Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Judge Dee's Cases
狄公案
Judge Dee's Cases (狄公案, Dí Gōng àn) is a classic story, retold in simple Mandarin as an 8-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 4 (Upper intermediate).
Retold from the classic Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An: Judge Dee, a clever Tang-dynasty magistrate, uses small clues, a bowl of water and four loyal helpers to solve two puzzling deaths.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — An old storyteller who tells these cases plainly, like a grandfather by the fire.
- Judge Dee (Di Renjie) · 狄仁杰 — The calm new magistrate who solves cases by noticing small things.
- Hong Liang · 洪亮 — Judge Dee's kind old steward, always worried and always loyal.
- Ma Rong · 马荣 — A huge, loud former robber who is always hungry.
- Qiao Tai · 乔泰 — Ma Rong's quiet, sharp-eyed friend who says little and misses nothing.
- Tao Gan · 陶干 — A small, quick-fingered former pickpocket who knows every trick.
- The Innkeeper · 掌柜 — A nervous inn owner whose story keeps changing.
- The Inn Boy · 小二 — A frightened boy who sees more than the grown-ups think.
- The Oil Seller · 油贩 — A loud, honest oil peddler with oily hands.
- The Thief · 小偷 — A sneaky man caught with someone else's coins.
- The Old Mother · 老太太 — A brave grandmother who knows her son did not die of illness.
- The Widow · 夫人 — A woman in white who cries loudly and guards her secrets.
- The Cousin · 表哥 — A smooth-talking man in blue silk who always shows off his ring.
- The Coroner · 仵作 — A grave old examiner who reports only what he finds.
- The Apothecary · 药铺老板 — A timid herbal-medicine seller with a careful ledger.
8 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The New Magistrate
新来的县官
A new magistrate finds thirty unsolved cases, and coins that will not lie. Then the court drum booms in the night, and two guests are dead.
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Chapter 2: The Bolted Room
从里面闩上的门
Two guests lie dead behind a bolted door, and the innkeeper blames a ghost. Judge Di finds a fresh window, a thread mark and a boy who heard digging.
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Chapter 3: Two Rough Men
两个好汉
Two robbers stop Judge Di on a mountain road, and end up on his side. That night they dig up a heavy box at the inn, but the innkeeper is gone.
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Chapter 4: The Runaway Innkeeper
跑掉的掌柜
Ma Rong and Qiao Tai chase the innkeeper into a barn, and Judge Di breaks his story piece by piece. Then an old woman kneels at the court gate.
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Chapter 5: A Death Without a Wound
没有伤的死
A healthy man dies overnight without a wound, and his wife's cousin is far too helpful. A silver needle turns black, and a pickpocket offers a lead.
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Chapter 6: The Medicine Shop
药铺
A pickpocket, a dog he fears and a timid shopkeeper lead Judge Di to a ledger and a green jade ring. Then the shopkeeper says the buyer came back for more.
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Chapter 7: The Night Watch
夜里的等待
Judge Di sets a trap in the old woman's kitchen. Ma Rong must stay silent all night, and the cousin walks in carrying a cup of tea.
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Chapter 8: The Widow Speaks
夫人说话了
In court Judge Di lays out clue after clue until the truth comes out. Then the old woman shares tea, the team shares a feast, and the drum sounds once more.
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Key words in Judge Dee's Cases
Behind the story
Judge Dee is based on Di Renjie (狄仁杰), a real official of the Tang dynasty who served under Empress Wu Zetian (武则天). Long after his death, storytellers made him China's most famous clever judge. The old novel about his cases, known as 狄公案, was written by an anonymous author in the 1700s.
In these stories a county magistrate was judge, detective and mayor at once. Cases were solved with observation, patience and a few clever tricks, not with laboratories. The lively helpers around Dee, Hong Liang, Ma Rong, Qiao Tai and Tao Gan, are part of what Chinese readers love about the tales.
Did you know?
- For hundreds of years, a big drum outside a Chinese county court let ordinary people call the magistrate for help.
- A silver needle was a traditional way to test for poison in old China, because silver was thought to turn dark when it touched certain poisons.
- Di Renjie is remembered in Chinese theater, novels and TV shows as a model of a wise and fair official.