labor is infinitely more spiritual than civilizations that still use men as beasts of burden.
It was this docile and smiling acceptance that made it impossible for the Chinese masses to be anything more than slaves. That they were as a matter of fact willing slaves, Lusin pointed out again and again; they were only unhappy during periods of war and dynastic change when it was not clear whose slaves they were, when they were slaughtered first by one set and then another set of masters. It was this spirit of resignation that we find reflected in the famous lines:
Than a man in days of war and separation.
The Bertrand Russell school of "instinctive happiness" might not have been shopping for a subject race when they praised the Chinese for that quality, but that is how it has worked out in practice.
Effective and important as are these notes and comments in which Lusin gave expression to his indignations and protests, he will probably be remembered for his short stories. These notes and comments were for the most part running commentaries on the contemporary scene, prompted by things he had seen or heard or read in the daily press. A great deal of this material would require extensive notes by the future generation of Sinologists before it is intelligible.
Of his stories, "Our Story of Ah Q" will stand out not only as his most important work but also as the most important single contribution to Chinese literature since the literary revolution, for in this story Lusin succeeded in translating his diagnosis of China's fundamental weakness in terms that everyone can understand. Briefly, Ah Q is the personification
