Lu Xun

Lu Xun is considered the father of modern Chinese literature. His writing tore apart the social structures of early 20th century China with dark humour and razor-sharp prose. If you're learning Chinese and you haven't read Lu Xun, you're missing the writer that shaped the language you're studying.

His short stories are compact, often just a few thousand characters, but they punch well above their weight. "Diary of a Madman" questioned the foundations of Confucian society. "Kong Yiji" painted a portrait of intellectual failure that still resonates today. "Medicine" explored how political revolution meant nothing to ordinary people.

For Chinese learners, Lu Xun is ideal. His vernacular Chinese (白话文) was deliberately accessible, written during a movement to make literature readable by everyone, not just scholars. His sentences are clear. His vocabulary is modern. And his stories are short enough to finish in one sitting.