Medicine (short story)
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"Medicine" (Chinese: 藥; pinyin: Yào) is a short story by Chinese writer Lu Xun (Lu Hsun). Written in 1919, it was published in 1922 as part of Call to Arms, a collection of short stories penned by the writer. The story recounts the tale of Old Chuan and his wife, whose son is dying from tuberculosis. The couple uses the savings from their tea shop to buy a folk medicine cure for their son. Despite their faith in the medicine they procured, it does not work and Little Chuan passes away. The work's overarching themes ask the reader to question themselves in regards to the importance of superstition, as well as to man's constant quest for meaning and control of the circumstances encountered while living in an increasingly complicated world.
One of the revolutionaries who was executed in the story is named "Xia Yu (夏瑜)" and was thought to be mapped to Qiu Jin (秋瑾). "夏 (Summer)" corresponds to "秋 (Autumn)", and "瑾 (Jin)" corresponds to "瑜 (Yu)", and "瑾瑜 (JinYu)" together means beautiful jade, or virtue.[1]