Did publishing censorship in Lu Xun’s era be as strict as today’s?

No. Like the CCP, the KMT has established a Central Propaganda Department. The KMT Party Central Committee has established a Central Book and Magazine Review Committee under the Central Propaganda Department as an agency to review publications. But even so, the era of the Republic of China in mainland China was still relatively relaxed compared to now. For example, there was the famous major newspaper "Shen Shen" at that time, and there were famous newspaper people such as Shi Liangcai. If it is not relaxed, how can Xinhua Daily be published in the Kuomintang-controlled areas? Just imagine today, can newspapers from the other side of the Taiwan Strait be published and distributed publicly in the Communist area?

The answer is very clear~~~~