On Creating the Contemporary Image of Lu Xun

In the 1980s of the 20th Century, the research on Lu Xun turned him into an image of a suffering, despairing and independent character——an image of “loner”, aloof from ordinary, mediocre persons. However, since the late 1990s, Chinese society has undergone a radical change, which has turned out to be a new challenge to Lu Xun researchers. Meanwhile, Japanese scholars' work, especially Takeuchi Yoshimi, was once again highly valued. This puts together the research on Lu Xun and the problematics of Chinese modernity. Lu Xun's choice is not only one made by an individual intellectual because it is also closely related to China's modernization. This was one research area which deserved special attention in the 1990s, and we can understand the reason why rethinking on Lu Xun is so important.