Robert van Gulik (1910–1967)
Author of Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee
About the Author
Robert H. Van Gulik was born in the Netherlands on August 9, 1910. He joined the Dutch Foreign Service in 1935. From 1942-1945, he was secretary for the Dutch mission to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government in Chongqing, China. During this time, he translated a number of Chinese texts including show more Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An). He proceeded to write sixteen of his own Judge Dee novels. His scholarly works included Siddham: An Essay on the History of Sanskrit Studies in China and Japan, Hayagriva: Horse Cult in Asia, and Sexual Life in Ancient China. He died on September 24, 1967. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Koto's warehouse sickle - of deceased former teacher (Immortal fame of old masters)
Series
Works by Robert van Gulik
Sexual Life in Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 B.C. Till 1644 A.D. (1961) 110 copies, 5 reviews
Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming Period, with an Essay on Chinese Sex Life from the Han to the Ch'ing Dynasty, B.C. 206- A.D. 1644 (1989) 24 copies
The Emperor's Pearl / Necklace and Calabash / Poets and Murder / The Chinese Maze Murders (2005) 8 copies
The Phantom of the Temple / The Chinese Nail Murders / The Coffins of the Emperor / Murder on New Year's Eve / The Night of the Tiger / Murder in Canton (2005) 8 copies, 1 review
The Two Beggars [short story] 5 copies
The Chinese Gold Murders / Five Auspicious Clouds / The Red Tape Murders / He Came with the Rain / The Lacquer Screen / The Chinese Lake Murders (2009) 5 copies
He Came with the Rain [short story] 3 copies
柳園の壺 2 copies
The Wrong Sword [short story] 2 copies
The hot springs of Odawara 2 copies
Five Auspicious Clouds [short story] 2 copies
Het levende lijk 2 copies
The Red Tape Murders [short story] 2 copies
南海の金鈴 1 copy
紫雲の怪 1 copy
寅申の刻 1 copy
観月の宴 1 copy
真珠の首飾り 1 copy
水底の妖 1 copy
北雪の釘 1 copy
紅楼の悪夢 1 copy
雷鳴の夜 1 copy
白夫人の幻 1 copy
柳園の壺 1 copy
The Chinese Bell Murders / The Red Pavilion / Poets and Murder / Necklace and Calabash / The Two Beggars / The Wrong Sword (1993) 1 copy
Judge Dee 1-17 1 copy
La Perle De L' Empereur 1 copy
Trafic D' Or Sous Les Tangs 1 copy
3x soudce Ti 1 copy
Třikrát soudce Ti 1 copy
The Mango Trick in China 1 copy
Nagels in Ning-tso 1 copy
五色の雲 1 copy
Associated Works
Great Detectives: A Century of the Best Mysteries from England and America (1984) — Contributor — 408 copies, 4 reviews
The Devil's Novice / The Disappearance of the Saturnalia Silver / Blind Justice / He Came with the Rain (2000) — Contributor — 6 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- van Gulik, Robert
- Legal name
- van Gulik, Robert Hans
- Other names
- 高羅佩
Gao Lo-pei - Birthdate
- 1910-08-09
- Date of death
- 1967-09-24
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Leyden (PhD)
Utrecht University (Ph.D. with honors, 1935) - Occupations
- Dutch diplomat
orientalist
musician (of the guqin) - Short biography
- Robert Hans van Gulik (August 9, 1910, Zutphen - September 24, 1967, The Hague) was an orientalist, diplomat, musician, and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries. He was the son of a medical officer in the Dutch army. He was born in the Netherlands but from the age of three until twelve he lived in Batavia (now Jakarta). He went to the University of Leyden in 1934 and obtained his Ph.D. in 1935. He joined the Dutch Foreign Service in 1935. He was in Tokyo when Japan declared war on the Netherlands in 1941 but was evacuated in 1942. He spent most of the rest of World War II as the secretary for the Dutch mission to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government in Chongqing. While in Chongqing, he married a Chinese woman, Shui Shifang, with whom he had four children. After the war ended, he returned to the Netherlands and then went to the United States as the Councillor of the Dutch embassy in Washington D.C. He returned to Japan in 1949 and stayed there for the next four years. While in Tokyo, he published his first two books, Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee and a privately published book of erotic colored prints from the Ming dynasty. From 1965 until his early death from cancer in 1967 he was the Dutch ambassador to Japan.
- Cause of death
- cancer
- Nationality
- Netherlands
- Birthplace
- Zutphen, Netherlands
- Places of residence
- Zutphen, Netherlands (birth)
Batavia (now Jakarta ∙ Indonesia)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Washington, D.C., USA
Tokyo, Japan
Chungkin, China - Place of death
- The Hague, Netherlands
Members
Reviews
Who knew 7th century China could provide such fertile source material for mysteries? And who knew that it would take a Dutch diplomat to share the style with the West? Not me. The descriptions don't quite do it justice, and the explanation behind the stories usually add another layer of interest. In this one, Van Gulik regains some of the needed pacing and action of The Chinese Gold Murders, and had me intrigued from chapter one.
Judge Dee has a new post, a border city under periodic threat show more from the Uyghur tribes. His entourage feels it might be more than a bit rural and possibly a step down in prestige. Their opinion seems confirmed by the populace, who takes no notice of their new judge, leaving only an old, dissatisfied servant to welcome them to dusty and ill-used quarters. Within a day of arrival, the Judge has the story: the town is under the thumb of a thug, albeit a very rich one, who is prone to beating those who can't come up a bit of coin or free labor. A distraught father beseeches him to find his missing daughter, a son requests Judge Dee to arrest his father's would-be-murderer, and a disowned widow needs aid in recovering part of her husband's estate for her son.
Apparently, traditional stories often had multiple cases going at once--much like real life--and I enjoyed the Judge's logical and organized approach to tackling the issues he faces, as well as the shenanigans by his merry band of misfits. His loyal servants, technically 'reformed,' included a clever thief, Tao Gan, and two former highwaymen from The Chinese Gold Murders, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai.
Done in semi-traditional style and based on a legendary figure, Judge Dee, these stories feel somewhat like The Brothers Grimm starring Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Like Grimm, the story can be a bit bloody, as traditional Chinese mysteries included punishment of the villain. I'll also note that some of his stories might have a sexual fetish involved as part of a motivation; I'd have to say the Chinese must have been far more liberal about this than the English reading public.
Overall, this one regained my faith in the series after the lackluster [b:The Chinese Maze Murders|1055477|The Chinese Maze Murders|Robert van Gulik|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1375808499s/1055477.jpg|1042028]. Recommended to those in the mood for some 7th century mysteries. show less
Judge Dee has a new post, a border city under periodic threat show more from the Uyghur tribes. His entourage feels it might be more than a bit rural and possibly a step down in prestige. Their opinion seems confirmed by the populace, who takes no notice of their new judge, leaving only an old, dissatisfied servant to welcome them to dusty and ill-used quarters. Within a day of arrival, the Judge has the story: the town is under the thumb of a thug, albeit a very rich one, who is prone to beating those who can't come up a bit of coin or free labor. A distraught father beseeches him to find his missing daughter, a son requests Judge Dee to arrest his father's would-be-murderer, and a disowned widow needs aid in recovering part of her husband's estate for her son.
Apparently, traditional stories often had multiple cases going at once--much like real life--and I enjoyed the Judge's logical and organized approach to tackling the issues he faces, as well as the shenanigans by his merry band of misfits. His loyal servants, technically 'reformed,' included a clever thief, Tao Gan, and two former highwaymen from The Chinese Gold Murders, Ma Joong and Chiao Tai.
Done in semi-traditional style and based on a legendary figure, Judge Dee, these stories feel somewhat like The Brothers Grimm starring Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Like Grimm, the story can be a bit bloody, as traditional Chinese mysteries included punishment of the villain. I'll also note that some of his stories might have a sexual fetish involved as part of a motivation; I'd have to say the Chinese must have been far more liberal about this than the English reading public.
Overall, this one regained my faith in the series after the lackluster [b:The Chinese Maze Murders|1055477|The Chinese Maze Murders|Robert van Gulik|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1375808499s/1055477.jpg|1042028]. Recommended to those in the mood for some 7th century mysteries. show less
Celebrated cases of Judge Dee: An Authentic Eighteenth-Century Chinese Detective Novel (Dee Goong An) by Robert Van Gulik
A fascinating glimpse into life in 7th century CE China, translated in the 1940s from a 19th century Chinese manuscript that appears to preserve a genuine account of investigations undertaken by the magistrate of a small city.
Judge Dee is insightful, ethically scrupulous and morally strict, slightly softened by compassion. However, in the context of his culture, the use of torture, graphically described, is a legitimate judicial tool. I found these sections uncomfortable reading, but I show more guess that readers who enjoy "torture porn" movies might get a kick from these sections.
The current (2024) Netflix series excludes torture, but includes a few fight scenes, which I had thought was pandering to the modern vogue for adding martial arts to spice up the action, and was pleasantly surprised to read a few examples of Judge Dee's lieutenants exhibiting their "Chinese boxing and wrestling".
I really enjoyed this, and will continue with van Gulik's self-penned sequels. show less
Judge Dee is insightful, ethically scrupulous and morally strict, slightly softened by compassion. However, in the context of his culture, the use of torture, graphically described, is a legitimate judicial tool. I found these sections uncomfortable reading, but I show more guess that readers who enjoy "torture porn" movies might get a kick from these sections.
The current (2024) Netflix series excludes torture, but includes a few fight scenes, which I had thought was pandering to the modern vogue for adding martial arts to spice up the action, and was pleasantly surprised to read a few examples of Judge Dee's lieutenants exhibiting their "Chinese boxing and wrestling".
I really enjoyed this, and will continue with van Gulik's self-penned sequels. show less
I enjoyed this immensely, both the novel itself as well as the translator's notes in the preface and the afterward. I think it's important to understand the context of Chinese detective novels, because there are some elements (ghosts/dreams used as evidence; the torture for confessions) that are completely unbelievable for the Western reader but are par for the course in their original culture. I found this very fascinating and I think it really added to my enjoyment of the novel, without show more fifteen million footnotes explaining everything along the way.
In the afterward, the translator, van Gulik, mused that perhaps a modern day detective novelist should try writing a Chinese-style detective story, and I'm going to guess he decided to do that himself, considering the number of books he added to this series LOL.
The novel itself concerns the tribunal overseen by Judge Dee, a magistrate in Tang dynasty China, and the cases that are brought before him. There are 3 cases presented here, one right after the other, so that at one point 3 separate investigations are going on. It's messy in a realistic way and shows how the characters are stretched between their different duties. Dee even puts his career (and perhaps his life) on the line in pursuit of justice in one case: the ancient Chinese penal code was brutal for everyone who came into contact with it, apparently. The cases are varied and interesting (the murder of a silk merchant, the death of a bride on her wedding night, a shopkeeper's death that is basically covered up and only discovered a year after the fact), and the investigations equally so. If you enjoy historical procedurals, or series like Li Du, I think you'd like this one, too. I am definitely putting this book on my list of ones to buy, because the notes alone interest me that much! I can't wait to read more of these, and am so glad one of the libraries in our system has copies in the stacks ♥ show less
In the afterward, the translator, van Gulik, mused that perhaps a modern day detective novelist should try writing a Chinese-style detective story, and I'm going to guess he decided to do that himself, considering the number of books he added to this series LOL.
The novel itself concerns the tribunal overseen by Judge Dee, a magistrate in Tang dynasty China, and the cases that are brought before him. There are 3 cases presented here, one right after the other, so that at one point 3 separate investigations are going on. It's messy in a realistic way and shows how the characters are stretched between their different duties. Dee even puts his career (and perhaps his life) on the line in pursuit of justice in one case: the ancient Chinese penal code was brutal for everyone who came into contact with it, apparently. The cases are varied and interesting (the murder of a silk merchant, the death of a bride on her wedding night, a shopkeeper's death that is basically covered up and only discovered a year after the fact), and the investigations equally so. If you enjoy historical procedurals, or series like Li Du, I think you'd like this one, too. I am definitely putting this book on my list of ones to buy, because the notes alone interest me that much! I can't wait to read more of these, and am so glad one of the libraries in our system has copies in the stacks ♥ show less
The Red Pavilion: A Chinese Detective Story (A Judge Dee Mystery) (Scribner Crime Classics) by Robert van Gulik
This Judge Dee mystery falls right in the middle of Van Gulik's canon, both from the chronology of Judge Dee's career and in the order of books written. Judge Dee is fully developed as a protagonist and at his most observant as a detective. However, only one of his retainers is with him in this book, the former robber and now his lieutenant MA Joong. A new reader of the Judge Dee mysteries might want to start with one of the earlier books to become familiar with Judge Dee and his world.
In show more The Red Pavilion Judge Dee is traveling back to his home province and breaks his journey on Paradise Island, a sort of medieval Chinese Las Vegas where every pleasure, from gambling to epicurean dinners to pleasures of the flesh, can be had for the right amount of money. Dee is roped into becoming a temporary magistrate of the court when his colleague, Magistrate LO Kwan-Choong, has to leave his province for a personal "emergency." He asks Dee to formally certify the suicide of a prominent scholar, merely a rubber-stamp case which just needs official verification at the next session of the court.
As in all of Dee's mysteries, this one innocuous case leads to an investigation and Dee ends up investigating not only the scholar's death, but also the death of the premier courtesan of Pleasure Island. Both deaths are linked to a murder committed thirty years ago. Using his vast knowledge of human nature and of the law, Dee is able to untangle the mysteries of the Red Pavilion where all three deaths occurred. While he gathers information from the upperclass residents and visitors to Paradise Island, his lieutenant frequents the gambling halls and brothels to get the street version of the three deaths.
The enjoyment of a Judge Dee mystery is not just in the puzzles which never fail to please, but also in the details of life in China during the seventh century. Van Gulik, a China scholar, goes into minute detail about everything from the different styles of beards worn by men to the execution of the swift and harsh justice of the courts. He sketches intricate maps of the locales, and includes illustrations of the characters in the style of the period. (A woman can be portrayed naked as long as her feet are not exposed. That would make the picture indecent, if not pornographic.)
Another very satisfying glimpse in the career of Judge Dee. show less
In show more The Red Pavilion Judge Dee is traveling back to his home province and breaks his journey on Paradise Island, a sort of medieval Chinese Las Vegas where every pleasure, from gambling to epicurean dinners to pleasures of the flesh, can be had for the right amount of money. Dee is roped into becoming a temporary magistrate of the court when his colleague, Magistrate LO Kwan-Choong, has to leave his province for a personal "emergency." He asks Dee to formally certify the suicide of a prominent scholar, merely a rubber-stamp case which just needs official verification at the next session of the court.
As in all of Dee's mysteries, this one innocuous case leads to an investigation and Dee ends up investigating not only the scholar's death, but also the death of the premier courtesan of Pleasure Island. Both deaths are linked to a murder committed thirty years ago. Using his vast knowledge of human nature and of the law, Dee is able to untangle the mysteries of the Red Pavilion where all three deaths occurred. While he gathers information from the upperclass residents and visitors to Paradise Island, his lieutenant frequents the gambling halls and brothels to get the street version of the three deaths.
The enjoyment of a Judge Dee mystery is not just in the puzzles which never fail to please, but also in the details of life in China during the seventh century. Van Gulik, a China scholar, goes into minute detail about everything from the different styles of beards worn by men to the execution of the swift and harsh justice of the courts. He sketches intricate maps of the locales, and includes illustrations of the characters in the style of the period. (A woman can be portrayed naked as long as her feet are not exposed. That would make the picture indecent, if not pornographic.)
Another very satisfying glimpse in the career of Judge Dee. show less
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- Also by
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- Rating
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- ISBNs
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