George Kin Leung’s and Jing-Mills’s versions of Lu Xun’s fictional masterpiece occupy an important position in translation history as they initiated the great journey of Lu Xun’s fiction in the English-speaking world. Adopting a descriptive translation studies approach, this article aims to describe the general shape of the two translations and to explain the translators’ decision-making drawing on newly excavated research material. It is found that Leung treated the original text in an awkwardly literal manner, resulting in very low readability and acceptabillity while the Jing-Mills version is marked by very low adequacy due to Jing’s tampering with the original text. It is concluded that while they represent two extreme cases in the history of Lu Xun’s fiction in English translation, the three pioneering translators have contributed significantly to early introduction of Lu Xun to the world.