The Deer and the Cauldron

Written in 1967-72,The Deer and the Cauldron was Louis Cha''s last, and by many considered his best, Martial Arts novel. It is a sprawling work covering twenty odd years of the early reign of the Emperor Kangxi. In historical terms, the novel begins sometime after the death of Koxinga in 1662 and the Ming History purge of 1682/3, and before the death of Oboi in 1669. It covers the period of the rebellion of the "Three Feudatories" , and the surrender of Formosa to the Manchus in 1683, before ending shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Nertchinsk in 1689. The plot moves from the pleasure-houses of Yangzhou to Peking and the Imperial Court and the sacred mountain of Wu-tai-shan to a desolate island off the north-east coast of China, base for the fanatical drug-taking Sect of the Mystic Dragon, through the frozen north-east to Fort Albazin to Moscow and the boudoir of Princess Sophia; before finally returning to the birthplace of the protagonist, Yangzhou. The Deer and the Cauldron