This paper focuses on the first translation in the West of a Chinese novel. Attracting more attention from translation scholars than from sinologists, the reception history of the Haoqiu zhuan epitomizes the vagaries to which translations of Chinese literature have been subject. The novel has long been classified as second-rate by Chinese literary critics and historians, but to several generations of Europeans from the mid-seventeenth century onward it was supposed to represent the best of Chinese fictional writing. Through a study of the historical background to, as well as a comparison of, an early translation of the Haoqiu zhuan, the author demonstrates the need for in-depth study of the translation itself and for asking questions about how these translations served to create an image of Chinese life palatable to European readers.