The true story of Ah Q

1 About this book

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 work in the collection. The novella is generally held to be a masterpiece of modern Chinese literature, since it is considered one of the first major works to fully utilize Vernacular Chinese after the 1919 May 4th Movement in China.

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. 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 novella had nine chapters. The True Story of Ah Q was listed by BBC as one of the 100 greatest tales ever told, at No. 43.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Good for readers who want: a classic and a short read.

• Classics
• Biography & autobiography
• Sociology
• China
• China, biography
• Ethnic Studies