Judge Dee

Last updated
Judge Dee
Di Renjie.jpg
Judge Dee
First appearance Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee
Last appearance Poets and Murder
Created byAnonymous author credited as "Buti zhuanren"/novel translated and subsequent novels continued by Robert van Gulik (character based on Di Renjie)
Portrayed by Michael Goodliffe
Khigh Dhiegh
Yiwei Zhou
In-universe information
GenderMale
OccupationMagistrate
NationalityChinese

Judge Dee, or Judge Di, is a semi-fictional character [1] 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'an crime 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.

Contents

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.

Di Gong An

The Judge Dee character is based on the historical figure Di Renjie (c. 630 – c. 700), [2] magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. [3] During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in China, a "folk novel" was written set in former times, but filled with anachronisms.

Van Gulik found a copy of the 18th-century Di Gong An novel (Chinese:狄公案; pinyin:Dí Gōng Àn; lit. "Cases of Judge Dee") in a Tokyo book store. It's an original tale dealing with three cases simultaneously. For the most part the overbearing supernatural plot elements, common among Chinese mystery tales of that period, were lacking in this case, making the story more accessible to Western readers. [4] He translated it into English and had it published in 1949 under the title Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. [3]

Van Gulik's stories

Van Gulik began writing his own novels with the character, eventually authoring sixteen books. [5] 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 are often referred to as the Shih Ti. [6]

Dee is initially assisted only by his faithful clerk, Sergeant Hoong Liang, an old family retainer. 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 green woods", 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 in Murder in Canton being promoted to the position of senior Metropolitan Judge in the capital, and his assistants obtain official ranks in the Army and civil service.

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.

Van Gulik's Judge Dee novels have been translated into Chinese.

Other authors

Several other authors have created stories based on Van Gulik's Judge Dee character:

Bibliography

By van Gulik

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.

YearTitleSettingNotes
1949 Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee An "early phase of Judge Dee's career".Translated from Chinese (originally, Dee Goong An); not part of the later continuity. Three stories: "The Case of the Double Murder at Dawn", "The Case of the Strange Corpse", and "The Case of the Poisoned Bride". Dee is the newly appointed Magistrate of Chang-ping in the Province of Shantung. He has all four lieutenants on staff: Sgt. Hoong, Chiao Tai, Ma Joong, and Tao Gan. [8]
1957 The Chinese Maze Murders 670, Lan-fangWritten in 1950, published in Japanese in 1951; Lan-fang is a fictional district at the western frontier of Tang China. Given its name, general location and supposed role in the trade route to Khotan, it has a real historical eponymous counterpart in Lanzhou.
1958 The Chinese Bell Murders 668, Poo-yangWritten between 1953 and 1956; Poo-yang is a fictional wealthy district on the shores of the Grand Canal of China (part of modern-day Jiangsu province).
1959 The Chinese Gold Murders 663, Penglai Dee's initial appointment and first criminal cases, the judge encounters two highwaymen, euphemistically called "men of the greenwood", Ma Joong and Chiao Tai.
1960 The Chinese Lake Murders 666, Han-yuanHan-yuan is a fictional district on a lakeshore near the capital of Chang-An. Huan-Yuan (韩原) is an ancient name for the modern day Hancheng city in Shaanxi province.
1961 The Chinese Nail Murders 676, Pei-chowPei-chow is a fictional district in the far north of Tang China.
1961 The Haunted Monastery 667, Han-yuanJudge Dee is traveling and forced to take shelter in a monastery.
1961 The Red Pavilion 668, Poo-yangJudge Dee is drawn into a web of lies and sad stories in the world of the prostitutes of Imperial China.
1962 The Lacquer Screen 664, PenglaiJudge Dee and Chiao Tai disguise themselves to go undercover and join a gang of robbers to solve the case.
1963 The Emperor's Pearl 669, Poo-yangOdd things going on at the deserted villa, an apparently cursed Imperial Treasure and a perverted madman.
1965The Morning of the Monkey667, Han-yuanA short novel from The Monkey and the Tiger .
1965The Night of the Tiger676, Pei-chowA short novel from The Monkey and the Tiger.
1965 The Willow Pattern 677, Chang-An Judge Dee is the Lord Chief Justice in the Imperial capital of Chang-An.
1966 Murder in Canton 681, Guangzhou Judge Dee is the Lord Chief Justice for all of China.
1966 The Phantom of the Temple 670, Lan-fangMysterious phantom haunting a Buddhist temple. 20 bars of gold missing, and the merchant's beautiful daughter.
1967"Five Auspicious Clouds"663, PenglaiA short story from Judge Dee at Work .
1967"The Red Tape Murders"663, PenglaiA short story from Judge Dee at Work. Military murder at the army fortress.
1967"He Came With the Rain"663, PenglaiA short story from Judge Dee at Work.
1967"The Murder on the Lotus Pond"666, Han-yuanA short story from Judge Dee at Work.
1967"The Two Beggars"668, Poo-yangA short story from Judge Dee at Work.
1967"The Wrong Sword"668, Poo-yangA short story from Judge Dee at Work.
1967"The Coffins of the Emperor"670, Lan-fangA short story from Judge Dee at Work.
1967"Murder on New Year's Eve"670, Lan-fangA short story from Judge Dee at Work.
1967 Necklace and Calabash 668, Poo-yangJudge Dee is a magistrate in the fictional Poo-yang district. Last Judge Dee novel published during van Gulik's lifetime.
1968 Poets and Murder 669, Poo-yangDuring a festival in Chin-hwa, Judge Dee is a guest of a group of distinguished scholars. A young girl has been murdered and the accused is a beautiful poetess.

By other authors

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:

By Lin Qianyu (林千羽):

By the author Hock G. Tjoa:

By Qiu Xiaolong:

Adaptations

Comics

The stories have been adapted into comic strips by Dutch artists Fritz Kloezeman [10] between 1964 and 1969 and Dick Matena in 2000. [11]

Television

English-language

Judge Dee has been adapted for television twice in English:

Chinese-language

Some of Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories have been adapted for Chinese TV by CCTV, under the title of Detective Di Renjie, most of which star Liang Guanhua as Detective Di. 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 ]

The list:

In 2013, Beijing-based producer Wang Donghui secured the rights to make a new 40-episode TV series adaptation of the novels. It was a UK-China co-production, overseen by Western showrunners Jim Keeble and Dudi Appleton, with a British writing team. The scripts were then translated into Chinese. [13] It stars Yiwei Zhou as Di Renjie. In 2024, Youku released the series, titled Judge Dee's Mystery , which was also sold to Netflix. [14]

Film

Tsui Hark has made a trilogy of films based on the character. Andy Lau portrayed the character in the first film with Mark Chao continuing in the next two. [2]

Video Games

Judge Dee is the protagonist of the title Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders (2019), "Steam link".

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert van Gulik</span> Dutch orientalist, diplomat and writer (1910–1967)

Robert Hans van Gulik was a Dutch orientalist, diplomat, musician, and writer, best known for the Judge Dee historical mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.

<i>Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee</i> 18th-century Chinese gongan detective novel

Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, also known as Di Gong An or Dee Goong An, is an 18th-century Chinese gong'an detective novel by an anonymous author, "Buti zhuanren". It is loosely based on the stories of Di Renjie, a county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700. Though set in Tang dynasty China, the novel also contains cultural elements from later dynasties. A translated version was released by Robert van Gulik in 1949; van Gulik would go on to write his own series of Judge Dee novels, starting with The Chinese Maze Murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Di Renjie</span> Chinese politician of the Tang and Wu Zhou dynasties

Di Renjie, courtesy name Huaiying (懷英), posthumous name Duke Wenhui of Liang (梁文惠公), was a Chinese politician of the Tang and Wu Zhou dynasties, twice serving as chancellor during the reign of Wu Zetian. He was one of the most celebrated officials of Wu Zetian's reign. Di Renjie is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu by Jin Guliang.

<i>The Chinese Bell Murders</i> 1958 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Chinese Bell Murders is a gong'an historical mystery novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>The Chinese Gold Murders</i> 1959 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Chinese Gold Murders is a gong'an historical mystery novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>The Chinese Lake Murders</i> 1960 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Chinese Lake Murders is a gong'an historical mystery novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>The Chinese Nail Murders</i> 1961 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Chinese Nail Murders is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700 BC.

<i>The Chinese Maze Murders</i> Novel written by Robert van Gulik

The Chinese Maze Murders is a gong'an historical mystery novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700. However, van Gulik's novel is set not in the Tang, but in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), with society and customs depicted in the book reflecting this period.

<i>The Emperors Pearl</i> 1963 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Emperors Pearl is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>The Lacquer Screen</i> 1962 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Lacquer Screen is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700 AD.

<i>The Red Pavilion</i> 1961 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Red Pavilion is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>The Monkey and the Tiger</i>

The Monkey and the Tiger book pairs two unrelated short gong'an detective novels written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. Both stories are fictions based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>The Willow Pattern</i> (novel) 1965 detective novel by Robert van Gulik

The Willow Pattern is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>Murder in Canton</i> 1966 novel by Robert van Gulik

Murder in Canton is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>The Phantom of the Temple</i> 1966 novel by Robert van Gulik

The Phantom of the Temple is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>Judge Dee at Work</i> 1967 collection of short stories by Robert van Gulik

Judge Dee at Work is a collection of 8 gong'an detective short stories written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>Necklace and Calabash</i> 1967 novel by Robert van Gulik

Necklace and Calabash is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<i>Poets and Murder</i> 1968 novel by Robert van Gulik

Poets and Murder is a gong'an detective novel written by Robert van Gulik and set in Imperial China. It is a fiction based on the real character of Judge Dee, a magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gong'an fiction</span> Chinese crime fiction subgenre

Gong'an or crime-case fiction is a subgenre of Chinese crime fiction involving government magistrates who solve criminal cases. Gong'an fiction first appeared in the colloquial stories of Song dynasty. Gong'an fiction was then developed and become one of the most popular fiction styles in Ming and Qing dynasties. The Judge Dee and Judge Bao stories are the best known examples of the genre.

This is the complete list of works by Dutch historical mystery novelist Robert van Gulik.

References

  1. ↑ Kuhn, Anthony (25 October 2013). "Before Sherlock: An Ancient Chinese Sleuth's Enduring Appeal". NPR . Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kidd, James (26 September 2018). "Who was Detective Dee? Unravelling the mystery of a Tang-dynasty hero". South China Morning Post . Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  3. 1 2 Zigmond, Dan (June 2009). "The Judge Dee Mysteries". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review . Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  4. ↑ Wright, Daniel Franklin (2004). "Chinoiserie in the novels of Robert Hans van Gulik". Wilfrid Laurier University .
  5. ↑ "Robert van Gulik". University of Chicago Press . Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  6. ↑ Accardo, Pasquale (2011). China's Sherlock Holmes. The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. p. 8.
  7. ↑ Roussel, Sven (2008). La dernière enquête du Juge Ti (in French). ISBN   978-2-9532206-0-5.
  8. ↑ Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An): An Authentic Eighteenth-Century Chinese Detective Novel. Dover Publications, 1976. Copyright notes, "an unabridged, slightly corrected version of the work first published privately in Tokyo in 1949 under the title Dee Goong An: Three Murder Cases Solved by Judge Dee".
  9. ↑ "The Ingenious Judge Dee" . Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Frits Kloezeman". lambiek.net.
  11. ↑ "Dick Matena". lambiek.net.
  12. ↑ "Edgars Database, 1975 Winners and Nominees". EdgarAwards.com. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  13. ↑ https://www.bafta.org/asia/features/british-screenwriters-adapt-chinese-novels-in-unique-uk-china-collaboration
  14. ↑ "Judge Dee's Mystery set to reach global audiences". China Daily. Retrieved 2024-04-01.

Sources

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