the Analects of Confucius, is an ancient Chinese book
composed of a large collection of sayings and ideas
attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his
contemporaries.
The Analects has been one of the most widely – read and
studied books in China for the last 2,000 years and
continues to have a substantial influence on Chinese and
East Asian thought and values today.
Some of the sayings included in the analects are the
following:
 “Don’t grieve when people fail to recognize your
ability. Grieve for your lack of ability instead.”

 “If a craftsman wants to do good work, he must first

sharpen his tools.”

 “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away

small stones.”

 “When the wind blows, the grass bends.”

 “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

 “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you

do not stop.”
  “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it
complicated.”

 To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to

remember it.”

 “When anger rises, think of the consequences.”

 “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to

work a day in your life.”

A COUNTRY BOY QUITS SCHOOL

Lao Hsiang (Translated by Chi-Chen Wang)
A boy in the country gets to be at least half as useful
as a grownup by the time he is eight or nine years old. He
can weed in the spring or ti7e up harvest bundles in summer:
he is able to pass bricks when a house is built or open and
shut the furrows to the irrigation ditches. This, being the
case, who'd want to send him to school? But an official
proclamation had been issued in the city to the effect that
unless a boy over six years of age.
When they found the cause of her distress, Father said,
"We'll have the boy ask his teacher whose mama this really
is. Maybe it is the teacher's mama."
The next morning before dawn, Mother woke up her son and
made him go to school and ask the teacher for a solution to
the problem that had bothered her all night. Arriving at
school, the boy found that it was Sunday and that there
would be no school. Moreover, the teacher had drunk more
wine than was good for him the night before and was still
sound asleep. The boy told Mother the circumstances, which
made her curse the institution of Sunday.
At general assembly on Monday, the teacher said gently
to his charges, "One who wants to learn must not be afraid
to ask questions. Anyone who has any question should raise
it at once, to his teacher at school or to his parents at
home." Thereupon our hero stood up and asked, (the reader
says) "This is Mama." Whose is she, really?” The teacher
answered even more gently than before. "It is the mama of
anyone who happens to read the book, do you understand now?"
"No," the boy said. This embarrassed the teacher a
little but he said patiently, "Why don't you understand?"
"Baldy is also reading this, but his mama is not like
this lady," the boy said. "Baldy's mother is lame in one arm
and has only one eye," Hsiao Li said.
"And you have no mama at all. She died a long time ago,"
Baldy said in self-defense.
"Don't talk among yourselves" the teacher said, knocking
on the blackboard with his ferule. "We are going to have the
lesson plan today: This is Papa. Look, everyone. This is
Papa, the man with spectacles and patted hair."
After school, Mother was still warned about who the
picture woman was, but when she heard her son reiterating
"this is Papa," she did not dare to pursue the question,
being afraid that her husband might want to know when she'd
found a new papa for their son. She was puzzled more than
ever and wondered why the book insisted on presenting people
with papas and mamas when they had them already.
A few days later, the boy learned two new sentences:
"The ox tends the fire; the horse eats noodles." He read the
text over thousands of times but he could not get over the
feeling that there was something queer about the assertions.
They had an ox and a horse and he had himself taken them out
to tend the hills, but he had never once seen a horse eat
noodles and he was sure that their ox could not tend the
fire. But could the book be wrong? Since he could not answer
these questions, he obeyed his teacher's injunction of the
week before and asked his father about it. Father said, "I
once went to a foreign circus in the city and saw a horse
that could ring a bell and fire a gun. Perhaps the book is
talking about such horses and oxen." It in our
circumstances. You' 11 be very ungrateful if you don't study
hard and learn something."
The boy took his father's instructions to heart and set
out for school the next day at dawn. When he got there,
however, the porter said to him in a low voice, "Classes
don't start till nine. It's now only five thirty. You are
too early. The teacher is asleep and the classroom isn't
unlocked. You had better go home now." The boy looked around
the yard and found that he was indeed the only student
there; he listened outside the teacher's window and heard
him snoring; he walked around the lecture room and found no
open door. There was nothing for him to do but run back
home. Grandfather was sweeping the yard when he suddenly
caught sight of the boy. He threw down his broom and said.
"What is the use of trying to make a scholar of a boy whom
Heaven and Earth intended for the hoe? Look at him. it's
only the second day and he is playing truant already!" The
boy was just about to explain when his mother gave him two
resounding slaps and made him tend the fire for breakfast.
Needless to say, the price of the books that they had to buy
had a great deal to do with their temper.
When the boy went to school again after breakfast, the
teacher was already on the platform and was holding forth on
the subject of being late to school. To illustrate his
point, he told a story about a little fairy that waited by
the wayside with a bag of gold to reward the earliest boy.
Our boy was enchanted with the story and the words "fairy"
gold" but he could not figure out just what was meant by
"earliest." In the afternoon, our young hero came back from
school at three thirty, just as his father was going back to
work after his midday nap. Luckily his father happened to
see the other boys also coming home from school and the
teaching taking a stroll with his “dog stick," and concluded
that his son was not playing truant. He kept wondering,
however, about the strange ways of these foreign schools.
The first six days of school were taken up with the
first lesson in the reader, with the text. “This is mama."
It couldn't be said that the boy was not diligent He
reviewed his lesson every day after school, reading over and
over again "This is Mama," until dusk. With his left hand
holding the book open and his right following the
characters, he read on faithfully and conscientiously if
afraid that the characters would fly away if he did not fix
his entire attention on them.
But every time he reads "This is Mama," his mother's
heart would jump. On the sixth day of 2 school she could
stand it no longer. She snatched the book from him and said,
“Let me see who your mama is!" Thinking that his mother was
really eager to learn, the boy pointed to the accompanying
picture and said, This is Mama- the lady with leather shoes,
bobbed hair, and long dress." One glance at the picture and
Mother burst out crying. Grandfather, Grandmother, and
Father were frightened, thinking that she might have become
possessed by some evil spirits. At first, she only cried and
would not say anything when they asked her what the matter
was, but when they persisted, she said. “Where did the boy
get that vampire-like mama?"
Grandmother, however, did not agree with father's
explanation. She said, "The ox must be the Ox-Head Devil
King and the horse must also be a demon. Don't you see that
all wear human clothing? They haven't changed their heads if
human heads yet, but that alone will take to live hundred a
years." The old lady then went on to tell stories about
demons that could command the wing and summon rain; the
result was that the boy dreamed that night of being seized
by a winged-wolf demon and woke up crying.
The following day, the boy asked his teacher "Is this ox
that can tend the fire a foreign ox ?"
The teacher laughed and said, "You are too literal! The
book has only made those things up. It is not true that oxen
can really tend the fire or that horses really eat noodles."
The explanation cleared up at one stroke many things in
the book that had puzzled the boy. He had read about such
things as bread, milk, park, ball, and the like, which he
had never seen and which had made him wonder, it dawned upon
him that the book dealt only with make believe things.
One day, the boy and his schoolmates decided that they
would play tea party as they had read about it in their
reading. They agreed that each would contribute twenty cents
so that they could send to the city for oranges, apples,
chocolates, and things. Our boy knew, of course, that he
would be only inviting a beating to ask money for buying
sweetmeats. Grandmother always mumbled that school would
bankrupt them yet, whenever he had to buy a sheet of writing
paper. But be could not resist the glowing picture that his
book gave of the tea party, and decided to help himself to
the money that his mother had just got from selling more of
her jewels and which she had set aside for buying cabbage
seedlings.
 Grandfather had been suffering for a long time from a
chronic cough, and someone had hold him that orange peels
would give him relief. He kept on asking what orange peels
were like and where they could be gotten. Thinking that this
was a chance for him to ingratiate himself into his
grandfather's favor, the boy said, "We are getting some
oranges?" Grandfather asked. "What are you getting oranges
for?"
We want to hold a tea party," the boy said.
"What is a tea party?"
"It means to get together and eat things and drink tea,"
the boy said. "It is in the book
"What kind of book is this that is either making animals
talk or tea people to eat and play? No wonder the boys have
become lazy and choosy about their food since they went to
school" Grandmother said.
"And it is always about foreign food. There doesn't seem
to be any corn stew or bean curd with onions in it."
Grandfather said.
"Remember, son, to bring back some orange peels for your
grandfather's cough," said Mother.
"Where did you get the money to buy oranges?" asked
Father.
"The teacher - "but before the boy could finish making
up his story, they heard Badly, who live in the next
dwelling to the east, suddenly begin to cry. Then they heard
his father shout, "We can't even afford salt, and yet you
want to buy candy."
This was followed by the voice of Hsiao Lin's uncle, who
live in the west. "I let you buy books with my earned-money
because it is for your good, but I haven't any money for you
to buy sweetmeats. You can ask whoever you want to hold tea
parties for it."
The truth came out. The boy's father aimed a kick at
him, but fortunately the table intervened. He only upset the
table and broke a few rice bowls. Grandfather was of the
opinion th at it might be better to take the boy out of
school, but Grandmother did not want her son to go to jail.
After long arguments, it was decided that they would let him
try school for a few more days.
 After this Humiliation, our young scholar vowed to study
harder and to recover his lost prestige in the family.
Everyday after school, he read without stopping until it was
dark. He did not realize that the source of his troubles lay
in the textbook itself.
Grandmother had been feeling that her son was no longer
as close to her as before his marriage and that her position
in the family had been gradually slipping. Now as she
listened to the boy reading aloud his latest lessons, she
heard him say, "In my family I have a papa, a mama, a
brother, and a sister," but nothing about Grandfather and
Grandmother. She became very indignant and shouted. "So this
house is now all yours and I have no longer a share in it!"
She was mad with fury. She picked up a brick and broke their
iron pot into pieces.
“Don't be angry any more!" the boy's father said. "We
won't let him read this kind of book any longer. I would
rather go to jail."
And so the next day, Father discharged a day laborer and
the teacher marked the boy's absence in the record book at
school.

A LITTLE INCIDENT
Lu Hsun
Six years have gone by, as so many winks, since I came
to the capital from the village. During all that time there
have occurred many of those events known as “affairs of the
state”, a great number of which I have seen or heard about.
My heart does not seem to have been in the least affected by
any of them, and recollection now only tends to increase my
ill temper and cause me to like people less as the day wears
on. But one little incident alone is deep with meaning to
me, and I am unable to forget it even now.

It was a winter day in the sixth year of the Republic, and a

strong northernly wind blew furiously. To make a living, I
had to be up early, and on the way to my duties I
encountered scarcely anyone. After much difficulty, I
finally succeeded in hiring a rickshaw. I told the puller to
take to me to the South Gate.
After a while, the wind moderated its fury, and in its wake
the streets were left clean of the loose dust. The puller
ran quickly. Just as we approached the South Gate, somebody
ran in front of us, got entangled in the rickshaw, and
tumbled to the ground.

It was a woman with streaks of white in her hair, and she

wore ragged clothes. She had darted suddenly from the side
of the street, and directly crossed in front of us. My
puller tried to swerve aside, but her tattered jacket,
unbuttoned and fluttering in the wind, caught in the shafts.
Fortunately, the puller had slowed his pace, otherwise she
would have been thrown head over heels, and probably
injured. After we halted, the woman still knelt on all
fours. I did not think she was hurt. No one else had seen
the collision. And it irritated me that the puller had
stopped and was apparently prepared to get himself involved
in some foolish complication. It might delay and trouble my
journey.

“It’s nothing,” I told him. “Move on!”

But either he did not hear me or did not care, for he put
down the shafts and gently helped the old woman to her feet.
He held her arms, supporting her, and asked:

“Are you alright?”

“I am hurt.”

I thought, “I saw you fall and it was not all rough. How can
you be hurt? You are pretending. The whole business is
distasteful, and the rickshaw man is merely making
difficulties for himself. Now let him find his own way out
of the mess.”

But the puller did not hesitate for a moment after the old
woman said she was injured. Still holding her arm, he walked
carefully ahead with her. Then I was surprised as, looking
ahead, I suddenly noticed a police station, and saw that he
was taking her there. No one was outside, so he guided her
in through the gate.

As they passed in, I experienced a curious sensation. I do

not know why, but at the moment, it suddenly seemed to me
that his dust-covered figure loomed enormous, and as he
walked farther he continued to grow, until finally I had to
lift my head to follow him. At the same time, I felt a
bodily pressure all over me, which came from his direction.
It seemed almost to push out from me all the littleness that
hid under my fur-lined gown. I grew week, as though my
vitality had been spent, as though the blood had frozen in
me. I sat motionless, stunned and thoughtless, until I saw
an officer emerge from the station. Then, I got off from the
rickshaw as he approached me.

“Get another rickshaw,” he advised. “This man can’t pull you

anymore.”

Without thinking, I thrust my hand into my pocket and pulled

forth a big fistful of coppers. “Give the fellow these,” I
said.

The wind had ceased entirely, but the street was still
quiet. I mused as I walked, but I was almost afraid to think
about myself. Leaving aside what had happened before, I
sought an explanation for a fistful of coppers. Why had I
given them? As a reward? And did I think of myself, after my
conduct, fit to pass judgment upon the rickshaw puller? I
could not answer my own conscience.

Till now that experience burns in my memory. I think of it,

and introspect with pain and effort. The political and
military drama of these years is to me like the classics I
read in childhood: I cannot recite half a line of it. But
always before my eyes, purging me with shame, impelling me
to better myself, invigorating my hope and courage, this
little incident is reenacted. I see it in every detail as
distinctly as on the day it happened.