Abstract:

In his early years, LU Xun believed that Chinese nationalism lacked the quality of “sincerity” the most. In “The Poetic Power of Mora”, he not only warmly called for the “voice of ultimate sincerity”, but also formed a relatively complete discourse of “sincerity”. “Sincerity” had important significance and profound influence in the emergence stage of LU’s literature and thought. Meanwhile, the meaning of this concept was quite complex in the context of the late Qing Dynasty, so that LU had to express his understanding through argumentation. Due to adopting the views of romanticists such as Carlyle, his approach differs from the interpretation of “sincerity” based on Confucian tradition or scientific rational principles. Different from the direction to external and objective truths, “sincerity” in LU reflects the feelings and changes of the subject’s inner world, which can be finally reduced to intuitive life experience. LU emphasized the reshaping of the subject’s spirit with the words “pure heart” (baixin) and “brightness of the mind” (neiyao). For him, “sincerity” was related to the theme of “life” and opened up an alternative path to understand and reform Chinese society. This shows the unique significance of Romantic poetics at the intersection of Confucian civilization and modern science.

Key words: LU Xun, sincerity, romanticism, Confucian, science, Bai Xin