Zhou Shuren, better known by the pseudonym Lu Xun, is generally considered the father of modern Chinese literature and many think that having the pulse of the conscience of the nation. His first notoriety was achieved through his short works of fiction which were often satirical, sometimes funny and sometimes very dark ("Lu Xun"). Lu Xun was careful about his art and worked on his stories to eliminate unnecessary details, but they are full of rich characters, interesting plots, vivid images, and strong themes. “It can be argued that in the overall production of Lu Xun's writings, his twenty-five stories constitute a rather small volume. But it should also be noted that, given the relatively short time frame (eight years), Lu Xun was able to demonstrate an unprecedented range and diversity of technical experimentation. (Lee 57) “Kong Yiji” and Ah-Q-The Real Story are outstanding examples of his talent and contain numerous similarities in terms of characterization, plot, and theme. “Kong Yiji,” published in 1919, bears the protagonist's title title: yi and ji are the first characters in a child's calligraphic syllabary, and Kong is the English translation of Confucius's surname. Therefore the name loosely translates to “Confucius ABC” (“Lu Xun”). Ah-Q- The Real Story also bears the title of its main character, whose name is also symbolic. His name is written with the Latin letter Q, which might suggest a pun on the English word coda, or suggest the image of the typical Qing-era Chinese man's head with the pigtail or tail on top of the head (“Lu Xun”). A possible explanation of the translation of Kong Yiji's name indicates that he was unsuccessful, he has the typical ideologue...... middle of paper ...... with Chinese symbolism, this point in the story seems to be the "end" of Kong Yiji. With the loss of his legs, he ultimately lost his life. And in fact, we don't really know what became of him and no one seems to care. Although falsely accused, the crowd is satisfied when Ah-Q is executed: “Everyone agreed that Ah-Q was indeed an evil man, clear proof of this could be found in the fact that he had actually been executed. If he wasn't, how could he get himself executed (Lu Xun 172)? Works Cited Lee, Leo Ou-fan. Voices from the Iron House. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987. "Lu Xun." Chinese fiction writers, 1900-1949. Ed. Tommaso Moran. Dictionary of Literary Biography vol. 328. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literary resources from Gale. Storm. DISC. March 24, 2009 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do? p=LitRG&u=scschools>.