The True Story of Ah Q 

is an episodic novella written by Lu Xun, first published as a serial between

December 4, 1921 and February 12, 1922. It was later placed in his first short story collection Call to
Arms (吶喊, Nàhǎn) in 1923 and is the longest story in the collection. The piece is generally held to
be a masterpiece of modern Chinese literature, since it is considered the first piece of work to fully
utilize Vernacular Chinese after the 1919 May 4th Movement in China.[1]
It was first published in the Beijing Morning News supplement as a serial. Originally Lu Xun wrote
the story under the name "Ba Ren" (巴人, "crude fellow"), and so few people knew who wrote the
novella.[2] The first installment was published on December 4, 1921, and additional installments
appeared weekly and/or fortnightly. The final installment was published on February 12, 1922. The
story had nine chapters.[3]

Synopsis[edit]
The story traces the "adventures" of Ah Q, a man from the rural peasant class with little education
and no definite occupation. 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 to the less
fortunate but fearful of those who are above him in rank, strength, or power. He persuades himself
mentally that he is spiritually "superior" to his oppressors even as he succumbs to their tyranny and
suppression. Lu Xun exposes Ah Q's extreme faults as symptomatic of the Chinese national
character of his time. The ending of the piece is equally poignant and satirical.

Characters

Ah Q

Ah Q, an impoverished, homeless man in his late twenties who loafs

around the village where he lives and earns his living by working at
various odd jobs. Lean and weak, he has a bald spot on his head, a
physical blemish caused by scabies that often makes him the butt of
jokes among the people of the village of Wei. Whenever he suffers
humiliation, however, he is always able to find solace and even
triumph through his imagination. He leads a relatively quiet, though
obscure and insignificant, life in the countryside until one day when
the entire village rejects him as a result of his proposition to a
maidservant, Wu Ma. Because of this incident, people avoid him and
refuse to give him any work. To continue his livelihood, he leaves
for the city. After returning to the village, he is later falsely accused
of robbery and eventually is executed.

Since these stories are highly symbolic in nature, Ah Q is a

representation of the people who lived in China before and during
the 1911 revolution. The word “Ah” is a friendly greeting, and “Q”
refers to the hairstyle at the time. Ah Q himself is a poor peasant
with no particular profession. He is obsessed with never admitting
defeat, again as a kind of symbolic representation of the people of
China who also twisted things around so they never lost, according
to the depiction of the author.

Setting

the setting of "The True Story of Ah Q," has been regarded as a symbol of

"microcosmic China," the unnamed town as a "foreign power," and Ah Q as "the
incarnation of the Chinese masses." 
Themes and Meanings

The True Story of Ah Q is concerned with the shortcomings of the Chinese national
character and the deplorable state of the 1911 revolution, which toppled the old dynasty
and introduced the Republic. Lu Hsun believed that the people in general were
unaware, uncritical, and tied to an outmoded past.

Chao T’ai-yeh

Chao T’ai-yeh, an influential country squire. Somewhat educated

and in middle age, he is greedy and unkind, especially in his
treatment of Ah Q, whom he sometimes employs for odd jobs.
When the revolution of 1911 breaks out, he safeguards the money
of Pai Chü-jen, a gentleman from the city. In the end, some people
break into Chao’s house and steal Pai’s money. Chao has to pay a
small fortune to the local official to clear his name so as to avoid
being accused by Pai of swindling his money.

Pai Chü-jen

Pai Chü-jen, a well-educated man of the gentry class living in the

city. After leaving the village of Wei, Ah Q serves in his house for a
short period of time. Because of his uncertainty about the
revolution, Pai sends some of his property to the Chao family for
safekeeping when the revolutionaries enter the city. He becomes a
high official in the city shortly after the revolution. To his chagrin,
his property safeguarded by the Chao family is never retrieved.
Ch’ien Shao-yeh

Ch’ien Shao-yeh, also known as the Imitation Foreign Devil, a son of

a gentry family in the village of Wei. Because of the loss of his
queue while pursuing his studies away from home, he wears a false
queue after his return to the village. Different from the other
villagers, he studies in Western schools, first in a neighboring city,
then later in Japan. His Western education causes him to support
the revolution, in the name of which he, along with Chao T’ai-yeh’s
son, steals an antique incense burner from a Buddhist temple. When
Ah Q expresses his interest in...

Writer

Lu Xun (or Lu Sun, Wade–Giles romanisation: Lu Hsün) was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (25
September 1881 – 19 October 1936), a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was
a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun (or Lu Hsun, pronounced "Lu Shun"; 1881-1936) has
been considered China's greatest modern writer for most of the 20th century. Many of the other authors of fictional
works of social criticism popular during the 1920s and 1930s have been at least partially discredited or criticized
during the various political movements in China since 1949, but Lu Xun's reputation has remained consistently
distinguished. Mao Zedong (1893-1976) called him "commander of China's cultural revolution."