SOURCE: "The Heroes and Heroines of Modern Chinese Fiction: From Ah Q to Wu Tzu-hsü," in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. XVI, No. 2, February, 1957, pp. 201-11.

In the following essay, Liu argues that Ah Q "represents the spirit of the Chinese people: a spirit that is fallen on evil days, a spirit that is paralyzed by the disease of indolence and ignorance. "

When one thinks about the people that are portrayed by modern Chinese authors, one inevitably sees, foremost in the gallery, the image of Ah Q, the homeless farm hand who lives in a village temple, the tragic hero of a mock epic. The image, as one recent Chinese critic puts it, is similar to a caricature sketched by a cartoonist; the character is portrayed by strokes swift in movement, simple in outline, and suggestive in tone. One might first associate Ah Q with frolic pleasantry...