Reported by Ruoying Wang, class of 2028
On Wednesday, November 12, 2025, DKU faculty, staff, and students gathered in LIB1123 for a special reading and discussion session titled “I Want to Deceive People.” The session was led by Professor Taku Kurashige, Associate Professor at Tsinghua University’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, whose research focuses on modern Chinese and Japanese literatures, Sino-Japanese-American relations, and intellectual history.
This session centered on Lu Xun’s 1936 Japanese essay “I Want to Deceive People”, along with critical interpretations by two major postwar Japanese intellectuals—Takeuchi Yoshimi and Kaji Wataru. Professor Kurashige first provided an overview of Lu Xun’s life, tracing his transformation from a medical student to a literary figure who turned to writing as a means of spiritual and social critique. He also introduced Lu Xun’s Foreword to Wild Grass and his writings in the Japanese magazine Kaizō, explaining how Lu Xun’s decision to publish in Japanese extended his influence and reflected his resistance toward both Japanese imperialism and Chinese reactionaries.
The main part of the talk examined how Takeuchi Yoshimi and Kaji Wataru each read “I Want to Deceive People.” Takeuchi emphasized the essay’s “dignified style with coolness concealing passion,” interpreting Lu Xun’s tone as stoic rather than sorrowful. However, Takeuchi also confessed his unease over the metaphor of Mount Asama, which he struggled to decode. Kaji Wataru, a Marxist writer and close acquaintance of Lu Xun, later criticized Takeuchi’s limited understanding of the political context, arguing that Mount Asama symbolized the eruptive tension of Shanghai under imminent war. Kaji viewed Takeuchi’s position as passive resistance, in contrast to Lu Xun’s active resistance through writing.
Throughout the discussion, participants explored how Lu Xun’s text, written in Japanese during an era of rising militarism, embodied both subversive irony and moral endurance. They reflected on the essay’s continuing relevance to cross-cultural dialogue and intellectual responsibility in politically constrained environments.
During the Q&A session, participants raised thought-provoking questions about how to access archival issues of the journal Kaizō and the ways Lu Xun’s interactions with Japan were perceived in China during critical historical moments.
Throughout the academic talk, the discussion was richly engaging and reflective, bridging literary study and cultural history. Professor Kurashige’s clear, contextualized storytelling invited participants to see Lu Xun not only as a writer but also as a transnational thinker negotiating between cultures under pressure. His passion and clarity made complex historical and linguistic issues accessible to all.
The event was organized by the China-Japan Post-1945 Series and sponsored by the Humanities Research Center.
