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Barry Hughart (born 1934) is a fantasy author. He is best known for a series set in "an Ancient China that never was", recounting the adventures of Li Kao, an eccentric genius, and his assistant Number Ten Ox. The series consists of Bridge of Birds, The Story of the Stone, and Eight Skilled Gentlemen; more entries in the series were intended but never published. Bridge of Birds, inspired by the traditional tale of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, won the 1985 World Fantasy Award for best novel and the 1986 Mythopoeic Award for best fantasy.
The book begins with the children of the 7th-century Chinese village of Ku-fu falling prey to a strange plague (one that has apparently learned how to count). One of the villagers, Lu Yu (usually called Number Ten Ox, not to be confused with the author of The Classic of Tea), is sent by his mother to Peking to find a sage who can help cure the children. Due to lack of funds( only one thousand copper cash), Number Ten Ox has a difficult time finding a sage, until he stumbles across Master Li Kao, a scholar with a slight flaw in his character. Li Kao agrees to look into the case despite the small retainer. When he visits Ku-fu, he quickly diagnoses the problem. The remainder of the novel proceeds in a very episodic nature as Number Ten Ox and Li Kao track down the various requirements for a cure, a giant ginseng root known as the Heart of Power.
Number Ten Ox and Li Kao use wiles, deceit, and occasionally Number Ten Ox's strength to obtain the objects of their quests. Each quest involves the two in tall tales, seemingly unrelated to everything which has happened before, although the two adventurers keep returning to Ku-fu to see if their latest cure will work.
The abbot of a humble monastery in the Valley of Sorrows calls upon Master Li and Number Ten Ox to investigate the killing of a monk and the theft of a seemingly inconsequential manuscript from its library. Suspicion soon lands on the infamous Laughing Prince--who has been dead for three millenia. To solve the mystery, the incongruous duo will have to travel across China, outwit half-barbarian kings, and saunter into Hell itself.
In this novel, Li Kao and Number Ten Ox are attending the execution of a notorious criminal (about whose capture the less said the better, according to the chronicler) when into the public square bounds an ancient vampire, who soon meets a fiery demise. Shortly afterward they discover a conspiracy involving fake tea, mysterious cages, and a host of minor demon-deities led by an ape-like man with blue cheeks, a crimson nose, a silver forehead, and a yellow chin. And then things get really strange.
The result is an exciting, tightly plotted novel that starts with a bang and ends with a race that will determine the fate of all life on Earth.
See: Chinoiserie
Bridge of Birds(1984)
The Story of the Stone(1988)
Eight Skilled Gentlemen(1990)
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