Chinese Æsop:

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), prince Zhou Xu of the State of Wei killed his brother and became the new King. Zhou Xu was a tyrant. He oppressed his people and indulged in wars of aggression. By launching wars, he tried to divert the people's attention and reduce their discontent with him in order to consolidate his dictatorship. The Duke of the State of Lu leant about Zhou Xu's usurpation of state power and his ambitious plan, he asked a senior official, "What do you think about Zhou Xu's move?" The official answered, "He indulges in wars, bringing his people much disaster. He won't get their support. And he's capricious, so few of his close friends follow him. He can never achieve his success. In addition, war is like fire. If one launches wars endlessly without restraint, he'll eventually burn himself. " Sure enough, the people of Wei with the help of the State of Chen overthrew Zhou Xu and killed him in less than a year...

During the Spring and Autumn Period(770－476BC), there were two famous senior officials in the State of Yue. The King of the Yue named Gou Jian didn't accept the advice of Fan Li and blindly launched an attack against the neighboring State of Wu. As a result, he suffered disastrous defeat and was caught by the King of Wu. The King of Wu took him back and had him as a slave. Fan Li persuaded him to endure humiliation, pretend to surrender and wait for an opportunity to avenge. Later, Wen Zhong went to the State of Wu on diplomatic missions and helped Gou Jian gain the confidence. Years later, Gou was set free. With the help of Fan and Wen, the State of Yue rapidly rehabilitated and later annexed the Wu. As they had done so much contribution, both Fan and Wen was awarded great riches. Gou Jian even offered half of the state to Fan. But Fan rejected and decided to live in seclusion for knowing Gou too well. As a hermit, Fan wrote to his friend Wen. In his letter, Fan said,...

During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a skilled archer. One day he drew a big crowd while he was practicing on the drill ground. He shot so accurately that the on-lookers cheered with excitement. He became very proud of his skill. But among the crowd an old oil peddler only nodded his head indifferently. This hurt his Pride. "Can you do this?" he asked the old oil peddler. "No, I can't." "What do you think of my skill?" "Just OK, but nothing special. You've gained your accuracy from persistent practice. That's all." "What can you do, then?" The old man said nothing. He put a gourd bottle on the ground and covered its mouth with a copper coin. He then scooped out a ladle of oil from his big jar, held it high and began to fill the bottle. Now, a thread of oil came down from the ladle into the bottle just through the hole of the coin. Everybody looking on watched with amazement. But the old man said, "This is nothing...

The donkey in ancient Guizhou has exhausted its tricks Once upon a time, Qian (now Guizhou province, China) had no donkeys. One day, a man full of fancy ideas shipped a donkey to the region. But he soon discovered the donkey was no use, so he took it to a mountain and left it there. A tiger saw the donkey and thought it was a mysterious beast. He hid himself carefully in the woods, and dared only to watch the donkey from a distance. One day, the donkey brayed. The tiger thought the donkey was going to bite him. But the donkey did nothing more.The tiger soon got used to the noise, and moved closer. At last, he decided to provoke the strange beast. The donkey couldn't put up with this, and gave the tiger a kick. But the kick didn't hurt very much. The tiger knew this donkey was weak. He sprang on the donkey and made a good meal of the donkey. Later, people use it to describe someone who is at his wit's end.

Among the outstanding figures of Chinese history, famous either for their intelligence or treachery, Cao Cao is one of the foremost. One hot day, he marched out his troops under a burning sun in a mountainous area. Bewilderingly he lost the way. The journey was long and the sun was scorching. After their fruitless and tiresome march, one and all voiced their great dissatisfaction with the leadership of Cao Cao. They bitterly complained of their great thirst. The antagonism of the soldiers was growing fast and they were on the verge of staging a mutiny. The subordinate officers were helpless to cope with the situation. Cao Cao, however, in the nick of time cleverly and treacherously gave orders to his troops to march to the nearby plum trees for a rest and announced that soldiers would be allowed to eat the juicy sour fruit as much as they desired. At the thought of the sour fruit the soldiers' complaint of great thirst as well as the antagonistic feeling were quickly forgotten. Thi...

Xi Shi, one of "Four Beauties" in the history, had a pain in her bosom, so she had a frown on her face when she went out. Dong shi is an ugly girl who lived nearby, she saw Xi Shi frowning and thought she looked very beautiful. Therefore, when she went home, she also put her hands on her bosom and had a frown on her face. When a rich man in the neighborhood saw her, he shut his doors tightly and did not go out. When a poor man saw her, he took his wife and children and gave her a wide berth. She only knew Xi Shi's frown looked beautiful, but she did not know the reason for its beauty.

In the state of Song there was a man who kept monkeys. He was very fond of monkeys and kept a large number of them. He could understand the monkeys and they could also understand him. He reduced the amount of food for his own family in order to satisfy the monkey's demands. After a while his family did not have enough to eat, so he wanted to limit the food for the monkeys. But he was afraid that the monkeys would not submit to him. Before doing that he first played a trick on them, "If I give you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening, would that be enough?" he asked the monkeys. All the monkeys rose up in a fury. After a short time he said, "If I give you four chestnuts in the morning and three in the evening, would that be enough?" All the monkeys lay on the floor, very happy with this proposal.

Once a famous artist Zhang Seng You drew four dragons on the walls of An Le Temple, Jin Ling, but he left the pupils of the dragons unfinished. Someone asked him the reason of the omission. In answer, he said that if he put the pupils therein the dragons would become alive and fly away. The questioner did not believe it and requested him to complete the work. The artist nodded assent. But as soon as the two dots were drawn, all of a sudden, there were thunder and lightning and the dragon became alive and instantly flew away, while the other three without pupils still remained there. Based on this fairy tale, the last touch added to a drawing is said to be the act of adding pupils to a dragon, that is to say, the last touch in a masterpiece is the most important part of a drawing, or any other important business.

During the time of the Warring States (475-221 BC), there lived a well-known archer named Geng Ying whose art in shooting was excelled by none at his time.One day, as he was standing by the side of the King of Wei, a flock of swan were flying over. With confidence, Geng Ying said to the king, "The twang of my bow-string might bring down a bird." The King doubted much. Just then a solitary swan goose appeared, low and slow in its flight, sad and dolorous in its cry. Instantly Geng Ying bended his bow and forcibly pulled the bowstring. Twang! High up went the shrilling sound into the air and down fell the bird to the ground. The king admired with bewilderment. Gang Ying then explained: "The bird was flying low and slowly, because it was already hurt; it was crying in a bitter tone, because it had lost its companions. Due to the fact that it was already hurt and sad at heart, the twang of my strong bow, that birds dreaded most, startled it. The shrilling sound made its hear...