don't be like ah q [lu xun week]

阿Q正传 (Ā Q Zhèngzhuàn), “The True Story of Ah Q”, is about a man who thinks he’s always right.

Ah Q looks down on everyone, while he himself is a sorry character. When he get beaten, he convinces himself he’s won. When people use different words than he would, he considers them idiots.   

Despised by others, he’s a bully himself, pinching a nun and assaulting a house maid. When he hears of the revolution, he decides to become a revolutionary, not because he believes in the cause, but so he can get the respect he thinks he deserves.

He gets sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. Nobody cares.​

The story has left marks on modern Chinese where “having Ah Q spirit” means that you’re refusing to recognize the truth, and “Ah Q for a second” means “relax, dude”, alluding to the main character’s arrogant calmness.

Yán Shùnkāi playing Ah Q in the 1981 film classic. Baidu Baike