Hot air

Author: Lu Xun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: "Hot Wind" Editor's Recommendation: But if everything Lu Xun wrote was indeed cold, then its life originally didn't exist, let alone how to discuss the true symptoms of China's illness. However, the merciless satire and the compassionate irony are no more than a piece of paper apart. As for the feelings and reactions around, they are generally what is called "like fish drinking water—only the fish know the temperature." Lu Xun himself felt that the air around was too biting, so he called it "Hot Wind." This book collects forty-one essays written by the author from 1918 to 1924. It was first published in November 1925 by Beijing Beishu Bookstore and was printed a total of ten times during the author's lifetime. In "Random Thoughts" in New Youth, Lu Xun wrote short critiques. The year before, he had also made comments, but most were on minor issues, so there is nothing to say about them now, and the reasons are mostly forgotten. However, looking at the text now, apart from a few general discussions, some were in response to fortune-telling, meditation, and boxing; some were in response to the so-called "preservation of national essence"; some were in response to the then old officials' pride in their experience; and some were in response to the satirical cartoons in Shanghai Times. I remember that New Youth was facing attacks from all sides at the time, and Lu Xun was only dealing with a small part of it. But if everything Lu Xun wrote was indeed cold, then its life originally didn't exist, let alone how to discuss the true symptoms of China's illness. However, the merciless satire and the compassionate irony are no more than a piece of paper apart. As for the feelings and reactions around, they are generally what is called "like fish drinking water—only the fish know the temperature." Lu Xun himself felt that the air around was too biting, so he called it "Hot Wind."