Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, translated by Robert van Gulik #1949Club

 

💛 Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, or Dee Goong An, was Robert van Gulik's first attempt to bring an 18th century Chinese detective novel by Anonymous writer, to Western canon. The main character in the detective novel (Judge Dee) was actually inspired by a real Dynasty Tang's statesman and detective in 7th century called Di Renjie. Why did van Gulik chose this novel in particular to be translated, while there were a lot of other Chinese detective novels? It's because, unlike Western detective novel readers, who loved fast-paced mystery while keep wondering whodunnit until near the end, ancient Chinese readers liked their detective novels to be long and full of detailed facts and technical procedure of the laws and detection. Moreover, they also devoured the gruesome details of the brutal punishment to the criminal - something that we won't have stomach to read through. These would result in a boring and distasteful read when translated. Judge Dee, meanwhile, was the shortest and most nicely-paced that van Gulik had found. He would, later on, continue writing his own historical mysteries about Judge Dee in a series (which I plan to read through).

💛 Celebrated Cases opened with Judge Dee starting his duty as new magistrate in a small town. He was always accompanied by his four faithful and trusted assistants. The magistrate was like a father of the people in a district, thus Judge Dee's duty stretched to not only solving lawful cases, but also imparting justice to the wronged. On his first court, an innkeeper reported the accusation from his rival that he had murdered two silk merchants who had been staying at his inn. This was the first case in this book, which is called "The Double Murder at Dawn". There were three cases in total; however, interestingly, the investigations were running simultaneously by Judge Dee. Thus, when Judge Dee, during investigation of the Double Murder, put a disguise as a doctor, his first "patient" was an old woman who sought medicine for her dumb granddaughter - the case of which happened after the rather mysterious death of her husband (no foul play detected; no blood, no injury, but for his bulging eyes). Judge Dee's suspicion made it a case number two: "The Strange Corpse". During court session for the second case (or was it the first? I forgot), another case was brought in front the judge: a bride who had been poisoned on her wedding day; hence the case was titled "The Poisoned Bride". 

💛 I won't go into details of each case, but only want to highlight the different approach of investigation and detection in Celebrated Cases from the usual detective novels of Western canon. First of all, we (the Judge and us readers) know or highly suspected the murderers from quite early stage (at least for the first and third cases - the second was the most puzzling, though the solution was ingeniously simple); therefore, Judge Dee's main tasks were to, a) force a confession from the criminals, and b) deduct how the murder had been committed. The first he achieved by either threat, or persuasion, or - and here is an aspect we never find in Western canon detective novels, but highly liked by Chinese readers - physical tortures. The latter provides gruesome aspect to the book.
💛 The second feature that we might never find in Western detective novels, is the punishment of the criminals. The crime novels we read are mostly ended when the crime was solved - a few might mention that the criminal is about to be hanged, or imprisoned. For us, justice has been administrated. But Chinese readers at that time liked to "watch" - albeit from reading the story - how the punishment was performed in detail, and how the criminal suffered from it; as if that was the climax - the avenging of the crime - rather than the solving of a mystery. The third aspect is maybe typical of Asian culture (and literature) - and we have found the same in 18th century Western crime novels - the involvement of supernatural element during the investigation. What annoyed me most about the first case, The Double Murder at Dawn, is the way Judge Dee "consulted" with supernatural beings in solving the murder - he even "ask" the deceased's ghost to help or lighten him about his unnatural death. And that made this case to be my least favorite.

💛 The best mystery in this book is undoubtedly The Strange Corpse; that is a brilliantly plotted murder that would baffles many inferior investigators. Although that's also the case with most gruesome torture of the stories. The Poisoned Bride, however, is my favorite. It is simple, but with genius solution that will reminded you to one of Agatha Christie's short stories - you know, when she's playfully pulling your leg. All in all, this was an interesting, rather than entertaining, read.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

The 1949 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

Jade Dragon Mountain (2015) by Elsa Hart

🏮 Jade Dragon Mountain is Elsa Hart's debut historical mystery novel, set in Dayan, a small mountainous town at the Chinese border with Tibet, in 18th century. Our sleuth is Li Du, an imperial librarian in exile, who is visiting his cousin, who were the magistrate of Dayan, during his journey. Dayan was an insignificant town in the vast empire, but at present it's proudly preparing for the upcoming visit of the Emperor himself, as a total solar eclipse would occur in several days.

🏮 Chinese people at that time believed that the Emperor himself was able to command an astronomical event such as solar eclipse. And it was paramount that his people would watch as the Emperor commanded the sun himself. Failed to do so, he would lose dignity and his people's trust in his divinity. It was going to be a grand spectacle, and the magistrate was dreaming to get promotion had the festival been succeeded. Unfortunately, a murder threatened to thwart the magistrate's plans. And it's up to Li Du to solve it before the Emperor's arrival, or else, his future, too, would equally be bleak.

🏮 The murdered victim was a foreigner, a Jesuit priest called Brother Peter. He died instantly after drinking his tea. The Jesuits had a big influence in the kingdom, as advisers of its Bureau of Astronomy. It was the Jesuits who created annual calendars of astronomical events. And that's how the Emperor actually knew when the next solar eclipse would happen, and timed his arrivals well to arrive in time with it.

🏮 Li Du's investigation revealed the intrigue, conspiracy, and politics inside the magistrate's mansion as well as within the kingdom. Who, among its present occupants, was the murderer? Was it the magistrate himself? Or his first consort, who's afraid to be left alone if the magistrate was to be promoted to Beijing? Could it be the fanatic nationalist of the magistrate's secretary, or the old librarian? Or was it a foreigner who poisoned Brother Peter? There're another Jesuit priest who's staying there, and an East India Company merchant with his fascinating astronomical instrument. One of them could have wanted to do harm.|

🏮 All in all, this was an exciting read. The plot was not very complicated, perhaps. I guessed the whodunnit quite easily. But the historical aspect, the rather long but vivid descriptive mention of the building interior, streets, and public places, made up for it's rather weak plot. The author succeeded in bringing us to the 18th century of China, and her researches were superb. Loved it!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐