Episode Details
Back to EpisodesDetective Dee and the Curious Case of the Dutch Sinologist
Episode 41
Published 4 years, 4 months ago
Description
Tsui Hark, that maestro of Hong Kong cinema, has in recent years churned a trilogy of films set in ancient China about one "Detective Dee" who goes around solving strange crimes in the manner of Sherlock Holmes.
In reality, Tsui Hark got this idea for a Chinese Holmes from, of all people, a Dutchman. Robert van Gulik was a Dutch diplomat and Sinologist who was posted in China during WWII, and he took to translating, then rewriting, a Qing Dynasty novel featuring one Di Renjie as a genius criminal investigator.
And who was the real Di Renjie? As is so often the case, the truth is more interesting than the fiction...