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How the Opium Wars started China's 'century of humiliation', from Britain's opium trade at Canton to the burning of the Summer Palace.

Lu Xun goes back to his village to sell the family house, and finds that Runtu, his boyhood friend, has been worn down into a stranger who calls him 'Master'.

Ah Q, a penniless labourer in the village of Weizhuang, loses every fight he picks and wins them all in his head, right up until the 1911 Revolution sweeps him along to the execution ground.

As guns and railways arrive in China, the old spear master Sha Zilong closes his escort agency and won't teach his famous technique to anyone.

A kite in the Beijing winter sky takes Lu Xun back to a childhood cruelty he's never been able to undo.

A down-and-out writer struggling with isolation finds quiet companionship.

A poignant short story about a mother's unwavering hope for her sick child’s survival

A seventeen-year-old boy, recovering from illness, struggles with his desire for independence.

An essayist recounts the humorous difficulties and simple joys of moving house.