Judge Dee (also, Judge Di) is a semi-fictional character based on the historical figure Di Renjie, county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. The character appeared in the 18th-century Chinese detective and gong'ancrime novel Di Gong An. After Robert van Gulik came across it in an antiquarian book store in Tokyo, he translated the novel into English and then used the style and characters to write his own original Judge Dee historical mystery stories.
The eight short stories in Judge Dee at Work cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the Tâang Empire. From the suspected treason of a general in the Chinese army to the murder of a lonely poet in his garden pavilion, the cases here are among the most memorable in the Judge Dee series. As Judge Dee begins solving the crimes, the story unfolds slowly and presents historical, social, legal, philosophical and even religious pictures of ancient China. Don't use plagiarized sources. Get Your Custom Essay on Confucianism and Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee Just from $13,9/Page.
The series is set in Tang Dynasty China and deals with criminal cases solved by the upright and shrewd Judge Dee, who as county magistrate in the Chinese imperial legal system was both the investigating magistrate and judge.
Dee Goong An[edit]
The Judge Dee character is based on the historical figure Di Renjie (c. 630âc. 700), magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. During the Ming Dynasty (1368â1644) in China, a 'folk novel' was written set in former times, but filled with anachronisms. Van Gulik found in the 18th century Di Gong An (Chinese:çå
¬æ¡ Pinyin: dà gÅng à n, lit. 'Cases of Judge Dee') an original tale dealing with three cases simultaneously, and, which was unusual among Chinese mystery tales, a plot that for the most part lacked an overbearing supernatural element which could alienate Western readers.[1] He translated it into English and had it published in 1949 under the title Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee.
Van Gulik's stories[edit]
This gave van Gulik the idea of writing his own novels, set with the similar Ming anachronisms, but using the historical character. Van Gulik was careful in writing the main novels to deal with cases wherein Dee was newly appointed to a city, thereby isolating him from the existing lifestyle and enabling him to maintain an objective role in the books. Van Gulik's novels and stories made no direct reference to the original Chinese work, and so Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee is not considered to be part of the Judge Dee series.
Initially Dee is assisted only by his faithful clerk, Sergeant Hoong, an old family retainer. However, in The Chinese Gold Murders, which describes Dee's initial appointment and first criminal cases, the judge encounters two highwaymen, euphemistically called 'men of the greenwood', Ma Joong and Chiao Tai, who attempt to rob him but are so impressed with his character that they give up their criminal careers and join his retinue on the spot. (This encounter is recounted in a short flashback passage in the original Di Gong An, taking place when the two are already long-serving loyal members of his retinue). A little later, in The Chinese Lake Murders, a third criminal, Tao Gan, an itinerant confidence trickster and swindler, similarly joins. Judge Dee ends his career being promoted to the position of senior Metropolitan Judge in the capital, and his assistants obtain official ranks in the Army and civil service.
Detective Dee Books
Van Gulik also wrote a series of newspaper comics about Judge Dee in 1964-1967, which totalled 19 adventures. The first four were regular balloon strips, but the later 15 had the more typically Dutch textblock under the pictures.
Judge Dee, naturally, is responsible for deciding sentences as well as assessing guilt or innocence, although van Gulik notes in the stories that all capital punishments must be referred to and decided by officials in the capital. One of the sentences he frequently has to deal with is slow slicing; if he is inclined to mercy, he orders the final, fatal, cut to be made first, thus rendering the ceremony anticlimactic.
Other authors[edit]
Several other authors have created stories based on Van Gulik's Judge Dee character.
Bibliography[edit]By van Gulik[edit]
The following novels and short stories were published in English by van Gulik. The short story collection Judge Dee at Work (published in 1967) contains a 'Judge Dee Chronology' detailing Dee's various posts in specific years and stories set in these times. Van Gulik's last two books, Poets and Murder and Necklace and Calabash, were not listed in the chronology, as they were written after Judge Dee at Work, but they are both set in the time when Judge Dee was the magistrate in Poo-yang.
By other authors[edit]Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee Pdf
By the author Frédéric Lenormand (not yet translated into English)
By the author Zhu Xiao Di
By the author Sven Roussel
By authors Eleanor Cooney & Daniel Alteri
Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee
By Lin Qianyu (æåç¾½)
By the author Hock G. Tjoa
Adaptations[edit]Comics[edit]
The stories have been adapted into comic strips by Dutch artists Fritz Kloezeman [4] between 1964 and 1969 and Dick Matena in 2000. [5]
TV[edit]
Judge Dee has been adapted for television twice in English.
Some of Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories have been adapted for Chinese TV by CCTV. As of 2012, four different DVD series are available with one series so far with English subtitles. CCTV produced series in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010. The series from 2010, entitled 'Detective Di Renjie' has been produced on DVD by Tai Seng entertainment with English subtitles.[citation needed]
Movies[edit]Judge Dee Mysteries Dvd
See also[edit]Judge Dee And The Monastery MurdersReferences[edit]
Sources[edit]
Judge Dee WalkthroughExternal links[edit]Judge Dee At Work Pdf
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Judge Dee is a venerated if unconventional district judge in China. In this book he works on three different cases which overlap in his schedule. As a judge, he's a member of the elite class, the Literati. Consequently he's a well-educated man and has even received some formal training in medicine which proves handy. His approach to investigation proves off-putting and borderline illegal as many of his suspects and inferiors point out. Overall, however, his methodology is effective, and he is able to solve all three of the cases and mediate judgement for the guilty parties.
The Double Murder at Dawn
The lawman of Six Mile Village, Warden Pang, discovers a couple of corpses just outside the city gates. When he learns they are silk merchants who lodged the night before at Koong Wan-Deh's hostel, he approaches Judge Dee with the case. He believes Koong Wan-Deh is responsible for murdering them. When Dee calls Koong in for questioning, he dismisses him as a suspect because Koong can only verify that one of the victims lodged with him. The other is a stranger. In order for Dee to leave his compound, he must be accompanied by a parade of local officials who herald his approach, according to tradition. This complicates his investigative abilities, so he occasionally leaves in disguise without informing his aides. Dressed as a doctor, he visits the place where the bodies were found. He finds clues at the site which lead him the murderer, whom he punishes with the full fury of the law. It was just a random incident of explosive anger.
The Strange Corpse
While away dressed as a doctor, Dee is stopped by a woman named Mrs. Bee who begs him to help her with an illness. Being medically informed, he visits her home. At her residence he learns that the woman's son, Bee Hsun, had died about a year ago. Expecting to meet a grieving widow, Dee is instead faced with a placid woman named Mrs. Djou. The couple's daughter is deaf and mute, but she only became that way after her father's death. Faced with these bizarre emotional responses to the son's death, Dee concludes that the son must have died from foul play of some sort. It comes out that the mother was accidentally responsible for her son's death. Chinese law is rather unforgiving, and she receives a harsh legal punishment.
The Poisoned Bride
The final case is brought before the judge by a well-respected former prefect, Mr. Crystal reports 2013 runtime download. Hua. He comes to the judicial compound claiming his son's bride Miss Lee had been poisoned on her wedding night by the groom's close companion, Candidate Hoo. All of the people in question are members of the elite class, so Dee is called upon to comport himself with perfect dignity and respect when dealing with them all. It turns out that Candidate Hoo knows the murderer and bears a grudge against him, so he helps Dee catch his man.
Judge Dee is responsible for judging defendants as well as prosecuting them and administering punishments. He seems to relish the more harsh aspects of his job, particularly the interrogations. He tortures more than one witness to make them confess. Additionally his sentences are tough and gory. One guilty part is beheaded, another strangled, and one sliced to pieces. These are all perfectly acceptable punishments culturally. Overall Dee is just but severe man who takes the responsibility of his work extremely seriously.
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