狂人日記

by Xun Lu

"狂人日記" by Xun Lu is a short story published in 1918. Written in vernacular Chinese, this groundbreaking work tells the tale of a man who believes everyone around him—including his own family—are cannibals intent on consuming him. Through his diary entries, he sees "eating people" embedded in Confucian texts and traditional Chinese society. The story serves as a symbolic attack on feudal culture, using madness as a lens to expose oppressive social structures and calling for revolutionary change in early 20th-century China.