Reform Failure

Yiwen Chen

The play “Teahouse” by Lao She and the short story “Diary of a Mad Man” by Lu Xun both described China with harsh wording and circumstances, and illustrated how people lived miserable lives in the reform society.  It is surprising that such works from both of these writers would get published at that time. The play and the short story described the Chinese society as miserable, hopeless, and needing change. Even with the reforms that were going on at that time, the stories described China as a corrupt nation. Lu Xun used a metaphorical approach and Lao She used a first person approach to describe the society at that time. Both of these works are worth examining and their intended purpose for publishing their works is very interesting.

            Lao She’s “Teahouse” focused on the daily lives of many people gathering at a teahouse to gossip about the society and politics. Despite a sign that says not to talk about politics, politics and the government seemed to be the main focus of the conversations in the teahouse. Through the characters’ conversations, we can learn about how people truly felt at that period of time. The Cultural Revolution was going on at that time, and reformers were trying to unite the people in China. In the “Teahouse”, reader can hear from a primary source how the emergence of reformers and the government have changed people’s lives. In one scene, a Fourth Customer quotes, “This guy Tan, and that other guy, Kang Youwei- weren’t they advocating cutting off our stipends and makings us work for a living? Pretty damn mean (Lao 40).” This is very ironic. As we have learned in class, reformers such a Kang Youwei were advocating the people to change and to adapt the Western style of thinking. They believed that in order to save China, the common people must be educated and be willing to change. Their goal was to make China stronger and not let the foreigners look down upon the Chinese people. However, we can tell from this quote that people are not viewing reformers like Kang Youwei as heroes. Instead, they are taking away the people’s money. The Fourth Customer believed that Kang want people to work even longer and is making their lives much harder.

In another scene from the “Teahouse”, a peasant woman tried to sell her daughter for two silvers (Lao 34). This shows how immoral the Chinese society was. The reforms were taking place at that time, and yet, the moral values of the society are still so low. Lao She is trying to say that the reforms, in reality, are not helping China. It is helping in some degree, but to fundamentally chance the whole country that is poverty stricken from the wars is very hard. Similarly, Lu Xun reiterates this idea in this “Diary of a Mad Man”. He writes, “Even gouged out his heart and liver. Fried them up and ate them to bolster their own courage (Lu 34).” In this quote, the main character is describing what the villagers had done when the famine broke out. They practiced cannibalism and were not ashamed. This practice is extremely immoral and the main character thought the society is very sick and needs change. Lu Xun is using metaphor here. He is comparing the immoral villagers to the people in the Chinese society. The reform efforts are not actually helping to improve the lives of the people. In “Teahouse”, the woman has to sell her children because she needs money. In “Madman”, villagers had to eat people because there was not enough food. Both of the writers wanted the audience to realize that this is happening because the lives of the common people are very harsh. The reformers and leaders of China are gaining power and wealth. On the contrary, the common people are still living in poverty and their status seems hard to change. The rich keeps on getting richer and the poor just keeps on getting poorer.

Lao She’s and Lu Xun’s works have put this rational into the people’s minds of how corrupt China was. They purposely focus on the bad aspects of the society in terms of morality. The main character in “Diary of a Madman” says, “You can change! You can change from the bottom of your hearts! You ought to know that in the future they’re not going to allow cannibalism in the world anymore (Lu 40).” Through the voice of the main character, Lu Xun is arguing that society can be changed. If everyone would be educated on the fact that cannibalism is wrong, then people would stop this practice. Lu Xun ends with “Save the children (Lu 41).” This is might the reason that the government of China has allowed Lu Xun’s work to be published. He is urging the people to change by describing the terrible society that practices cannibalism. Lao She does the same thing in the epilogues in the play. The epilogues supported communism and gave people new hope. It legitimated his paper or the government would not have let him successfully publish it.

Despite the similarity between the two works, there were also many differences. The audience was able to better understand a character in Lao She’s work because it is a play. We can put ourselves in each character’s shoes and truly see their experiences and the reasoning for their certain actions. A description was given in the beginning of each scene to set the time and place for the play. The play creates a primary evidence for the audience to hear about the daily lives of the people. Lao She’s play has a more intimate feeling because we are able to hear from each character. Lun Xun’s work takes on a different approach. It still talks in the first person narrative but the audience is limited to the main character’s point of view only. The short story leaves a profound memory because of its content.

The works of Lao She and Lu Xun has left marks in the journey of Cultural Revolution in China. Their bold moves and mouth-opening content has surprised but yet touched many people’s hearts. They voiced the true conditions in the Chinese society. They called for change and presented a different view of the society. Not only do we see reformers calling for change, but also the results of the changes. Disregarding the successfulness of the reforms, we can see that China has come a long way socially, politically, and emotionally. Lao She and Lu Xun have described China and the miserable society in which its people lived in. Overall, both of the writers have been very influential and their works have brought many questions to the effective of the reforms. 

Works Cited:

Lao, She. Teahouse. Hong Kong: Chinese UP, 2004. Print.

Lu, Xun. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1990. Print.