The True Story of Ah Q

Front matter

By

Translated into English

By George Kin Leung

Chapter 1

The True Story of Ah Q

or more than a year or two I have been wanting to write the true story of Ah Q, but while, on the one hand, I was desirous of doing it, on the other, I vacillated in my purpose. This proves that I am not the sort of person whose name can depend upon his writing for preservation, because in times past it has been necessary that an immortal pen preserve in writing the memory of a person who is to be of imperishable fame; therefore, it is not clear which is dependent upon the other, whether the person is propagated by the pen, or the pen by the person, the point in question becoming more and more unsettled. Yet, my thoughts would inevitably return to Ah Q with such persistence that it seemed as if some supernatural power within my mind kept goading me to the task.

However, on placing my writing brush down to the paper to compose this soon-to-be-forgotten sketch, I fully realize the Herculean difficulties which beset me.

My first task is to find a suitable name for the work. Confucius said, "If the name is not proper, the words will not ring true," and due regard should be paid to his saying. Names for a work of this sort are legion: biography, autobiography, mythological record, history of the relations of the emperor's wives, special biography, family history, and short sketch; but it is regrettable that none of these is suited for my use. Biography? This record is not worthy of being placed side by side with those of men of eminence in authentic history. Autobiography? I am not Ah Q. If this is to be called "an outside record,1 where is his "inside record"? If the title "mythological record" is used, it is plain that Ah Q is not a supernatural being. Special biography? The truth is that the president has never given the Department of History a mandate for the making of a record of Ah Q's history. Although the history of England contains no biography of gamblers, the eminent writer Conan Doyle once wrote such a book entitled "Rodney Stone," but it is permissible only for a writer of his eminence to create such works and not permissible for a writer of my humble attainments to do so. The next consideration is the family history. I do not, in fact, know whether I had the same forefathers as Ah Q or not, and thus far I have received no reverential treatment at the hands of Ah Q's sons and grandsons. A short sketch, perhaps? But Ah Q never had a long one. To settle the matter once and for all, we might consider this a personal record; but judging from my own writing, which is in the diction of wagon haulers and street mongers and very inferior in style, I dare not make more pretension than is seemly. So, as a last resort, I have no choice but to use as my title the two characters, "true story," taken from the phrase "Refrain from inconsequential speech; keep to the true story," which is a favorite quotation of the novelists, who are not included in the category of the three religions and the nine professions. Even if these two characters should be erroneously considered to be taken from the book of the ancients, the "Su-fa Ching-ch'uan,"2 there is no remedy for the situation.

Second, it is customary on commencing a record of this kind to open with the general introduction: "Mr. So-and-so, otherwise known as So-and-so, and who is a native of Such-and-such a district"; but I do not know Ah Q's surname. There was a time when he seemed to have the surname Chao, but a day later this had turned out to be a matter of doubt.

On this particular occasion, the Venerable Mr. Chao's son had attained the rank of Hsiu-t'sai.3 The booming of gongs announced the arrival of the good news in the village. Ah Q, having just gulped down two bowls of yellow wine, was gesticulating with his hands, stamping his feet, and explaining that this event reflected great honor upon himself because he and the Venerable Mr. Chao were of the same surname. By careful family exposition, he made it clear that he was more venerable than the Hsiu-t'sai by three geneological degrees. At this juncture, a few bystanders who had caught his high-sounding words, began to stand in awe of him.

But how was it to be expected that, on the day following, the ti-pao4 would summon Ah Q into the presence of the Venerable Mr. Chao? As soon as this man set eyes on Ah Q, his face lighted up with red fury.

"Ah Q, you stupid creature! Did you say that you were of the same surname as I?" he shouted.

Ah Q did not so much as open his mouth.

The more he looked at him the more infuriated the Venerable Mr. Chao became. He ran forward a few steps, exclaiming: "How dare you speak such nonsense! How could I have such a relative as you? Is your surname Chao?"

Ah Q remained silent, wishing to retreat to the rear, but the Venerable Mr. Chao rushed upon him and gave him a smack on the mouth.

"How could your surname be Chao! How could a creature of your sort be worthy of the surname Chao?" Ah Q neither offered resistance nor argued that his surname was Chao but merely stroked his left cheek and withdrew with the ti-pao. Once outside, he received from the ti-pao also a severe reprimanding and thanked him for it by giving him two hundred cash for wine money. Those who learned of this maintained that Ah Q was entirely ignorant of the ways of the world — that he was thus actually inviting people to smack him. So it is probable that his surname might not have been Chao, and even if it had been, he should not have indulged in such chatter when the Venerable Mr. Chao was about. But since to this day no one has mentioned his surname, I have never been sure what it is.

Third, I also do not know how to write Ah Q's name. When he was living, people called him Ah Quei, but after his death, no one again referred to him as Ah Quei. Therefore, how could it happen that a person of his humble station should have his name preserved on durable material such as bamboo or cloth? If we mention preserving his name on bamboo or cloth for a record, this would be the first time it had been done for him, so I am here beset with a difficulty. I have already given the matter my careful thought. Could it be that Ah Quei stands for Ah Quei meaning cassia (桂), or Ah Quei meaning nobility (貴)? If he had been called Yüeh-ting5 meaning Moon Pavilion, or if he had been born during the eighth moon, he surely would have been called Ah Quei meaning cassia — he had no other name, or if he had, no one knew what it was — also he would never, on his birthday, have distributed invitations for the securing of complimentary verses. If we were to write his name as Ah Quei meaning cassia, we should be settling the matter too arbitrarily. If he had had an elder brother or a younger one named Ah Fu meaning wealth (富), his name surely would have been Ah Quei meaning nobility, but this could not be, since he was alone in the world; so if his name were written Ah Quei meaning nobility, there would be no means of verifying the authenticity of this assumption. The remaining characters with the sound quei are even more unsuitable for comparison.

In the past, I have already made inquiry of the Venerable Mr. Chao's son, the Hsiu-t'sai; and who would think that so highly educated and cultured a gentleman would have been absolutely ignorant in this matter? But the conclusion which he drew was this: namely, when Ch'en Tu-hsiu inaugurated the New Youth Magazine for the introduction of European words, the flower of culture in this nation had sunk into oblivion and so there was no means of investigating the matter I have in mind.

My last resort was to request one of my hometown acquaintances to go in person and delve into the legal documents dealing with Ah Q's case. Eight months later, I received a letter in reply stating that the documents contained no mention of any person whose name was anywhere near the sound of quei. Although I do not know whether there actually was no such name mentioned or whether he did not investigate the matter, still, there is no other course of investigation open to me. Fearing that the system of Mandarin phonetics may not be in vogue just now, I prefer to use a European letter after the fashion of the English spelling, making the name read "Ah Quei," which we shall abbreviate to "Ah Q." This is akin to following blindly the New Youth Magazine, and I feel thoroughly ashamed of myself; but if the Hsiu-t'sai did not know any better, what could you expect of poor me?

Fourth is the matter of Ah Q's native district. If he were actually a Chao, we might, after the old and popular custom, which now prevails in telling of one's native district, look among the footnotes in the general list of surnames and find something of this sort, "Lung-hsi, Tien-shiu, Person"; but it is regrettable that Ah Q's surname is, after all, not wholly settled and hence his native district cannot be decided upon.

Although he lived for the most part in Weichuang, he was often in the habit of living in other places, and so he cannot be considered a native of Weichuang. Were we to consider him a native of Weichuang, we would not be in agreement with the accepted methods of writing history.

I may at least find consolation in the fact that the character "Ah" (阿) (a character preceding all familiar names), is legitimate beyond all doubt; and it can be in no way susceptible to misinterpretation and is worthy of being presented at its face value to the general public. As for the rest, that cannot be investigated, except by people of deep erudition. My only hope is that the scientific minds of the historian and the antiquarian, such as Mr. Hu Shih's followers, will be able, in the future, to discover many clues to this mystery; but I fear that by that time my "True Story of Ah Q" will have passed into oblivion.

The foregoing may be considered as a preface to it.

Chapter 2

ot only are the surname and native district of Ah Q matters of uncertainty, but even his former doings are matters of doubt. This is due to the fact that the people of Weichuang merely made use of his services or made light of him, and never paid attention to his doings. Ah Q himself threw no light on these matters, but when he was engaged in verbal fusillades with others, he would dilate the pupils of his eyes and exclaim: "My ancestors were greater than yours by a long shot! What sort of creature may you be considered, anyway!"

Having no family, Ah Q lived in the T'uku Temple of Weichuang. He had no steady trade, merely doing odd jobs for others: if wheat had to be cut, he cut it; if rice were to be ground, he ground it; if a boat were to be rowed, he rowed it. Should the period of work be long, he might live in the house of his temporary employer, but as soon as the work was over, he would take his leave. Thus it came about that whenever people were busy, they would call Ah Q to mind, but what they actually recalled was his services and not his doings, for as soon as the particular work was over, Ah Q himself had long been forgotten. So his doings are hardly worth mentioning.

It happened once that an old man said in laudatory tones, "Ah Q surely can work!" At that moment, Ah Q, in all his lanky leanness and bare to the waist, stood indolently before him. Outsiders were not sure whether this remark was sincerely meant or was just a sarcastic fling, but Ah Q, nevertheless, was highly delighted.

Ah Q had a very high opinion of himself and therefore held all the inhabitants of Weichuang in contempt, and those whom he held lowest were its two scholars whom he considered not worth the exertion of a smile. Scholars are likely to attain the rank of Hsiu-t'sai. The Venerable Mr. Chao and the Venerable Mr. Chin enjoyed the respect of the inhabitants not only because of their wealth but also because they were the fathers of scholars; but Ah Q, by the attitude he assumed, showed no special sign of respect for them. He thought to himself, "My sons will be greater than yours by a long shot!"

Besides, Ah Q had gone to the city a few times and naturally felt all the more satisfied with his own attainments. But he also heartily despised the city folk. For instance, a wooden bench, two feet by three inches, the Weichuangites called a long bench and so did he; while the city dwellers called it a tiao6 bench. "That is wrong," thought he. "How ludicrous!" For large-headed fish, fried in oil, the Weichuangites used, as a garnish, scallion leaves sliced half an inch in length, while the urbanites sliced the scallion leaves into silken shreds. He again thought, "That also is wrong and laughable!" The truth of the situation is that the Weichuangites were comical rustics, who had not seen the great outside world. They had never seen a city fried-fish!

Ah Q, with his "eminent ancestors," superior knowledge, and "real ability for work," was almost a complete man of parts, but it is regrettable that in his physical make-up there was a flaw. This very repulsive feature lay on his scalp where, in a few spots, at some time unknown, impetigo scars had appeared. Albeit they were on his own body, Ah Q did not seem to consider that they added to his self-esteem. For this reason, he tabooed the character lai which means mange or impetigo, and extended that taboo to all the characters with the sound lai. Afterwards, he widened the scope of the taboo to include such words as kuang, "bright," liang, "brilliant," and still later spread the taboo to "lamp" and "candle." Whenever these taboos were violated by others, and it mattered not whether it had been done intentionally or unintentionally, every one of Ah Q's scars would flush with fury. He would survey his offender, and if the latter happened to be a poor quarreler, he would revile him; if he happened to be puny, he would strike him. It is not known how it came about, but Ah Q eventually suffered many defeats and accordingly adopted a new policy, which, in general, was to glare at his offender with infuriated eyes.

And how was it to be understood that after Ah Q had adopted the infuriated-eye policy the ordinary run of Weichuangites found even more pleasure in teasing him? As soon as they set eyes on him, they would feign to be in great awe, gasping, "Hey there, it's brightening up!"

Ah Q, as was his habit, would become angry and direct his infuriated eyes at the offenders.

"So, there is a kerosene lamp here!" they would continue without fear.

Ah Q would have no recourse but to find words for retaliation and to sneer, "But you aren't even clever enough to have !" At such a moment, the impetigo scars on his head seemed uncommon scars of a glorious and noble species. But we have already mentioned in the foregoing lines that Ah Q was a man of the world, so knew at once that he was about to break his own taboo, and spoke no more, in order to avoid the unutterable word.

The ordinary person would not let the matter rest here, but would continue teasing until in the end they would come to fisticuffs. On being defeated, Ah Q was grasped by his brownish queue and had his head knocked against the wall four or five times. It was then that ordinary folk felt fully satisfied that they had gained a triumph, and would leave. Ah Q would stand for a second, thinking in his heart: "I will consider that I have been beaten by my sons. Ah, the world is going to the dogs " and accordingly, he in turn would feel satisfied at heart that the victory was his; and thus he would walk off.

Having turned this matter over in his heart, Ah Q would thereafter always find expression in words, so it came about that almost all who were in the habit of teasing him knew that he possessed a method whereby he maintained an unconquerable spirit; thus afterward, whenever they would clutch his brownish queue, they would forestall him, saying: "Ah Q, this is not a case of a son beating his father; it is a case of human beings beating an animal. Repeat the words yourself, 'Human beings beating an animal!

Holding on to his queue at the roots of the hair, Ah Q would set his head to one side and spurt out: "Beating an insect, is that to your satisfaction? I am an insect now will you let me go?"

But in spite of the fact that he admitted that he was an insect, ordinary folk would not let him go; and wherever they happened to be, as in times past, they would give him five or six knocks and leave, feeling fully satisfied at heart that they had gained a victory. They were sure that Ah Q had met his Waterloo this time; but it was not ten minutes before Ah Q would walk off, feeling fully satisfied in his heart that he had gained the victory. He felt that he was the "foremost self-belittler"; and if the words, "self-belittler," were taken away from the phrase, the remaining "foremost" applied to him. Was not the candidate who receives the highest honor in the government examinations also first, "foremost," like himself? "And what kind of creature may you be considered?" he would think to himself.

After Ah Q had used these supreme strategies to conquer his enemy, he would run with added elation to the wine shop and gulp down a few bowls of wine, all the while joking with the others present, or exchanging verbal jabs, and after another victory there, would return happy to T'uku Temple, where he let his head sink into slumber.

If he happened to have money, he would be off to play dominoes. The whole crowd would be stooping on the ground, Ah Q, with perspiration streaming all over his face, sandwiched in the whole mass. He would bellow out in a voice louder than all the others, "Green Dragon 400!"

"Hey open there!" the stake holder, also with his face covered with perspiration, would sing out as he lifted the lid. "Tien-men leh (which made Ah Q lose with the Green Dragon)! Chiao-hui leh! Jen and Ch'uang-t'ang have no stakes on them. Hand over Ah Q's coppers!"

"Ch'uang-t'ang 100 150!"

To the tune of such chanting, Ah Q's money would gradually find its way to the loin purse of another, whose face was also streaming with perspiration. In the end, he would squeeze outside the crowd and stand there looking on, following with personal interest the ups and downs of some one else; and thus he continued until the game was ended. It was not until then that he would leave, all unwilling, and return to T'uku Temple. On the following day, he would go to work with eyes swollen from the lack of sleep.

But the truth of the saying, "How was it to be concluded that the loss of the old man's horse at the border country was not actually blessing?"7 was borne out when Ah Q had one unfortunate streak of winning, which proved to be for his own ill luck.

On that particular evening, Weichuang was holding festivities in honor of its gods and, as was the custom, a dramatic performance was being offered. Near the stage were the customary and numerous gambling tables. The racket of the gongs of the play seemed to be ten Chinese miles away from Ah Q's ears; the one thing he heard was the the singing voice of the lid-lifting stake holder. Ah Q kept winning; coppers turned into silver coin, coin into dollars, and dollars into high stacks. Ravished with delight, he cried out:

"Two dollars on tien-men!"

He did not know how it came about or who had started the fray. Sounds of profanity, sounds of blows, sounds of shuffling feet; there was one grand mass of confusion, from which he crawled away, not seeing the gambling tables, not seeing the people. On several parts of his body, it seemed very much as if there were somewhat of a smarting sensation, as if he had received a few knocks and kicks. A few onlookers stared at him in astonishment. He felt as if something were missing; on arriving at T'uku Temple, he steadied himself and then discovered that his pile of dollars was nowhere to be seen! Since most of the people attending the festival were not Weichuangites, where was he to seek the culprits?

Ah, glittering pile of dollars! And it had been his now nowhere to be seen! To console himself, he let himself believe that the money had been taken away by his sons and in his misery there was nothing left for him except to call himself an insect. While he continued to feel miserable, he tasted, on this reversal of his fortunes, a portion of the bitter gall of defeat.

But anon he turned his defeat into victory. He raised his right hand, and with great strength, slapped his mouth twice. Followed a stinging sensation and a bit of pain. After this slapping, his heart felt consoled and his temper assuaged, for it seemed as if he himself had done the slapping and that another himself had received the slapping, and so it was not long before he felt as if he were hitting some one else — despite the fact that his lips were still smarting. He lay down fully satisfied in heart that he had gained a victory.

Presently he fell asleep.

Chapter 3

lthough Ah Q was always gaining victories after his own manner, it was not until he had received the smack from the Venerable Mr. Chao that his name became well known.

He handed the ti-pao two hundred cash for wine money and lay down, seething with anger. He later thought to himself, "The present condition of the world is unutterable: sons striking their fathers " Thus, it came about that his mind pictured the Venerable Mr. Chao's austere bearing; pictured him for the time being as his son. Blithe and merry he gradually became and, rising from his bed, made his way to the wine shop, singing "The Youthful Widow at Her Husband's Grave." At that particular moment, he felt that the Venerable Mr. Chao was a degree superior to other people.

Thereafter, strange to relate, it actually came about that the people seemed to respect Ah Q all the more. On Ah Q's own part, he thought that this might have been due to the fact that he was the Venerable Mr. Chao's father, but the fact was that he was not.

It was a general custom in Weichuang that if the seventh child cuffed the eighth child, or perhaps, the fourth Li child struck the third Chang child, the matter was not taken seriously. Thus it was absolutely necessary that a man of the Venerable Mr. Chao's rank be involved in such an affair before the Weichuangites could perpetuate the event by means of a monument of gossip. As soon as the monument of gossip had been put up, the giver of the blow, having already enjoyed fame, the receiver, deriving it from the glory of the former, also acquired fame. That the error was Ah Q's goes without saying. Why so? Because the Venerable Mr. Chao never was in the wrong! But if Ah Q was in the wrong, why did people seem even more respectful toward him? That is hard to explain. As a matter of conjecture, it may have been that although Ah Q had received a smack for saying that he was the Venerable Mr. Chao's relative, the others may have feared that there might have been some truth in his statement, and so in the end, there was nothing like being more respectful to him in order to be on the safe side. Otherwise, it may have been like the case of the sacrificial bull in the Confucian Temple; that is, although the bull was an animal and in the same class with pigs and sheep, still, the scholars of old did not dare to move the animal without due decorum after the saint's chopsticks had touched the sacrificial offering.

Thereafter, Ah Q felt serene and happy for many years.

It was on a spring day that he was walking along, intoxicated, when, in the sunlight at the foot of a wall, he espied Wang-hu, sitting there stripped to the waist This Wang-hu was full of scabs and profusely bewhiskered from ear to ear; and every one called him Wang Mange Whiskers. Ah Q avoided the term "mange," but despised him vehemently. Ah Q's idea was that the mange was no source of wonderment, but whiskers, and a chain of them! That, indeed, was too novel, too extraordinary, and enough to cause one to look down upon the owner of them. With this in mind, he sat down beside Wang-hu. Ordinarily, Ah Q would not have had the courage to sit down beside another person, but what was there for him to fear in sitting beside this Wang-hu? To be frank, the fact that he was sitting beside him must be considered an honor to his companion.

After Ah Q slipped off his tattered short lined coat, Wang-hu's actions became irritating and Ah Q gradually lost his temper, each of his impetigo scars coloring red. He flung his garment on the ground and after expectorating, shouted: "Worm!"

"Mangy-hided dog, whom are you cursing?" sneered Wang-hu, lifting his eyes disdainfully.

In spite of the fact that of late Ah Q had, as compared with former times, received more respect from people and had become a least bit more vain and self-respecting, still in dealing with ordinary folk, who were accustomed to fighting, he was humble and meek; but on this occasion he waxed exceeding bold. This creature, Wang-hu, with a cheek full of whiskers, would he dare to say anything disrespectful?

"The one who answers me is the one to be reviled!" cried Ah Q, with his arms akimbo.

"Do your bones ache for a thrashing?" queried Wang-hu, also jumping to his feet and throwing on his coat.

Ah Q thought that his opponent was about to flee, and rushing upon him, raised his fist to cuff him, but before his fist had reached Wang-hu's body, the latter had grasped it and with one yank sent Ah Q sprawling. On the instant, his queue was seized by Wang-hu; he was dragged to the wall, where, as was the custom, his head was knocked.

"The superior man moves only his mouth and not his hands!" shouted Ah Q, with his head twisted to one side.

But Wang-hu did not seem to be a superior man and, what was more, took no notice of these words, but bumped Ah Q's head against the wall five times. He then used the utmost of his strength and gave him one push which sent him tumbling over a distance of six feet. It was then that Wang-hu walked away satisfied.

This, in Ah Q's mind, should have been considered the first humiliation which he had suffered, because in times past, when he had ridiculed Wang-hu on account of his chains of whiskers, the latter had never ridiculed him; nor had Wang-hu raised a hand against him. But now, quite contrary to expectation, he had raised his hand. It seemed as if the saying of the populace had come true; namely, "The emperor has discontinued the examinations and Hsiu-t'sai and Chü-jen8 are no longer needed." For this reason, there would be a loss in the austere bearing of the Chao family, and so would others be taking him lightly too, implying that any loss in prestige on the part of the Chaos would reflect on himself; so Ah Q still considered himself a Chao. Now there was no ground for him to stand on.

A person approached from a distance who, on arrival, proved to be one of Ah Q's enemies. This was the man Ah Q hated most vehemently; he was the eldest son of the Venerable Mr. Chin. In the past, he had gone to the city and attended a foreign school; thence, he went to Japan; how, it was not known. He returned to his home half a a year later; his legs had become straight and his queue was not to be seen. His mother wailed loudly more than ten times; his wife jumped into the well three or four times. Wherever his mother went thereafter, she would say: "His queue has been cut off by some evil companions after making him drunken with wine. By right, he could have been a great official; now there is no other course excepting to let his queue grow again before we say any more." But Ah Q was loath to believe a word of this and purposely dubbed him "False Foreigner" and accused him of acting as a spy for foreigners. As soon as he saw him, he would, without fail, curse him under his breath.