54 pages • 1 hour read
AnonymousThe Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1949A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-3 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Judge Dee Is Appointed Magistrate of Chang-ping; The People Crowd His Tribunal to Report Grievances”
The first chapter opens with the narrator’s introduction. He expounds on the idea that a just and honest magistrate brings peace to and improves the moral character of all the people under his rule. The narrator further lists what qualities makes a good magistrate, such as not taking bribes and accomplishing what other people are unable to. Officials who take bribes or try to close cases too quickly by extracting false confessions should not be elected to office, as they cannot bring peace to the “common people” (6). The narrator claims that since he has “time hanging heavily on [his] hands,” he is recording the cases of an exemplary magistrate, not to educate people but to offer them something with which to “beguile some idle hours” (7).
The narrative opens by introducing the titular character, Jen-djieh Dee, who lived during the Tang dynasty in the first half of the 7th century. He was born in Tai-yuan, the capital city of Shansi Province, and achieved a high position at the Imperial Court due to his honesty and hard work. In recognition of his long life of exemplary service, he was eventually ennobled as duke Liang. The novel deals with three cases from Judge Dee’s early career, after he was appointed magistrate of Chang-ping.
In his pursuit of justice, Judge Dee is helped by four loyal men. The first is his chief assistant, Hoong Liang, an old servant of the Dee family and a courageous person with “a natural gift for detection” (8). The second is “a reformed itinerant swindler, named Tao Gan” (9), who was a runner for another magistrate’s tribunal before joining the judge’s retinue. The last two helpers, Ma Joong and Chio Tai, are reformed highway robbers, or “brothers of the green wood,” who are “men of heroic disposition” (9) and proficient in fencing and boxing.
After introducing the main characters, the chapter transitions to the story of the first case. One day, while sitting in his private office, Judge Dee hears the gong at the entrance of the tribunal, signaling that someone has come with a case. The judge puts on his official robes and goes to the court hall. The person who rang the gong is a “man of the common people, of about forty years old” (10). His name is Koong Wan-deh, and he is the owner of a hostel in Six Mile Village. The previous day two traveling silk merchants spent the night at his hostel and left early in the morning. However, later that day the village warden Pang Deh came to the hostel and deposited two dead bodies at the entrance, claiming that they were the silk merchants and that Koong had murdered them during the night and dumped their bodies in front of the market gate. The warden demanded 500 pieces of silver to hush the crime, so the hostel owner decided to bring the case to the magistrate.
Judge Dee’s initial impression of Koong is that he does not have the bearings of a hardened criminal. However, he is suspicious as to why the warden would jump to the conclusion that Koong is the murderer. The judge sends for the warden, who retells the events of the morning. Pang Deh found the two bodies in front of the market gate and, after asking around, established that they had spent the night at the hostel. Since no one had seen the two merchants depart or heard anything suspicious, Koong must have killed them during the night and dumped their bodies by the gate.
The judge concedes that Pang’s thinking is sound but remains unconvinced of Koong’s guilt. Since the two villagers have given contradictory accounts, the judge decides to hold an inquest and prepares to go to Six Mile Village.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Warden Peng’s Slander Brings Harm on His Own Head; Sergeant Hoong Obtains a Clue by a Clever Surmise”
Upon arriving at the village, Judge Dee is greeted by the village headman, the warden, and his assistant Djao San. The judge decides to go the hostel first, where he sees the two bodies covered by knife wounds and a knife lying nearby. After establishing that the bodies were originally found in a different location, the judge becomes angry at the warden and orders him punished for moving the bodies, which is against the law. The punishment is 100 strokes with a bamboo stick. Judge Dee hypothesizes that the warden might have been in cahoots with the hostel owner, but after the two fell out over the merchants’ money, Pang tried to shift the blame onto Koong by relocating the corpses.
After Pang is punished, Judge Dee decides to investigate the site of the crime. The hostel is located in a big house, so Koong’s family occupies only the back three rooms. Since silk merchants tend to be well off, the suspect offered them his best room, away from the noise of the street. The judge and his helpers examine the entire house but do not find any signs of a crime. Finally, they question the other guests: a leather merchant who regularly stops at that hostel and an ailing gentleman with his servant. The first guest confirms that he saw the merchants leaving very early in the morning. The servant, who had tended to his sick master all night long and not slept much, had not heard anything out of the ordinary.
After searching the hostel and hearing the testimony of the other guests, Judge Dee is convinced that the crime did not occur in the house. He goes back to the market and realizes that the killing must have happened there, as there is a lot of blood on the ground. However, when questioned, the people who live in the vicinity cannot recall hearing anything during the night until some passersby discovered the bodies in the morning. This information confirms the judge’s suspicions of the warden. He decides to postpone the inquest until the morning and orders Sergeant Hoong to find out more about Pang.
Hoong goes to the warden’s assistant, Djao San, and with the excuse of asking for dinner for himself and the other members of Judge Dee’s staff, gets him to relax and talk about Pang. It turns out that the warden has held a grudge against Koong for a long time because the hostel owner is stingy with his New Year gratuity. However, Pang cannot be the murderer because he had an alibi—he was gambling all night and lost heavily. Thus, when the bodies were discovered, the warden had thought it a great opportunity to extort money from Koong and pay his debts. Djao San concludes that the murders must have taken place at daybreak, since he did not see anything unusual during his last night patrol.
After learning of this new information, Judge Dee theorizes that some unknown criminal must have learned about the silk merchants’ money, followed them to the village, and killed them at the first opportunity. He decides to postpone everything else until the next day.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Koong Avers There Is Some Mistake About the Bodies; Judge Dee Goes to Sell Drugs in a Physician’s Disguise”
The following morning Judge Dee goes to the hostel and opens the proceedings from the temporary tribunal set up there. First he requests that Koong provide the names of the victims. The hostel owner knows only their last names: Liu and Shao. The judge then tells the coroner to bring one of the bodies closer and orders Koong to come forward and identify the victim. Koong confirms the body belongs to Liu. The corner then washes it clean with hot water and records all the wounds in detail. When the second body is brought forward, however, Koong experiences a shock and swoons because he realizes the murdered person is not the second merchant. Shao had been young, but the second body is that of “an elderly man with whiskers” (25).
The judge is suspicious of Koong, who had not realized that the second body belongs to a stranger until that moment. Koong justifies his ignorance by pointing out that Liu’s body had been lying on top of the second one, so he had not had the chance to clearly see the second victim.
The judge then calls on the warden, who admits to attempting to exhort money from Koong by accusing him of murder. The judge orders a second beating as punishment for “entering a false accusation, and of trying to involve an innocent person” (27).
The other hostel guests confirm that the two merchants were both young men. As a result, the judge concludes that the older victim was probably a local man and requests that a notice be put up so he can be identified. After this, Judge Dee announces that the murderer must be the man Shao. He theorizes that the criminal is hiding somewhere in the vicinity until the situation calms down and sends his lieutenants out to search for him.
After not hearing from his men for several days, the judge decides to disguise himself as an itinerant physician and investigate for himself. As a literati, Judge Dee has sufficient knowledge of herbs and healing to pretend convincingly. He sets his temporary stall in the doorway of a pawnshop in a busy market square. An elderly woman with a bent back approaches him and asks for help curing her illness.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
The first three chapters introduce the five main characters that connect all three cases: the judge and his four helpers. The narrator’s introduction serves as a frame that places the plot in the wider social and philosophical context of pre-modern Chinese culture. While the author disavows a desire to educated the reader, his emphasis on the magistrate’s honesty, diligence, and wisdom contradicts his words. He opens the story by outlining how upholding the law is tantamount to promoting a prosperous and moral society. Judge Dee’s character, then, serves as a case study illustrating this idea. He is presented as an exemplary role model because he can maintain order and solve puzzling and complex crimes due to his good character, which is based upon diligence, honesty, and dedication to higher moral goals. The three cases presented in the story illustrate the characteristics that allow him to succeed.
The first crime, the double murder, illustrates Judge Dee’s meticulous approach to investigating. Judge Dee is willing to leave the tribunal whenever necessary for a case, and he likes to talk to everyone involved before making conclusions. His willingness to follow procedure (i.e., having the victims identified and examined rather than relying on the say-so of the warden or hostel owner) leads to the discovery of the unknown victim and, consequently, of the real murderer—the missing silk merchant.
The first case also grants a peek into the life of a medium-sized village. The reader learns about the custom of giving tips to public servants for the New Year as well as the warden’s attempt to blackmail the hostel owner. The characters’ reactions to the warden’s extortion attempts indicate that his behavior is not considered unusual or particularly problematic. It seems that the hostel owner is partially to blame, as he does not tip well enough and has acquired a reputation as a stingy man. Thus, the warden’s punishment is a result of his disregard for protocol in moving the bodies, not his desire for better remuneration. Giving and receiving “tips” is presented as a normal aspect of life.
Finally, these chapters grant an insight into the workings of institutional hierarchies. The plaintiff must kneel in front of the judge, who sits at a bench elevated above everyone else. Kneeling on a bare floor is not comfortable, so the physical discomfort, as well as the height difference, constantly remind those involved in a case of their insignificance and of the judge’s superior position and power. Furthermore, people with a low social position, such as the hostel owner, are supposed to address the judge in a formulaic manner, referring to themselves as “this insignificant person” (10).
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