The Deer and the Cauldron Series by Jin Yong, John Minford

On the Dragon Throne of China sits the young Manchu Emperor Kang Xi. Back in 1644, his great-uncle Dorgon broke through the Great Wall from Manchuria in the north-east and took the Imperial capital, Peking. Now twenty years later, the Manchus are quelling the last sparks of Chinese resistance, hounding down members of the underground movement known as the Triad Secret Society... moreOn the Dragon Throne of China sits the young Manchu Emperor Kang Xi. Back in 1644, his great-uncle Dorgon broke through the Great Wall from Manchuria in the north-east and took the Imperial capital, Peking. Now twenty years later, the Manchus are quelling the last sparks of Chinese resistance, hounding down members of the underground movement known as the Triad Secret Society. But deep in the innermost recesses of the Forbidden City, with its maze of countless eunuchs, and the redoubtable troops of the Imperial Guard, a sinister conspiracy is brewing.Into this historical setting bursts a young teenage scamp by the name of Trinket. Born in a whorehouse in the southern Chinese city of Yangzhou, Trinket is an unlikely (and reluctant) kungfu practitioner, whose underhand tricks earn him many a harsh word from his masters. Foul-mouthed, lazy, opportunistic, but ultimately likeable and unforgettable, it is Trinket who holds together the picaresque episodes of this last (and many say best) Martial Arts novel by Hong Kong's master storyteller, Louis Cha.As the poet and critic Stephen Soong has said, this is 'a roller-coaster of a novel, packed with thrills, with fun, rage, humour, and abuse, written in a style that flows and flashes like quicksilver.' less

The second part of a three-volume picaresque historical romance by one of China's most popular authors follows the turbulent adventures of mercurial anti-hero Trinket as he embroils himself with flair in ever more complex intrigues at court and in the dense underworld of seventeenth-century China. All is definitely not as it seems in the palace of that Old Whore, the Empress Dowager... moreThe second part of a three-volume picaresque historical romance by one of China's most popular authors follows the turbulent adventures of mercurial anti-hero Trinket as he embroils himself with flair in ever more complex intrigues at court and in the dense underworld of seventeenth-century China. All is definitely not as it seems in the palace of that Old Whore, the Empress Dowager. Trinket begins to suspect an incursion into palace politics by a strange sect based on an offshore island, fanatical practitioners of a powerful, manta-based kungfu, while contending forces struggle to lay hands on the secret contained in eight copies of a short Sutra, a secret that will somehow yield mysterious power.Posing this time as a pilgrim and monk, Trinket takes holy orders in order to penetrate the mysterious Buddhist realm of the Shaolin Monastery, of fighting-monks' fame, and the more exotic Lamaist pilgrimage site of the Wutai Mountains. While his multiple personae take on the world, young Trinket experiences, with growing frequency and intensity, the delights of female companionship. This does not seem to distract him from his kungfu quests, and Trinket finds himself faced with his most important mission yet... less

The third and final volume of the picaresque historical romance by one of China's most popular authors deals with Satrap Wu Sangui's imminent bid for Imperial Power and Trinket's increasingly complex attempts to balance his own multiple identities: as friend and confidant of the Emperor Kang Xi, as the White Dragon Marshal of the Mystic Dragon Sect, and as one of the Lodge Masters of the Triad Secret Society... moreThe third and final volume of the picaresque historical romance by one of China's most popular authors deals with Satrap Wu Sangui's imminent bid for Imperial Power and Trinket's increasingly complex attempts to balance his own multiple identities: as friend and confidant of the Emperor Kang Xi, as the White Dragon Marshal of the Mystic Dragon Sect, and as one of the Lodge Masters of the Triad Secret Society. Trinket's love life poses even more challenges, as he simultaneously juggles several beautiful women and unwittingly comes face to face with the beautiful Chen Yuan Yuan, known as the Peerless Consort, and the Russian Princess Sophia. less