1. Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee Download
2. The Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee Download

• This 619 word essay is about Judge Dee, Crime fiction, Criminal law, Morality, Fiction, Literature, Detective fiction, Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. Read the full essay now!
• Download The eight short stories in Judge Dee at Work cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the T'ang 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.

Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee Download

Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee

Author	Unknown
Original title	Dee Goong An
Translator	Robert van Gulik
Country	China
Language	Chinese
Series	Judge Dee
Genre	Gong'an fiction, Mystery, Detective novel, Crime
Publication date	18th century
1949
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	237 (English)

Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Robert van Gulik, 376, download free ebooks, Download free PDF EPUB ebook.

Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Chinese: 狄公案; pinyin: dí gōng àn, lit. 'Cases of Judge Dee', also known as Di Gong An or Dee Goong An) is an 18th-century Chinesegong'andetective novel by an anonymous author, 'Buti zhuanren' (Chinese: 不题撰人). It is loosely based on the stories of Di Renjie (Wade-Giles Ti Jen-chieh), a county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court, who lived roughly 630–700. The novel contains cultural elements from later dynasties, rather than Tang Dynasty China, however.

• 1Translation

Translation[edit]

The Dutch sinologist and diplomat Robert van Gulik came across a copy in a second-hand book store in Tokyo and translated the novel into English. He then used it as the basis to create his own original Judge Dee stories over the next 20 years. Van Gulik wrote:

This translation is chiefly a product of the Pacific War years, 1941-1945, when constant travel on various war duties made other more complicated Sinological research impossible.

This novel Dee Goong An is offered here in a complete translation. Possibly it would have had a wider appeal if it had been entirely re-written in a form more familiar to our readers.

The translation was first privately printed on behalf of Van Gulik by the Toppan Printing Company of Tokyo, in a limited run of 1200 numbered signed copies.^[1]

The translation features nine drawings, three copies from old Chinese art, and six illustrations by the author.

'Four great strange cases of Empress Wu's reign'[edit]

The Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee Download

As carefully noted in his scholarly postscript, the present book is in fact a translation of only about half (31 out of 65 chapters) of a Chinese book in Van Gulik's possession, entitled 'Four great strange cases of Empress Wu's reign'. Van Gulik obtained three editions of that book – a 19th-century manuscript and two printed editions, published respectively in 1903 and in 1947 at Shanghai. There were many differences between variant texts, Van Gulik considering the 19th Century version the best and basing his translation mainly on it.

The part which Van Gulik translated describes Judge Dee simultaneously solving three difficult criminal cases, culminating with his being rewarded by promotion to the Imperial court (which, Van Gulik notes, was the traditional culmination of a Chinese story about an official). The later 34 chapters described events at the Court (where the historical Judge Dee is known to have been a valued adviser to Empress Wu, though his career suffered various ups and downs).

Based on textual analysis, Van Gulik became convinced that the second part was a later addition written by 'a person of feeble talents'. As stated in the postscript, 'Part I is written in a fairly compact style and cleverly composed. The style of part II, on the contrary, is prolix and repetitious, the plot is clumsy and the characters badly drawn. Further, while Part I is written with considerable restraint, in part II there occur passages which are plain pornography, e.g. where the relations of the Empress Wu with the priest Huai-i are described.'.^[2] Moreover, Part II did not describe a detective investigation at all, but rather dealt mainly with court intrigues and power struggles - and thus did not serve Van Gulik's aim of presenting Chinese crime fiction to Western readers.

For all these reasons Van Gulik decided to translate the first part only. The title given, 'Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee', is what Van Gulik assumed the original work was called, before the second part was added. However, he never actually obtained a copy of that original work or a conclusive evidence that it had existed under that name. The second part, of which Van Gulik so strongly disapproved, was apparently never translated - leaving western readers with no way of independently evaluating Van Gulik's scathing criticism.

Plot introduction[edit]

There are three cases in this book. The first might be called 'The Double Murder at Dawn'; the case describes the hazardous life of the traveling silk merchant and a murder which is committed to gain wealth.

The second, 'The Strange Corpse', takes place in a small village and addresses a crime of passion which proves hard to solve. The criminal is a very determined woman.

The third case, 'The Poisoned Bride', addresses the poisoning of a local scholar's daughter, who marries the son of the former administrator of the district and dies mysteriously on her wedding night. This case contains a surprising twist in its solution.

All three cases are solved by Judge Dee, the district magistrate, detective, prosecutor, judge, and jury all wrapped up into one person. His powers are vast, and some of the things he can do would be manifestly illegal in a Western judicial system - such as grossly intimidating a witness or suspect, up to and including the extraction of a confession by torture. As against that, making a false judgement could be far more perilous to Dee's kind of magistrate than to a modern western one. Exhuming a dead body without proving that the dead person was murdered would be an act of Sacrilege which would the cost the Judge his job (which very nearly happens to Dee in the course of the book). If the judge had sentenced a person to death and the executed person prove afterwards to have been innocent, the Judge would be himself executed - having made an honest mistake would not be a sufficient plea to save him. Should an innocent person die under torture, both the judge ordering the torture and all members of staff administering the torture would suffer the capital punishment - and members of Dee's staff urging him to cease torture when the suspect proves obdurate shows that they are aware of that dire risk to themselves.

The three cases offer a glimpse into the lives of different classes in traditional Chinese society: adventurous traders who travel vast distances along the trade routes up and down the land of China, and who are sometimes targeted by robbers and sometimes form dubious partnerships or turn outright robbers themselves; the small-scale shopkeepers and townspeople, who live within a narrow circumscribed life of routine which some find stifling; the gentry of literati, who by long tradition were considered as the land's rulers and so considered themselves.

Any official departure of Judge Dee from the court compound (which also includes his private living quarters) is done with fanfare, accompanied by a large retinue of constables and officials. This approach is sometimes useful - especially when suspects are to be overawed and intimidated, or recalcitrant local officials intimidated into fully cooperating with an investigation. Sometimes, however, Judge Dee finds it expedient to go out incognito and carry out an investigation in disguise. He carries off very well the disguise of an itinerant physician; as Van Gulik points out, knowledge of medicine was expected of Chinese literati. Conversely, Judge Dee is less successful in passing himself off as a merchant, a member of a completely different social class; an observant merchant quickly unmasks him as what he is, a member of the Literati elite. Fortunately, it turns out that this observant merchant is not the wanted criminal; on the contrary, he is an honest merchant, with his own accounts to settle with the criminal, who become a very valuable ally.

Judge Dee acts according to very strict ethics, regarding himself as duty bound to enforce justice, seek out, and severely punish all wrong-doers, high or low. Some remarks made by various characters and references made to other magistrates make clear that Dee's conduct is far from universal among District Judges. Others of Dee's colleagues might have been more lenient with a suspected murderer when he was a member of a rich family and an outstanding student of literature; or would not have exerted themselves to catch the murderer of a 'small' shop-keeper in a minor provincial town; or would have thought more of lining their own pockets than of seeing justice done. Judge Dee's honesty and probity were proverbial - which is why tales were told of him even more than a thousand years after his death.

Literary significance and criticism[edit]

'Dee Goong An is the genuine article, dating from the 18th century and barely modified by the translator to make it intelligible today. Like his modern fictions, it adroitly intertwines three plots and shows the judge and his aides in their now familiar guise. The introduction and notes (including Chinese ideograms for the skeptical) are as entertaining as the tale, once the reader has become a Dee-votee.'^[3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Sotheby's, VAN GULIK, ROBERT H. Dee Goong An'. sothebys.com.
2. ^Robert Van Gulik, 'Translator's Postscript' to 'Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee'.
3. ^Barzun, Jacques & Taylor, Wendell Hertig (1989). A Catalogue of Crime (Revised and enlarged ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN0-06-015796-8.

External links[edit]

Download
The eight short stories in Judge Dee at Work cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the T’ang 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.

Judge Dee At Work

Download
The eight short stories in Judge Dee at Work cover a decade during which the judge served in four different provinces of the T'ang 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.Download
Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder. Recalling the allegedly accidental deaths of three young women in the same monastery, Judge Dee seeks clues in the eyes of a cat to solve cases of impersonation and murder. A painting by one of the victims reveals the truth about the killings, propelling the judge on a quest for justice and revenge. 'Entertaining, instructive, and impressive.'—Times Literary Supplement

Celebrated Cases Of Judge Dee

Download
Tells of a celebrated seventh-century Chinese magistrate's investigation of a double murder among traveling merchants, the fatal poisoning of a bride on her wedding night, and a murder in a small townDownload
From 1949 to 1968 author Robert van Gulick wrote 15 novels, two novellas and eight short stories featuring Judge Dee, a Chinese magistrate and detective from the Tang dynasty. In addition to providing the setting for riveting mysteries, Dee's world highlighted aspects of traditional Chinese culture through his personal relationships with his wives, his lieutenants and the citizens he served with dedication on the emperor's behalf. This book gives a synopsis of each Judge Dee story, along with commentary on plots, characters, themes and historical details. Exploring van Gulik's influence on Chinese and Western detective fiction, and on the image of China in popular 20th-century American literature, this study brings to light a significant contributor to the development of detective fiction.

The Phantom Of The Temple

Download
Judge Dee presided over his imperial Chinese court with a unique brand of Confucian justice. A near mythic figure in China, he distinguished himself as a tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger. Long after his death, accounts of his exploits were celebrated in Chinese folklore, and later immortalized by Robert van Gulik in his electrifying mysteries. In The Phantom of the Temple, three separate puzzles—the disappearance of a wealthy merchant's daughter, twenty missing bars of gold, and a decapitated corpse—are pieced together by the clever judge to solve three murders and one complex, gruesome plot. “Judge Dee belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes. I assure you it is a compliment not given frivolously.”—Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times Robert Van Gulik (1910-67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. He drew his plots from the whole body of Chinese literature, especially from the popular detective novels that first appeared in the seventeenth century.Download
Poisoned plums, a cryptic scroll picture, passionate love letters, and a hidden murderer with a penchant for torturing and killing women lead Judge Dee to the heart of the Governor’s garden maze and the answers to three interwoven mysteries. The Chinese Maze Murders represents Robert van Gulik’s first venture into writing suspense novels after the success of Dee Gong An, his translation of an anonymous Chinese detective novel from the sixteenth century.

The Emperor S Pearl

Download
It all begins on the night of the Poo-yang dragonboat races in 699 A.D.: a drummer in the leading boat collapses, and the body of a beautiful young woman turns up in a deserted country mansion. There, Judge Dee—tribunal magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger—steps in to investigate the murders and return order to the Tang Dynasty. In The Emperor’s Pearl, the judge discovers that these two deaths are connected by an ancient tragedy involving a near-legendary treasure stolen from the Imperial Harem one hundred years earlier. The terrifying figure of the White Lady, a river goddess enshrined on a bloodstained altar, looms in the background of the investigation. Clues are few and elusive, but under the expert hand of Robert van Gulik, this mythic jigsaw puzzle assembles itself into a taut mystery. “If you have not yet discovered Judge Dee and his faithful Sgt. Hoong, I envy you that initial pleasure which comes from the discovery of a great detective story. For the magistrate of Poo-yang belongs in that select group of fictional detectives headed by the renowned Sherlock Holmes.”—Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times “The title of this book and the book itself have much in common. Each is a jewel, a rare and precious find.”—Atlanta TimesDownload
Judge Dee—Confucian Imperial magistrate, inquisitor, and public avenger, based on a famous statesman—was Dutch diplomat and Chinese cultural historian Robert van Gulik’s (1910–67) lasting invention. A welcome addition to the elite canon of fictional detectives, the Judge steps in to investigate homicide, theft, and treason and restores order to the golden age of the Tang Dynasty. In Murder in Ancient China’s first story, we watch as Judge Dee attempts to solve the mystery of an elderly poet murdered by moonlight in his garden pavilion; in the second, set on the eve of the Chinese New Year, the Judge makes two rare mistakes—will peril result?

Tales Of Judge Dee

Download
'Someday I'm going to teach these greedy people a lesson,' said Judge Dee, a tall broad-shouldered man with a foot-long black beard and matching side-whiskers. The legendary figure comes back! He continues to solve baffling cases in 7th century China, but at a faster pace. Tales of Judge Dee is Zhu Xiao Di's debut in fiction. His other books include: Thirty Years in a Red House, a Memoir of Childhood and Youth in Communist China (University of Massachusetts Press, 1998, paperback from the same press, 1999, new edition by Penguin Books India, 2000) and Father: Famous Writers Celebrate the Bond between Father and Child(Pocket Books, 2000, contributing along with John Updike, Annie Proulx, Dean Koontz, Calvin Trillin, and others.) Boston Globe calls his memoir 'a splendid lesson in 20th-century Chinese history,' and Library Journal says it is 'engrossing and engaging.'