{"id":9668,"date":"2018-02-02T13:53:55","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T18:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9668"},"modified":"2021-06-03T18:02:19","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T22:02:19","slug":"bridge-of-birds-a-novel-of-an-ancient-china-that-never-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9668","title":{"rendered":"Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was<\/a><\/em> (1984) Barry Hughart<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in the Middle Kingdom of China, Year of the Tiger 3337 (AD 639)<\/p>\n

All the children in the village between the ages of eight and thirteen have fall victim to an unknown illness, and all the silkworms have died, so Number Ten Ox is sent to the city to find a wise man who can cure the children.<\/p>\n

Number Ten Ox comes back with Master Li.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy surname is Li and my personal name is Kao, and there is a slight flaw in my character.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is one of those books where the story itself is secondary to the storytelling. The bits idly dropped here and there throughout the tale.<\/p>\n

(T)he abbot of our monastery always said that fable has strong shoulders that carry far more truth than fact can.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIn my humble village,\u201d Master Li said sweetly, \u201cwe grow men so big that their upper lips lick the stars, while their lower lips nuzzle the earth.\u201d <\/p>\n

The thug thought about it. \u201cAnd where are their bodies?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are like you,\u201d said Master Li. \u201cAll mouth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cError can point the way to truth, while empty-headedness can only lead to more empty-headedness or to a career in politics.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(S)he jumps into whatever clothes are lying around and leaps out the door\u2014 or window, it doesn\u2019t matter\u2014 to see what wonders the new day will bring, and since she views the world with the delighted eyes of a child, the day is bound to be marvelous.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think that last bit is probably the best reminder–if you look for delight your day is more likely to be marvelous.
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher: Subterranean Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984) Barry Hughart Set in the Middle Kingdom of China, Year of the Tiger 3337 (AD 639) All the children in the village between the ages of eight and thirteen have fall victim to an unknown illness, and all the silkworms have died, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,27,31,2,33,41],"tags":[134],"class_list":["post-9668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-alternate-history","category-asian","category-fantasy","category-historical","category-reread","tag-barry-hughart"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2vW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":464,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/464","url_meta":{"origin":9668,"position":0},"title":"Bridge of Birds","author":"Michelle","date":"October 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (1984) Barry Hughart I have a weakness for fantasy novels set in Asia--especially those set in ancient China. So when I saw Bridge of Birds on the shelf I immediately snatched it up. A strange malady has struck\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/Bridge-of-Birds.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2607,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2607","url_meta":{"origin":9668,"position":1},"title":"Bridge of Birds","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Bridge of Birds (1984) Barry Hughart A year or so ago I ordered The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, because I'd read Bridge of Birds, loved it, and wanted to read more. Unfortunately for me, The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox is a BIG\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2631,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2631","url_meta":{"origin":9668,"position":2},"title":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen","author":"Michelle","date":"November 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1991) Barry Hughart This is the third and final book in the Master Li and Number Ten Ox trilogy. I'm a little sad to see it end, but it was quite enjoyable. Oddly, the passages that caught my attention in this book weren't the funny ones, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13275,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13275","url_meta":{"origin":9668,"position":3},"title":"The Story of the Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"July 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Story of the Stone (1988) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox) Year of the Serpent 3,339 (A.D. 650). I've been re-reading The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox before bed for a really long time now. I'd read a page or two,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox-e1510885499371.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13510,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13510","url_meta":{"origin":9668,"position":4},"title":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen","author":"Michelle","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight Skilled Gentlemen (1990) Barry Hughart (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox) Year of the Horse 3338 (a.d. 640) This is my least favorite of the three stories. That doesn't mean it's bad, just that I don't like it as much as the first story. A vampire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox-e1510885499371.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2611,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2611","url_meta":{"origin":9668,"position":5},"title":"The Story of the Stone","author":"Michelle","date":"November 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Story of the Stone (1988) Barry Hughart Master Li has taken Number Ten Ox on as his assistant. The Abbot of the monastery of the Valley of Sorrows comes to Master Li asking for help resolving the unexpected death of his librarian, and the strange dead spots in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Master-Li-Number-Ten-Ox.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}