The True Story of Ah Q
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The True Story of Ah Q, or Ā Q Zhèngzhuàn (Traditional Chinese: 阿Q正傳; Simplified Chinese: 阿Q正传), is a long short fiction by Lu Xun, first published between December 1921 and February 1922. It was later collected in his first short story collection Nahan (呐喊) in 1923, and "The True Story of Ah Q" is the longest of all the stories.
The piece is generally held to be a masterpiece of modern Chinese literature, and one of Lu Xun's most important works; it is certainly his most famous.
The story traces the adventures of Ah Q, a man from the peasant class with little education and no definite work. Ah Q is famous for "spiritual victories", Lu Xun's euphemism for self-talk and self-deception even when faced with extreme defeat or humiliation. Ah Q is a bully of the less fortunate but fearful of those who are above him in rank, strength or power. Lu Xun exposes Ah Q's extreme faults as symptomatic of the Chinese attitudes of his time. The ending of the piece - where Ah Q is carted off to execution for a lowly crime - is equally poignant and satirical.
The downfall of Qing Dynasty and the growth of capitalist industry, as it is shown in the novel, had almost no essential effect on Chinese people in that small rural town. The ignorant Chinese citizens, which was one of the most important topics of Lu Xun's works, could not be saved after a simple change of government. What they really needed was what Lu Xun himself called "medicine of the spirit," which indicated thorough modern education and the proceeding changes on social habits.
In Chapter One, the author claims that he could not recall nor verify Ah Q's correct name, a claim that gives the character symbolic anonymity. "Ah" (阿) in Chinese is an affectionate prefix for names and "Q" could be short for "Queue," the name of the braided hairstyle worn by Chinese men during Qing Dynasty. Therefore, Ah Q could be taken to mean "Mr. Chinaman," and represents the average Chinese person.
In the novel, Ah Q has no status in the village of Weichang, except for what little he may temporarily gain by lying, stealing, or somehow linking himself with an important person. He wanders all day on the streets and makes a living by stealing and begging, and sometimes doing low-paid temporary jobs. Ah Q has an "abundant" spiritual life made up of watching others doing things that he considers "foolish" or "rude." Ah Q always feels superior over most people despite the fact that he was the one being looked down upon. Many people actually "enjoy" watching the absurdity and failure of Ah Q. There are also some people that Ah Q truly respects or fears, which are the Landlords and rich folks.
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. This deep-rooted need to maintain a victorious status even when actually defeated shows the Chinese obsession with maintaining a good appearance to all outsiders to be ridiculous at times.
When Mr. Zhao, an honored landlord of the village, beats Ah Q in a fight, Ah Q considers himself important for having even a tiny association with such a person. Though some villagers suspect Ah Q may have no true association with Mr. Zhao, they do not question the matter closely, and instead give Ah Q more respect for a time. This interaction symbolizes China's tradition of group rewards and punishments--guilt or honor by association.
Ah Q is often close-minded about petty things. When he ventures into a new town and sees that a "long bench" is called a "straight bench," he believes their way to be instantly inferior and totally wrong. Traditional China had long held to the belief that those outside of China were barbarians, and were close-minded about accepting the accomplishments of other countries.
There is a scene in which Ah Q harasses a small nun to make himself feel better. He pinches her and blames his problems on her. Instead of crying out at the injustice of Ah Q's bullying, the crowd nearby laughs. This symbolizes the "mob mentality" that Lu Xun so detested in the Chinese people which led to their extreme apathy in the face of injustice.
One day the news of Xinhai Revolution comes into town. Both landlord families, the Chaos and the Chiens, become revolutionaries to keep their power. Some people, under the name of "revolutionary army," rob the houses of the landlords and rich folks. Ah Q also wants to join them and also claim himself a revolutionary, but is too afraid to act when the time comes. Finally, Ah Q is arrested as a scapegoat for the robbery and sentenced to death by the new governor.
When Ah Q is asked to sign a confession, he worries that he cannot write his name. The officers tell him to sign a circle instead. Ah Q is so worried about drawing a perfect circle to save face that he is unaware he might be executed until it is too late.
The China Lu Xun was writing about around the turn of the century was facing an enormous clash between traditional thinking and more modern Western ways. Enormous social pressures brought on by group punishment and the rigidly-interpreted Civil Service Test both encouraged conformist ways and social homogeny in the Chinese culture. According to Lu Xun, its people were obsessed with saving face, proud of its past without any new accomplishments, and accepting without question the injustices imposed by authority. But the criticism offers no solution to the problems it points out.
In modern Cantonese, the spirit of Ah Q (阿Q精神), a term of mockery, refers to anybody who chooses not to face up to reality and deceives themselves into believeing they are successful.
[edit] External Links
The True Story of Ah Q
阿Q正传 / The True Story of Ah Q (in simplified Mandarin Chinese)
