Lu Xun’s ‘In Memoriam of Miss Liu Hezhen’ (Excerpts)
Truly valiant warriors, daring to confront a bleak existence, daring to face the crimson blood. What kind of mourners and fortunate ones are they? Yet fate often designs for the ignorant, with the passage of time washing away the past, leaving only a pale red...,Blood and a faint sorrow. Within this pale red blood and sorrow, one gains a temporary reprieve, maintaining this world of human-yet-not-human. I don't know when this world will have an end!I should offer my grief and respect to her. She was not a student of 'the ones who merely cling to existence,' but died for the China of the Chinese youth,I now understand why doomed nations fall silently. Silence, silence! Those who do not speak in silence will perish in silence.When three women gracefully turn and twist among the rifle butts of the weapons invented by civilized men, this is what a thrilling and great spectacle!But the murderers, both within and outside China, actually raised their heads, with bloodstains on their faces…Time is always flowing; the marketplaces are still peaceful; a limited number of lives in China are not counted; at most, they are just conversation fodder for the kindly and innocent, or seeds for the malicious to sow.Human history marches forward through bloodshed, just as coal is formed from a great quantity of wood, resulting in only a small piece, but one cannot refuse to be part of it, moreover, it is not possible to perish without having been part of it.However, since there are bloodstains, one cannot help but expand them. At least, one must soak in kinship; friends, colleagues, lovers, even if time flows and turns them into a pale red, they will always maintain a warm and amiable old image in the faint sorrow.As Tao Yuanming said, 'If relatives are sad, strangers are singing; what does the dead say? Let us share the mountain with Yama.' If we can do this, that is enough.I have always been willing to assume the worst malice when speculating about Chinese people. But this time, there are several points that surprised me. Firstly, those in power would be so ruthless; secondly, rumor-mongers were even worse; and thirdly, Chinese women were able to face hardship with such composure.Those who merely cling to existence in the pale red, will vaguely see a glimmer of hope; truly valiant warriors will move forward even more fiercely.
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