This paper looks at how, in the field of literature, the image of “national” in the fiction of the late Qing and of Lu Xun魯迅impacted factional narrative. We begin with changes in the vocabulary associated with “national” to show how writers applied different interpretations of the image to express differing interpretations of the image to express differing connotations. We then take topics that were common to the two periods, i.e. awakening vs. slumber, future vs. past, to discuss how these different usages helped to create two great works revolving around the concept of “national” that captured the spirit of the time at the end of the Qing dynasty and the birth of the Republic of China. Extreme yet beautiful, strident yet unique, “national” inh these works became either a source of hope for a new start, or took on the burden of a country in decline and a decaying society. If we speak in terms of the authors’ motive for writing, we see that the different interpretations of “national” takes on the historical and political responsibility for a country’s rise and decline under the framework of a writing of salvation or redemption.