Subtitle of this chapter: Being in the Republic of China, looking up to the Tang Dynasty

"Louis, this is a gift for you."

As soon as our Master Yuan sat down, he opened his bag and took out a stack of manuscripts and handed them to another detective novel enthusiast.

Mr. Louis Baker took it over and saw that the title of the cover was "celebrated-cases-of-judge-dee", if it was translated literally, it was "Judge Di's Fame Case". If we translated by the Seris, it should be called "Three Strange Cases of Di Gong's Case of the Tang Dynasty", because this novel consists of three stories. (Note 1)

The following is the title that Yuan Yanshu is best at. However, because he wrote this to the masters, he didn't think much and wrote casually: for-mr.baker-who-don’t-live-in-baker-street.

Dedicated to Mr. Baker who cannot live in Baker Street.

Mr. Baker, who doesn't live on Baker Street, was so happy that he saw it, and said happily: "Neo, is this the detective novel you said you want to write?"

Master Yuan nodded lightly, and said lightly with our "Bamboo Forest Sage" style: "That's right. Don't you like Sherlock Holmes? Then I'll let you see the Sherlock Holmes of us in the Cialis."

"Well, thank you..." Louis Baker opened the manuscript and read it while thanking his friends.

As Yuan Yanshu expected, this detective novel fan was caught in it all at once.

In fact, there is nothing to say about "Di Gong Case", but the author of this set of books is very interesting. His name is Robert-hans-van-gulik (1910~1967), his Chinese name is Gao Luopei, and his courtesy name is Zhitai. If there is really a cycle of reincarnation in this world, he is the kind of person who reincarnated in the wrong child.

This man is really a strange man. This Dutch professional diplomat is proficient in 15 languages. In 1943, when he was the secretary of the Embassy in Chongqing, he married the famous Chinese wife Shui Shifang. Gao Luopei's obsession with Chinese culture reached a level of fanaticism. Not only did he interact with Chinese cultural celebrities such as Shen Yinmo and Qi Baishi; he also tasted tea, played chess, played zithers, recited poetry, painted, practiced calligraphy, made seals, and wrote novels... He was like a complete ancient famous scholar.

Of course, for modern Chinese, he is most famous for his translation and re-creation of "Di Gong Case", and wrote a total of nineteen works. You should know that he is actually a legal expert in the Tang Dynasty. The detective novels he wrote are really well-founded, and even painted his own Chinese-style plain-painted illustrations.

Another interesting thing is that Gao Luopei was the first sinologist to study Chinese erotic novels in Ming and Qing dynasties and introduce them to foreign countries. In later generations, this special study became a prominent scholar in ancient Western Chinese literature.

Speaking of detective novels, Yuan Yanshu naturally had many choices. However, since he was preparing to promote the Seris culture in the foreign land, this set of detective novels is the best choice.

Sadly, the foreigners in 1920's impression of the Seris was no longer dazzling seres (Latin silk) and exquisite china, but...

boxes.

That's right, it was the Boxer Rebellion that took place twenty years ago. It was like the foreigners a hundred years later, and their impression of China was still twenty, thirty, or even forty years ago.

Therefore, in their eyes, the Chinese are foolish and believe that flesh and blood can fight against foreign guns and cannons; the Chinese are also barbaric and inhumanely killing religious people, missionaries and diplomats of the same country, even women and children; the Chinese are even weaker, and the "Eight-Nation Alliance" that was temporarily pieced together can easily enter the capital of this "central country".

China, no! The most humiliating treaty in human history is the "Xin Chou Treaty". The compensation of 450 million taels of silver means that every Chinese is guilty. Even if it is symbolic, in fact, every Chinese "really" pays one tael of silver to atone for his sins! (Note 2)

Yes, even from the perspective of modern Chinese people, our ancestors a hundred years ago were really ignorant, barbaric and weak. But then again, what should you do if you ask them to do?!

It should have been a matter of "the meat eaters plan for it", but the meat eaters despise completely gave up their responsibilities. So can these "herbie eaters" who offer "the meat eaters" "plan" better than the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Boxer Rebellion?

The people of Cyris are still the people of Cyris who shouted "Is there any kind of kings, princes, generals and ministers" two thousand years ago. The problem is that the elites of this old empire are addicted to the self-imagination of the "central country" for too long... too long.

How can the ruling class be blamed for being taken by the ruling class? It's like the boss goes bankrupt and runs away with his sister-in-law. What kind of sin can the employees below have?

Yuan Yan Shu knew that changing the prejudice of foreigners was a long and very difficult thing... Well, what dismayed him was that it was really not a prejudice but a "right view". So he has been thinking about this question these days, that is, how to reverse the "right view" of foreigners towards the Seris.

After thinking about it, our Master Yuan finally decided to learn from Little Japan and Nanba.

The advantage of Japan is...sty style. For example, sushi is originally a simple fast food for gamblers and business travelers. Adding vinegar to the rice is just to keep it fresh. In the end, it becomes a high-end dish with high quality.

There are other tea ceremony, flower path, kendo, multi-door and karate... Hey, it seems that something strange has been infiltrated. In short, Japan is good at raising the standard of ordinary things very high and giving meaning to it beyond itself.

So why do Japanese Taoisms seem so stylish? In fact, the core element is ritualization.

The so-called ritualization refers to the behavioral patterns that have functions as inducing factors in the evolution process of humans further enhance the intensity, accuracy and precision of their functions and tend to be specialized.

Well, that is, a certain behavioral feature becomes significant and simplified, and its content is constantly repeated and strengthened, and finally a certain type is formed. Humans will feel that this type has special significance and regard it as a ritual with religious meaning.

Isn’t it just ritualization? Our Master Yuan will do this. But what to ritualize first? This is a question.

What is the advantage of Nanbaung? It is to say that everything that is "worthy of possession" is ours. And we Cyris don't need to "speak" at all, those things are ours.

In short, Yuan Yanshu's first step was to use his own method to tell the Western world that there was an advanced, civilized and powerful Cyris Empire. This empire is the origin of Eastern civilization!

……………………

:Note 1: It needs to be explained here that Gao Luopei's nineteen novels are collectively called "The Descendant of the Tang Dynasty" by Chinese people. In fact, the first "Judge Di's Fame Case" is an independent chapter and is not in this series of novels. (Someone on Zhihu pointed out the mistake to Murong... My patients are everywhere.)

In addition to the Chinese version, the title of the book when the English or Japanese version was published did not have the prefix "Di Gong Chou", such as the second "the-chinese-maze-murders", and the Japanese version was titled "Murders Lost".
Chapter completed!