The Lone Scream in the Dark: Cultural Change and Institutional Transformation in Modern China as seen through Lu Xun’s Novel

Lu Xun (1881-1936), regarded as the single most important and influential writer of modern China and East Asia, is surprisingly little-known in the West. His stories and personalities - now household names and symbols - had touched the nerves of a once profound nation caught in the depth of an identity crisis faced with decline and collapse. Through an analysis of “The Diary of a Madman†, “Medicine†and the characters of Ah-Q, Kong Yiji and Runtu in his collection of stories “Scream†, this paper unveils Lu Xun’s penetrating insights on the complexity and nuance of culture as both determinants and impediments to social and economic transformation at historical crossroads. I show that theoretical framework of political economy and economics of identity are of particular relevance in understanding Lu Xun’s penetrating and satirical critique on the paradoxical aspect of how the Chinese elites and masses both exploit and are exploited by traditional Chinese ideology. This paper concludes that Lu Xun - as a writer and a concept – remains highly relevant for understanding China’s past, present and future.