Judge Dee - The Mystery Novels of Robert Van Gulik

Last updated September, 1998

I admit up front that these novels, the Judge Dee mysteries, are not really fantasy. The author, Robert Van Gulik was in fact an historian and an expert on Chinese culture. So these stories are true in several important ways. However, it is also true that all the events take place more than 1300 years ago, contain occasional fantastic elements, and are largely inventions of the author. As a result, these books are more accurately labeled as historical mysteries. Not having such a narrow category, I place them here.

Why Read These Books?

On the face of it, it is hard to think of a topic more remote from the Internet circa 2000 CE (common era) than pseudo Chinese mystery stories set in the T'ang dynasty. However, I find a number of elements that make these stories well worth the time it takes to read them.

First, these mysteries are set within the context of a broad swath of Chinese society. Through these stories pass people as humble as street beggars, and as exalted as the Emperor's daughter. There are many different trades and social positions which Europeans may find curious and interesting. The author was quite interested in the sexual side of Chinese culture and so prostitutes and concubines tend to show up with some frequency. Curiously, the main character, Judge Dee, is a man of impeccable morals and never does anything more than look at the beautiful women who throw themselves on him in various stages of undress. However, the other characters in the stories are considerably less noble.

Secondly, the culture described within these books, that of Imperial China, is a culture worth understanding. A good mystery not only explains the human capacity for evil, but also explains the society that surrounds the crime. Anyone with imagination can see that China will be one of the three most important culture-groups through the next 100 years.

Imperial/Confucian culture lasted in China for about 2,100 years (from 200 BCE to 1900 CE), and its hold on the Chinese imagination is still strong. We Europeans have very little idea of what Imperial/Confucian culture was like. I would argue that Chinese bureaucracy was as sophisticated as that of modern Western governments mid-way through the Han dynasty, about 2000 years ago. Obviously, Imperial/Confucian culture had its weak points, but any system of human government that can survive for as long as the Chinese managed must be considered a brilliant success. These books, in their way of placing you within Chinese culture, explain aspects of Chinese culture better than reading text books. At least they work for me.

Some points that struck me: A) Each village or section of a town had a warden who was responsible for knowing who lived in his area and what they did. B) Districts were ruled over by Judges who in turn reported to provincial magistrates, who in turn reported to the Imperial court. To keep things honest, Imperial censors traveled throughout the empire incognito, with the authority of the Emperor himself to arrest or condemn officials deemed abusing their authority. C) District judges and provincial magistrates were rotated to different places throughout their career, to avoid the abuses of long rule in any one place. D) The military had a different, and independent set of controls, the military did not control the civilian areas, the civil judges had no authority over the military bases. E) Ranks of nobility decayed from one generation to the next. So if you were of one noble rank, your children would be of the next lower rank, and their children would be just commoners (this rule was not applied to the children of the Emperor, a weakness in the system).

It is worth pointing out that over the 700 years of Roman civilization, Rome advanced from a kingdom, to a sophisticated republic, conquered the Mediterranean, then decayed into an autocratic empire. When the barbarians conquered the western empire (400-460), it disappeared along with its entire system of government. By contrast, the barbarians conquered China twice (first the Mongols in 1210-1280), then the Manchu (1620-1660) and both times the Imperial/Confucian system of government remained unchanged from one dynasty to the next. That is a real testament to the fundamental strength of the Chinese system of government.

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, it is fair to point out the down sides of Imperial/Confucian culture.

• It had no provision for technological change. This failing was key to its collapse in the face of European power throughout the 1800s. The Confucian culture went so far as to deny that technical change, or progress could even occur. Everything was better in the previous years, morally, socially, and technically. Of all the cultures to emerge, the Protestant/Catholic culture of western Europe and North America has been the most friendly to technical progress (which is why we dominate the world today).

• The district judges and provincial magistrates could and did abuse their power. This happened often enough to provide the plots for every martial arts film ever made. It is safe to say that the current western democratic-republic is a significant improvement over the Chinese Imperial/Confucian system.

• Treatment of women and minorities was very poor. Imperial/Confucian culture was a man's world. Women had no say in politics and little legal protection. The best a woman could hope for was to marry well (but not too well), and rule as first wife over a prosperous household. And if you weren't Chinese, you were lower than low. All non-Chinese were barbarians lacking in anything that had value. Non-Chinese had nothing to teach, had beliefs that were of no consequence, and had stories of no interest. Chinese curiosity about the rest of the world was remarkably non-existent. Although the Chinese Imperial state had the power and ability to explore most of the world, they only tried it once (under the Ming dynasty, 1400) and never tried it again.

Which Books Should I Read?

Poets and Murder is also quite good, though the story is quite sad.

The Chinese Lake Murders, and The Chinese Gold Murders. Both are early Judge Dee stories (from the 1950s) and quite good. The Lake Murders has a very complex set of mysteries and is very enjoyable.

Famouse Cases of Judge Dee is not like the other books. This story, written shortly after World War II, is a translation of a real Chinese story that in turn was written around 1750. This is the real thing, a Chinese detective story written by (it is assumed) a former Judge who knows whereof he speaks. In his interesting introduction to the book, Van Gulik points out several problems with Chinese detective stories (from a western perspective) and openly ponders why no one had ever written a Chinese mystery story that European readers would enjoy. He decided to try his hand at such a thing himself, and we are better off for his efforts.

Judge Dee at Work is a collection of short stories, some of which are excellent. As is usual for short stories, few of the characters come to life and Judge Dee himself is somewhat of a hazy presence. Best read after some of the other novels perhaps.

The Emperor's Pearl, The Willow Pattern, Murder in Canton, The Red Pavilion, and The Lacquer Screen are all OK. They aren't superior Judge Dee stories but they aren't bad. Of this group, Murder in Canton (the last Judge Dee novel) is historically the most interesting.

The following table shows the Judge Dee books based on when they were writen (as opposed to when they supposedly take place (titles in bold are very good):

Year Written	Book Title	Fictional Year
1950	Chinese Bell Murders	668 AD
1952	Chinese Maze Murders	670 AD
1959	Chinese Gold Murders	663 AD
1960	Chinese Lake Murders	666 AD
1961	Chinese Nail Murders	676 AD
1962	Lacquer Screen	663 AD
1963	The Emperor's Perl	668 AD
1964	The Red Pavilion	668 AD
1965	The Monkey and the Tiger	666 AD
1965	The Willow Pattern	677 AD
1966	Phantom of the Temple	670 AD
1966	Murder in Canton	681 AD
1967	Judge Dee at Work	663 - 670
1967	Necklas and Calabash	668 AD
1968	Poets and Murder	668 AD

Not yet read: The Chinese Nail Murders.

You can buy most of these books through Amazon.com. Thank heavens for the University of Chicago Press which reissued these books over the last few years (1992 to present).

I owe a debt of thanks to my friend Mervyn Dennehy who first told be about the Judge Dee books two years ago.

Next author: Tad Williams