Iron Demons
This is the second essay I wrote for my Chinese Literature in Translation class at Tsinghua University during the summer of 2007.
“We cannot escape fate or nature or politics. Ordinary Chinese always knew that.”
- Mo Yan
In his work, Iron Child, Mo Yan uses iron to represent the Chinese government during the Great Leap Forward. This is particularly fitting since the government called for peasants to produce iron in great quantities. The focus on … [ read more ]
Social Commentary in Lu Xun’s A Madman’s Diary
The following is an essay I wrote for my Chinese Literature in Translation class at Tsinghua University during the summer of 2007.
Lu Xun’s talent in critiquing society in a discrete and yet extremely powerful way is astonishing. This talent is readily apparent in his short story, A Madman’s Diary. The political climate of Lu Xun’s era would not take kindly to a piece of work that openly criticizes society, so Lu Xun … [ read more ]
