The twenty-chapter novel The Three Sui Quash the Demons' Revolt is traditionally attributed to Luo Guanzhong (d. after 1364?), the alleged author of two of China's most famous and beloved works of fiction, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Water Margin. The Three Sui tells the story of the uprising of adherents of the Maitreya Buddha led by Wang Ze in 1047-1048. Wang Ze was eventually executed and all future heterodox activity outlawed.

Paradoxically, The Three Sui treats the rebellion as an occasion for slapstick, baggy-pants humor in which facts are distorted and wildly...