Lu Xun's first wife: Zhu An. In the not-so-distant past, discussions about Lu Xun often omitted mention of his wife, Zhu An, who has been a significant figure in Chinese studies of Lu Xun. In most chronicles and biographies of Lu Xun, Zhu An is barely mentioned, despite her considerable influence on Lu Xun’s life. This omission may stem from an idealized perception of Lu Xun as a revolutionary saint—a modern-day sage whose personal life should be beyond reproach. How could such a revered figure have a wife? And how could this be made clear to the public without tarnishing his image? The tactics of "hiding and lying" embedded in traditional Chinese culture attempted to erase Zhu An's historical existence.
According to Shanghai-based Lu Xun researcher Ni Moyan, when Xue Suizhi edited the book *Life of Lu Xun* (a series for which Ni was the editor), the first volume published in 1981 included a photo of Zhu An. A man reported this to the authorities, claiming it caused disturbance by associating with Lu Xun. Even in the early 1980s, there were still people uncomfortable with acknowledging Zhu An's existence. This, in fact, represented a regressive historical attitude. As early as soon after Lu Xun's death in October 1936, Xu Shoushang wrote *Chronicle of Lu Xun*, where he mentioned that according to Xu Guangping: “The marriage between Mr. Lu Xun and Ms. Zhu should be noted, as per his brother's account.” Xu Guangping also said: “Regarding writing about Ms. Zhu, Mr. Lu repeatedly stated that he would never write something so trivial, considering it part of historical record; why should it be erased?” This reflects a calm attitude towards history.
However, starting in the 1980s, some individuals attempted to "erase traces," representing what else but historical regression? Strikingly, during the mid-1980s, some critics hostile to Lu Xun used the banner of "de-mythologizing Lu Xun" to launch personal attacks on him, accusing him of being merely an author or committing bigamy. These actions drew criticism from progressive cultural circles in China. Such petty behavior, I believe, is not strong enough. There are indeed two extremes: one attempts to erase Zhu An's traces entirely, while the other uses Zhu An to unjustly attack Lu Xun. To correct and address these two extremes, the only way is to seek truth from facts: studying Lu Xun must involve studying Zhu An based on factual evidence.
Fortunately, in recent years, there has been more discussion about Zhu An. Born in June (Tiger May) 1878 in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Zhu An had served as a class officer. Her residence, known as "Zhu Taiwan," was a three-house compound surrounded by forests, stone paths, and gardens, indicating a fairly wealthy scholar-official family. Despite her limited education, she knew the proper conduct expected of a great lady and could still perform domestic duties. She was gentle, honest in treating others, and did not heed the words of matchmakers.
Later, Lu Xun met Zhu An. At the time, arranged marriages were quite common. Additionally, Lu Xun's mother had a consideration: her third son might soar too high and far, and having a daughter-in-law older than her son could provide companionship. Around the age of three, it was customary to say, “A girl older by three years is like gold and silver stacked up,” though according to Shaoxing customs, men were generally younger than women but slightly older for companionship. Of course, Lu Xun opposed the marriage, but seeing his mother's compromise, he acquiesced. Since the death of his grandfather and father after long illnesses, the family had drastically declined, supported solely by his mother. Lu Xun felt compelled to say, “My mother is suffering.” He was unwilling to rebel against her. Simultaneously, Lu Xun considered: during the rising period of the democratic revolutionary movement, joining the revolution involved uncertainties. Having a wife at home could alleviate some burden for his mother. Thus, Lu Xun agreed to the marriage.
In the summer of 1906, Lu Xun received a telegram from home: “Mother ill, return immediately.” Upon returning, he found his mother was not sick, but the family had prepared the wedding decorations. Understanding the situation, Lu Xun did not oppose the marriage, agreeing to a simple ceremony without elaborate formalities. He even consented to wearing a false braid. However, the very next night, he stayed in his study instead of returning to the bridal chamber. Five days after the wedding, he excused himself, saying, “I cannot neglect my studies,” and left with his younger brother, Zhou Zuoren, for Japan.
Did Lu Xun have any feelings for Zhu An after their marriage? Some say Lu Xun opposed bound feet, whereas Zhu An had bound feet. This claim lacks foundation. Lu Xun opposed foot-binding because it oppressed women, not because he hated every woman with bound feet. Lu Xun was aware of Zhu An's feet. Finding a woman without bound feet at that time, especially someone like Shao Hing, a relic of the state, was nearly impossible. Lu Xun was well-aware of this reality. Others claimed Lu Xun wrote to his mother, hoping Zhu An would unbind her feet. The author doubts this greatly. For women with bound feet, four toes were broken, making it unlikely for feet to recover or be unbound. As a medical student, Lu Xun witnessed the effects of foot-binding and likely understood the impracticality of unbinding. During the May Fourth Movement, "enlarged feet" referred to losing toe cloth and wearing socks. Some wore shoes with cotton flowers as plugs. In recent years, a book titled *Three of Us Are Walking Together* was published in China, quoting Lu Xun as writing to his mother: “Enlarged feet sticking out, bold toes, comfortable shaking.” The author, unaware of this context in 1950, finds it implausible! He probably never saw unbound feet. Others recalled that after marrying, Zhu An pretended her feet were unbound. This is highly doubtful. Lu Xun once told everyone, saying, “On the day the sedan door opened, the curtain fell, and the bride tumbled out. Due to her small feet, they gave her embroidered shoes double her size, and she sat awkwardly in the carriage. When she couldn’t reach the ground, her shoes fell off, and her mother exclaimed.” The phrase "foot shoes" was misinterpreted by some as pretending to have big feet. Please note: this occurred five years before the 1911 Revolution, holding old wedding customs, not civilized weddings in cities twenty or thirty years later. “Zhu mounting feet?” If Zhu An wanted to pretend to have big feet, Lu Xun would similarly drag a fake braid. Therefore, bound feet were not the main reason Lu Xun disliked Zhu An.
Some say Zhu An's lack of literacy and conservative thoughts were the main reasons. After their engagement, Lu Xun wrote to his mother, hoping Zhu An would read, but Zhu An excused herself due to age and inconvenience attending school, thus not entering school for long. This led Lu Xun to disapprove. That is the reason m. The gap in personal and cultural levels, ideological differences, likely affected their relationship, but living together over time should reflect commonalities. How could newlyweds, from the beginning of dissatisfaction, cause Lu Xun distress? Did Lu Xun discuss academic issues with his bride on their wedding night? Besides, Lu Xun already knew Zhu An's level of literacy. In late Qing Dynasty Shaoxing, while Qiu Jin studied abroad, girls like Zhu An rarely attended school, especially at the age of 25, where great ladies huddled with seven or eight-year-old children to read, making it inconvenient. Could they find a tutor? Generally, tutors were hired for boys, and girls went the way of reading, of course, but hiring a specific teacher for such an aged girl (and possibly the only male) was unimaginable. Since Lu Xun agreed to marry, was it unreasonable at this point? Then, what caused Lu Xun's dissatisfaction with Zhu An in the new period?
The author believes it was physical appearance. Almost ugly, ugly in one aspect, Lu Xun opposed the marriage internally and felt disillusioned. How ugly in one aspect? Zhou Zuoren in *Memoirs* mentions the matchmaker was Lu Xun's mother's sister-in-law, “very pretty and capable, Wang Xifeng-like. Usually conversing fluently with Mrs. Lu, she was a very self-confident person, but this one thing she handled very poorly. The newcomer was extremely short, with a stunted appearance; regardless of title, it was obvious deception, and this was very regrettable for the matchmaker.” Zhu relatives thus referred to her as the "daughter-in-law." Zhou Zuoren later wrote about his sister-in-law, of course, extremely reserved and implicit, but wrote “very bad,” “deliberately deceptive,” and “regrettable,” indicating significant surprise. And Lu Xun, in a letter written by Zhu An about Zhu An, described her as “not tall, thin, narrow face, yellowish complexion, forehead, zygomatic bones slightly highlighted, looking sickly. Eyes of moderate size, but lacking spirit, some settlement comb hair, bun feet. Very small, slow instability.” Yu Lao wrote, inhibiting his description. Seeing Zhu An's photos, she not only had prominent cheekbones and forehead but also a large and flat nose occupying a significant position on her elongated face, with a pointed mouth and chin. The 28-year-old bride, dwarfed by her yellow face, appeared to have lost even the youthful beauty often seen in less attractive girls.
Sexual attraction forms the foundation of love; without it, naturally, there can be no feelings. No wonder, when relatives and friends came to congratulate him, they joked, “Mother married a daughter-in-law.”
Lu Xun left for Japan five days after the wedding and returned home in August 1909. Later, whether in Shaoxing or Beijing, although living under the same roof as Zhu An, they maintained separate housing and homes. Even if they occasionally shared a room for a short time, they were bedfellows in name only. He did not lead a normal married life. This couple's secret, originally outsiders could make nothing of it, nor researchers explore things, but the honest and peaceful Zhu An once complained: “Too much, I have no son, Mr. Big speaks to me all year round, how will there be a son?”
Lu Xun was a rational rather than emotional person. Although he didn't love Zhu An, he knew she was innocent, blameless, and also a victim of feudal marriage. In *Forty Records*, he wrote: “In the female hand, not guilty, now done as a sacrifice of old habits. Since we perceived human tract De, HH can the opposite sex, had to accompany me do sacrifice, over four thousand years old account.” These words can be viewed as Lu Xun expressing his own marital attitude and his attitude towards Zhu An. He told friend Xu Shoushang about Zhu An: “This is a mother to my gift, I can only properly support her, love is what I don't.” Indeed, in his life, Lu Xun never neglected her good support. Not only did Lu Xun support her, but he also respected her habits of life, respected her position in the family, and respected her personality. Whether in Shaoxing or Beijing, the Lu Xun family employed male and female servants. In the alley pagoda and the three West residences without male servants, but drivers (as Lu Xun rushed to pull). Zhu An sometimes participated in most housework, split time chatting with the old lady, and idled nothing when holding a three-foot-long mottled bamboo pipe smoking tobacco. In the Shaoxing area, rich families smoking tobacco was common, but masters smoked thick bamboo flowers like teeth smoke Tsui, granny sucked mottled rods without ivory cigarette holders. People moved to Beijing, and the tobacco pipe also moved to Beijing, where Zhu An continued smoking, while her mother-in-law did not. Zhu An also often smoked hookah. In Shaoxing and Beijing Bay, eating daily, mother Lu Xun and Zhu An shared a table for three, Zhou Zuoren and Zhou Jianren shared a table for seven or eight. In August 1926, Lu Xun moved south from Peiping, monthly sending royalties of one hundred yuan by the Beixin publishing house, used by his mother-in-law and Zhu An monthly, accumulating more than 800 by November 1932. In daily life in Beijing, Lu Xun also provided her ten yuan monthly as pocket money. When Zhu An fell ill, Lu Xun, like his mother when sick, sent her to the Japanese Yamamoto hospital, always personally serving as doctor translator, but unlike his mother and other relatives, he did not sit beside her bed asking cold or warm, leaving it to the maid. Lu Xun monthly bought food several times back home, always going to the mother asking her to pick, then to Zhu An asking her to pick (Zhu An often chose smaller differences), finally bringing it to her room for Zhu An to keep at home. Servants followed orders effectively, and servants must comply.
Lu Xun and Zhu An rarely spoke to each other in the alley pagoda, living in the same house, for months, not knowing how they called each other, but Lu Xun never shouted at her, severely criticized her, especially without quarreling. Zhu An's family had a brother, with three children, whom Lu Xun warmly regarded as next of kin with due respect, maintaining correspondence and silver contacts, exchanging gifts, documented in Lu Xun's diaries. Lu Xun introduced her brother's third child, Zhou Jianren, to a printing plant in May 1934. Lu Xun wrote that her brother's second child originally worked in Shanghai, unable to handle power, and sickly looking to Beijing apartment, finding things, asked Lu Xun what meaning see. Lu Xun replied: “These things, can ask Mrs. discretionary.” In all aspects, Lu Xun treated Zhu An without feelings, but without discrimination. Zhu An also said to a man: “Mr. Big is good to me, a hot trend. I don’t know what is the intermediate Dongdong!”
In this life together, if Zhu An had a certain cultural and ideological level, sharing some common language with Lu Xun, or helping Lu Xun seek data, copy paper, they might slowly build emotions. But Zhu An lacked such conditions. Once Lu Xun asked his mother: “What is she not?” Lu Xun shook his head and said: “Not bad, but not to talk to her.” Mother asked, how. Not talk to? Lu Xun: “Talking to her is boring, boring, better not to talk.” Lu Xun cited a case: once he talked to her about Japan being very nice, and she said yes, yes, actually not knowing such things existed. Neither Shaoxing nor the whole country had them. She said perhaps to flatter Lu Xun, with Lu Xun, but Lu Xun wouldn't talk to her. Talking tasteless, the mother actually understood. Mother knew Braille, liked mandarin duck and butterfly schools, formed the habit of reading newspapers, greatly expanding her horizons. Sometimes the mother put down the newspaper talking to Zhu An listening, Zhu An sitting on the sidelines smoking tobacco, no response, whether listening to Lu Xun. Students, especially female students, often talked with the mother, lively conversations, Zhu An was in her room smoking or doing housework. Sometimes she came, only silently listened, not participating in any word. She never went shopping, buying things by servants, by Lu Xun, by Lu Xun doing. She never cared about many things, even the alley things never inquired, never talked about. Her vision was very narrow, could she have many words to talk to Lu Xun? Three people eating, often between mother and Lu Xun words, sometimes the mother also talked cheerfully and humorously. Occasionally the mother went to Zhou Zuoren, two people ate, Zhu An made talk, also could ask dish which could be salty pale, Lu Xun simply answered “not salty,” “lighter,” they sat facing each other in silence. Without a word, talk and boring, of course also cannot enhance the sense of Love.
Lu Xun sometimes reflected dissatisfaction with Zhu An in diaries and letters. For example, in *Lu Xun Diaries* 1914 November 26 diary: “Afternoon to women, twenty-two from Kenneth Lane Zhu Zhaifa, quite absurd.” According to Ni Moyan’s analysis in his book *Chinese Traitors and Hermit: Zhou Zuoren*,