Adhering to the national tradition of Chinese novel, The True Story of Ah Q composes the whole content in form of biography. Closely around the protagonist Ah Q, the book takes the activities of Ah Q as its only clue to develop the plots and write out his short and tragic life. The novel contains 9 chapters and every three form a part. The first three tells Ah Q's class and economic status, depicting his characters centered by psychology victory; the middle part tells the oppression and exploitation he suffered, further describing his character in order to present his situation and release the contradiction of the era; the last part tells his changes in characters and tragic destiny when the revolution comes.
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In addition to the uncertainty regarding Ah Q's surname，personal name，and place of origin，there is even some uncertainty regarding his"background."This is because the people of Weizhuang only made use of his services or treated him as a laughing—stock，without ever paying the slightest attention to his"background."Ah Q himself remained silent on this subject，except that when quarrelling with someone he nught glare at him and say，"We used to be much better off than you！ Who do you think you are anyway？"
Ah Q had no family but lived in the Tutelary God's Temple at Weizhuang.He had no regular work either，simply doing odd jobs for others： if there was wheat to be cut he would cut it，if there was rice to be ground he would grind it，if there was a boat to be Punted he would punt it.If the work lasted for a considerable period he might stay in the house of his temporary employer，but as soon as it was finished he would leave.Thus whenever people had work to be done they would remember Ah Q，but what they remembered was his service and not lus"background"； and by the time the job was done even Ah Q himself would be forgotten，to say nothing of his"background."
