What Is Modernity
Yoshimi Takeuchi was born October 2nd, 1910 in Nagano Prefecture and died, March 3rd, 1977 due to the esophageal cancer. He was a Sinologist, a cultural critic and translator of Chinese. He mainly studied the Chinese author, Lu Xun, which included most of Lu Xun’s works. He achieved the great accomplishment of translating them into Japanese. One of the great examples of his study is the book, Lu Xun published in 1944. It ignited a significant reaction in the world of Japanese thought during and after the Pacific War. Takeuchi formed a highly successful Chinese literature study group with Taijun Takeda in 1934 when he was a university student. This was regarded as the beginning of modern Sinology in Japan. It was in 1931 that Takeuchi first met his long-lasting friend, Taijun Takeda at Tokyo Imperial University. They then went on to forming the Chinese Literature Research Society. In 1935, they published an official organ for the group, namely, Chugoku Bungaku Geppo in order to open up the study of contemporary Chinese literature as opposed to the "old-style" Japanese Sinology. However in January 1943, he disbanded the Chinese Literature Research Society, despite the group becoming quite successful. While he was in China, he saw the real state of living in China that impressed him deeply, it was completely different from what he hand thought of, or studied of before. It is how he threw himself into a study of the modern colloquial language and his maiden work, the book-length study Lu Xun. One of his essays, ‘What is modernity?’ became popular, as a result, gained great public attention in 1948 during the Japanese occupation. It is from such an essay that his status as an important postwar critic was gradually acknowledged. After 1949, he was greatly moved by the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). He continued to refer to the PRC in his articles and books. In 1953, he became a fulltime professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University. A post he eventually