Judge Dee at Work

COLOPHON

JUDGE DEE was a historical person. His full name was Dee Jen-djieh and he lived from a.d. 630 to 700. In the latter half of his career he became a Minister of State, and through his wise counsels exercised a beneficial influence on the internal and ex­ternal affairs of the T'ang empire.

However, it is chiefly because of his reputation as a detector of crimes, acquired while serving as district magistrate, that his name lives on among the Chinese people. Today the Chinese still con­sider him their master-detective, and his name is as popular with them as that of Sherlock Holmes with us.

Although the stories told in the present volume are entirely fictional, I utilized some data from old Chinese crime literature, especially a thirteenth-century manual of jurisprudence and detec­tion which I published ten years ago in an English translation (T'ang-yin-pi-shih, Sinica Leidensia vol. X, E. J. Brill, Leiden 1956). The final passage of 'The Murder on the Lotus Pond' was sug­gested by Cases 33A and B recorded in that book, and the weigh­ing of the sarcophagus described in 'The Coffins of the Emperor' by a note added to Case 35B.

The design of the incense-clock utilized in 'Five Auspicious Clouds' I copied from the Hsiamg-yin-t'u-k'ao, a collection of such patterns published in 1878; I used the same source for the pattern of the maze in The Chinese Maze Murders.

Note that in China the surname precedes the personal name. Also that in Judge Dee's time the Chinese wore no pig-tails; that custom was imposed upon them in A.D. 1644 by the Manchu conquerors. Men did their long hair up in a top-knot, they wore caps both inside and outside the house. They didn't smoke, tobacco and opium were introduced into China only many centuries later.

Tokyo: 1967 Robert van Gulik