The story is about his observation and brief interaction with a failure scholar by the name of Kong Yiji. Due to being poor, he steals and gets physically abused for doing so. People ridicule Kong Yiji when he appears at the tavern, and each time he shows up for a bowl of warm wine, he is in worst physical condition than the last time. In the end, Kong Yiji stops showing up at the tavern, presumably dead, while still owing the tavern nineteen coppers.
In the short stories "Kong Yiji" and "A Madman's Diary", Lu Xun criticizes the traditional way of life in China from a modern standpoint. I am going to explore the ways in which Lu Xun uses characters' physical and verbal actions in "Kong Yiji" to symbolize his concern over China's traditional way of life. Leading on from his concerns of a traditional way of life, I will talk about how Lu Xun uses "A Madman's Diary" to show that people in China during that time are pulling each other into this long existent idea of traditional life, a way of life that will cause China as a whole to be unable to advance in the modern day world.
Through everyone's treatment of Kong Yiji at the tavern, Lu Xun is expressing his views of Chinese people being unkind and with no compassion, particularly to people who are different from the norm. There are two instances in the story where Kong Yiji was ridiculed, even though he did not do anything wrong. The first instance is when he walked in the tavern and people started laughing at him for not being able to pass the lowest official examination. The second instance was the last time he appeared at the tavern with broken legs and looked more of a mess than before. He was ridiculed for being beaten and making the excuse that he fell. Instead of being compassionate towards someone that is struggling with their life, they are using Kong Yiji as entertainment by laughing at his failure and disappointment.