This story by Lu Xun highlights the failings of China’s 1,300-year-old Imperial Education System. A twelve-year-old boy who served in a tavern recalls how working-class (short-coated) men stood outside or at the bar while educated (long-gowned) elites sat inside in comfort. The one exception was Kong Yiji who, dressed in a tattered long gown, drank with the labourers. Although educated, he had never passed the civic exams. Lazy and too pretentious for manual work, he came to a tragic end after turning to begging and petty theft for survival. Other themes include social class, pride, denial, alienation, social insensitivity and cruelty.
