MCLC: Lu Xun essay query?

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Lu Xun essay query?
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I've been asked to identify the source of the quote below, but I'm
ashamed to say I can't. It comes from a Lu Xun essay, but which one?
Anyone know?

<<Once upon a time, there was a country whose rulers completely succeeded
in crushing the people; and yet they still believed that
the people were their most dangerous enemy. The rulers issued huge
collections of statutes, but none of these volumes could actually be used,
because in order to interpret them, one had to refer to a set of
instructions that had never been made public. These instructions contained
many original definitions. Thus, for instance, "liberation" meant in fact
"capital execution"; "government official" meant "friend, relative or
servant of an influential politician", and so on. The rulers also issued
codes of laws that were marvelously modern, complex and complete: however,
at the beginning of the first volume, there was one blank page; this blank
page could be deciphered only by those who knew the instructions ­ which
did not exist. The first three invisible instructions read as follows:
"Art.1: Some cases must be treated with special leniency. Art. 2: Some
cases must be treated with special severity. Art. 3: This does not apply
in all cases.>>

It's quoted in a article by Simon Leys, but he doesn't give a source.

Thanks, Kirk