The Phantom of the Temple

POSTSCRIPT

Judge Dee was a historical person who lived from 630 to 700 A.D., during the Tang dynasty. Besides earning fame as a great detective, he was also a brilliant states­man who, in the second half of his career, played an important role in China's internal and foreign policy. The adventures related here, however, are entirely fic­titious, and the Lan-fang district, where the events described in this novel are supposed to have occurred, is wholly imaginary.

The new, esoteric sect of Buddhism frequently referred to is Tantrism, flourishing at that time in India and abroad, cf. Appendix I of my book Sexual Life in Ancient China, a preliminary survey of Chinese sex and society from c. 1500 b.c. till 1644 A.D. (E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1961).

In Judge Dee's time the Chinese did not wear pigtails; that custom was imposed on them after 1644 A.D., when the Manchus had conquered China. Before that date they let their hair grow long, and did it up in a top-knot. They wore caps both inside and outside the house, and both men and women dressed in wide, long-sleeved robes resembling the Japanese kimono — which is, in fact, derived from the Chinese Tang costume. Only the mili­tary, and low-class people, wore short dresses that showed the wide trousers and leggings. Tea, rice wine and various kinds of strong liquor were the national beverages. Tobacco and opium were introduced into China only many centuries later.

ROBERT VAN GULIK

Robert van Gulik entered The Netherlands Foreign Service in 1935. He has served in various posts in China, Japan, East Africa, Egypt, India, Lebanon and the United States. Since 1965 he has been the Netherlands Am­bassador to Japan.

A world renowned orientalist, he has made a hobby of writing Chinese detective stories set in the time of the Tang Empire.