Shaoxing

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January 17th 2009

Published: January 17th 2009

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midnighttan

Shaoxing

Canals

Hey guys, apologies for the delay in updates, internet access has been sporadic at best and I've been trying to get over this flu which has been plaguing me, but since I'm now back in Fuzhou I should be able to finish everything I need to do and recover.

So anyways - here goes.

We arrived in Shaoxing on the 5th of Jan - its a city of a population of around 4.3 million. The city is most famous for the being the birthplace of Chinese novelist Luxun:

"Lu Xun (traditional Chinese: 魯迅; simplified Chinese: 鲁迅; pinyin: Lǔ Xùn) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles), was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (traditional Chinese: 周樹人; simplified Chinese: 周树人; pinyin: Zhōu Shùrén; Wade-Giles: Chou Shu-jen) (September 25, 1881 - October 19, 1936) is one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the founder of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua (白話) (the vernacular) as well as classical Chinese. Lu Xun was a short story writer, editor, translator, critic, essayist and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the Chinese League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.

Lu Xun's works exerted a

Shaoxing

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very substantial influence after the May Fourth Movement to such a point that he was lionized by the Communist regime after 1949. Mao Zedong himself was a lifelong admirer of Lu Xun's works. Though sympathetic to the ideals of the Left, Lu Xun never actually joined the Chinese Communist Party. Lu Xun's works are known to English readers through numerous translations, especially Selected Stories of Lu Hsun translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang."

- A except from wikipedia.

The city itself when we arrived was pretty dreary. It had been raining. But we did get to ride on a "san ren che" which literally translates to three person car. I have video of this ride, but I'll wait till I get back to Sydney to publish it. We also visited the Lu Xun family compound and saw how the famous novelist lived as a child and how his life was influenced by surrounding events.

Unfortunately there isn't much more to say about this place as we had to move on pretty quickly for a long drive to the next city.

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