The Chinese Gold Murders

Robert Van Gulik The Chinese Gold Murders

A Judge Dee Detective Storywith ten plates drawn by the author in Chinese style

PREFACE

THE CHINESE GOLD MURDERS takes us back to the beginning of Judge Dee's career when, thirty-three years of age, he had been appointed to his first post in the provinces, viz. that of magistrate of Peng-lai, a port city on the northeast coast of Shantung Province.

Then the Tang Emperor Kao-tsung (64?-683) had just succeeded in establishing Chinese suzerainty over the greater part of Korea. According to the chronology of judge Dee Mysteries, Judge Dee arrived in Peng-lai in the summer of A.D. 663. [1] During the successful Chinese Korea campaign in the autumn of the preceding year, when they defeated the combined Korean-Japanese forces, the girl Yu-soo had been carried away as a war slave. Chiao Tai had taken part in the previous campaign of 661 as a captain over hundred.

The reader will find a pictorial map of Peng-lai in the front of the book, and in the Postscript information on the ancient Chinese judicial system, taken over, with a few changes, from the preceding volume of the series, together with an account of the Chinese sources utilized.

ROBERT VAN GULIK

SKETCH MAP OF PENG-LAI

1. Tribunal

2. Temple of Confucius

3. Temple of War God

4. Temple of City God

5. Drum Tower

6. Nine Flowers Orchard

7. Hostel

8. Crab Restaurant

9. Wharf

10. River

11. Korean Quarter

12. Creek

13. Rainbow Bridge

14. White Cloud Temple

15. Flower Boats

16. Watergate

17. Town House Dr. Tsao

18. Yee's house

19. Koo's house

20. Restaurant

ILLUSTRATIONS

The parting of three friends

A sword duel on the highway

Judge Dee inspects the library

A meeting in a flower boat

Koo Meng-pin before the bench

Judge Dee questions an old peasant

A cremation oven in a temple

A girl surprised in a mulberry bush

Judge Dee visits a dying man

A philosopher loses an argument

A map of the district Peng-lai is in the front of the book,

A map of a section of Peng-lai.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

It should be noted that in Chinese the surname-here printed in capitals-precedes the personal name.

Main Characters

DEE Jen-djieh, newly appointed magistrate of Peng-lai, a town district on the northeast coast of Shantung Province. Referred to as 'Judge Dee,' or 'the judge,' 'the magistrate,' etc.

HOONG Liang, Judge Dee's confidential assistant and sergeant of the tribunal. Referred to as 'Sergeant Hoong,' or 'the sergeant.'

MA Joong amp; CHIAO Tai, the two trusted assistants of judge Dec.

TANG, senior scribe of the tribunal of Peng-lai.

Persons connected with 'The Case of the Murdered Magistrate'

WANG Te-hwa, Magistrate of Peng-lai, found poisoned in his library.

Yu-soo, a Korean prostitute.

YEE Pen, a wealthy shipowner.

PO Kai, his business manager.

Persons connected with 'The Case of the Bolting