Lu Xun was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (September 25,1881 – October 19,1936) is one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century.Considered by many to be the founder of modern Chinese literature,he wrote in baihua (白話) (the vernacular) as well as classical Chinese.Lu Xun was a short story writer,editor,translator,critic,essayist and poet.In the 1930s he became the titular head of the Chinese League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.
Lu Xun's works exerted a very substantial influence after the May Fourth Movement to such a point that he was lionized by the Communist regime after 1949.Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's works.Though sympathetic to the ideals of the Left,Lu Xun never actually joined the Chinese Communist Party.Lu Xun's works are known to English readers through numerous translations,especially Selected Stories of Lu Hsun translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang.