Fables

  • The Man of Zheng Who Buys Shoes [Han Feizi]

    – by Han Fei (Pre-Qin Period) There was a man from the state of Zheng who wanted to buy shoes. He first measured his own feet, then left the measurement on his seat.

  • The wise son and the suspicious neighbor [Han Feizi]

    – by Han Fei (Pre-Qin Period) In the state of Song, there was a wealthy man. After heavy rain, the wall of his house collapsed. His son said: “If we don’t repair it at once, thieves will surely break in.” An old man from his neighborhood also warned him the same thing. That night,…

  • Self-Contradiction [Han Feizi]

    -by Han Fei (Pre-Qin Period) A man from the state of Chu was selling shields and spears.

  • Myth

    Myth is a literary genre that conveys the ancient people’s primordial understanding of the origin of the world, natural phenomena, and social life through narratives involving deities or divinized heroic figures.

  • Chang’e Flies to the Moon

    Long ago, when the world was in great danger, ten suns appeared together in the sky. The intense heat burned crops, dried rivers, and made people suffer terribly. Many died from hunger and heat.

  • Ma Liang and His Magic Brush

    Once upon a time, there was a poor boy named Ma Liang who was naturally clever and loved drawing from a young age. Due to his family’s poverty, he couldn’t afford a brush; instead, he drew with tree branches on hillsides, grass roots dipped in river water by the banks, and pieces of charcoal…

  • The two monks from Shu

    In the Emei Mountain in Shu (Sichuan Province) there were many monasteries. The monks in the big monasteries were rich, while those in the smaller ones were poor.

  • The Alchemist’s Finger

    A poor scholar one day met an old friend who had become an immortal.

  • Tree forks

    The people living on a certain region use tree forks for stool legs.