Old Stories Told Again – Lu Xun

Tradition rewritten with a scalpel. Myth turned into satire.

In Old Stories Retold, Lu Xun takes classic Chinese stories and legends—those foundations of the national imagination—and tears them apart with ferocious irony and devastating lucidity. Here, the heroes and sages of ancient times are stripped of their halo; they are transformed into ridiculous, selfish beings, or simply powerless in the face of the cruelty of fate. What official history gilded, Lu Xun corrodes and exposes to the void.

Published in 1936, this collection departs from the social realism of Cries and Pilgrimage to play with absurdity, parody, and historical criticism. Each story is a radical reinterpretation: the past and its symbols become broken mirrors reflecting a disillusioned China, still unable to reinvent itself.

Includes the following stories:

1. Grinding Iron (补天, Bǔ Tiān)
2. The Swordsmith (铸剑, Zhù Jiàn)
3. The Legend of the Yellow Emperor (理水, Lǐ Shuǐ)
4. Moon sacrifice (采薇, Cǎi Wēi)
5. The Flight to the Mountain (出关, Chū Guān)
6. Meeting of Kings (非攻, Fēi Gōng)
7. Resurrecting the Mother (起死, Qǐ Sǐ)
8. The Donkey of Wisdom (奔月, Bēn Yuè)