In 1917, one of Lu Xun's friends asked him to write for a radical populist literary magazine, New Youth. Lu Xun did not believe his writings would influence the public much and famously used a metaphorical iron house to explain his reasoning. .
"Imagine an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people fast asleep inside who will die of suffocation. But you know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of death. Now if you cry aloud to wake a few of the lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do you think you are doing them a good turn? (6)".
"But if a few awake, you can't say there is no hope of destroying the iron horse. (6)" .
Qian Xuantong gave him the perfect response, thus convinced Lu Xun to write and publish his very first short story under his own name for the magazine. In 1918, Lu Xun created "A Madman's Diary", which is part of the short story collection called Call to Arms. Arguably one of the best short stories written that depicted anti-traditionalism, this was the moment that led to Lu Xun being recognized as one of the leading writers during the May Fourth Period. A year later, "Kong Yiji" was published as part of the same short story collection.
"A Madman's Diary" is a series of diary entries written by a madman who is suffering from a persecution complex. The entries are the madman's narration of his fear that people surrounding him are attempting to eat him, including the people closest to him. He also believed that his brother cannibalized his younger sister and ponders on whether or not he also unknowingly tasted her flesh. This leads to the madman's concern for the younger generation, with the story ending with "Save the children . . . .(16)".
In "Kong Yiji", the narrator is a young boy who is a waiter at a tavern.