I just occurred to me the superficial similarities between the story of Túrin Turambar and the movie ”The Curse of the Golden Flower”. The most obvious similarity is the incest (Crown Prince Wan isn’t just porking his sister, he’s also doing his stepmother!) but the idea of curses and of gold also resonates. In the movie, the golden chrysanthemum becomes the doomed standard of Prince Jai, while in the story, the golden hoard of Glaurung becomes a curse to Thingol, king of Doriath.

There is also the idea of devotion to one’s mother. Many of the mishaps that befall Túrin are due to his desire to see his mother Morwen again, and Prince Jai’s failed rebellion is waged in an attempt to free his mother from the tyranny of his father. (I suppose echoes of Oedipus necessarily arise.)

There is unrequited love: the love of the elven princess Finduilas for Túrin compared to the Empress’ love of the Crown Prince.

And like all epic stories, there is treachery, suicide, and madness.

And in the end, the bad guys win. (Morgoth in The Children of Húrin, the Emperor in “The Curse of the Golden Flower” although he is not as clear-cut of an antagonist as Morgoth.) The key victims—Húrin, the Empress—get to live (and by key victim, I mean the person on which all the other tragedies in the story hinges)

But “The Curse of the Golden Flower” is not an original story, but is rather based on the play “Thunderstorm” by the acclaimed Chinese writer Cao Yu. The characters are not of imperial lineage, but rather are of the bourgoisie, but the essential plot is comparable, and the unintentional incest and resultant suicide is present.