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

"Louie, this is a gift for you. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

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

Mr. Louis Baker took it and looked at it, only to see that the title of the cover was "Celebrated-Cases-of-Judge-Dee", if the literal translation is "The Fame Case of Judge Di", if we Cyris translation method should call it "The Three Strange Cases of the Tang Dynasty Di Gong Case", because this novel is composed of three stories. (note 1)

The following is the inscription that Yuan Yanqian is best at. But because he wrote it to the big men this time, he didn't use his brains much, and wrote casually: For-Mr.Baker-who-don't-live-in-Baker-Street.

Dedicated to Mr. Baker, who does not live on Baker Street.

Mr. Baker, who did not live on Baker Street, was amused when he saw it, and said happily: "Neo, this is the detective novel you said you were going to write?" ”

Master Yuan nodded lightly, and said lightly in the style of our "Sage of the Bamboo Forest": "Exactly." Don't you like Sherlock Holmes? Then I'll show you the Sherlock Holmes of our Cyris. ”

"Well, thank you......" Louis Baker thanked his friend as he opened the manuscript and read it.

As Yuan Yanqian expected, this fan of detective novels fell into it all of a sudden.

Actually, there is really nothing to say about "The Case of Di Gong", but the author who wrote this series of books is very interesting. His name is Robert-Hans-van-Gulik (1910~1967), his Chinese name is Gao Luopei, and his name is Zhitai. If there is really reincarnation in this world, he belongs to the kind of person who is reincarnated in the wrong place.

This gentleman is a strange man, a career Dutch diplomat who is fluent in 15 languages. In 1943, when he was the first secretary of the embassy in Chongqing, he married a well-known Chinese wife, Shui Shifang. Gao Luopei's fascination with Chinese culture reached a feverish level, not only interacting with Chinese cultural celebrities such as Shen Yinmo and Qi Baishi; He also tasted tea, played chess, stroked the piano, recited poetry, painted, practiced calligraphy, governed seals, and wrote novels...... It's like a famous ancient man through and through.

Of course, for modern Chinese, he is most famous for his translation and recreation of "Di Gong's Case", a total of nineteen books. You must know that he is actually a legal expert in the Tang Dynasty, and the detective novels he wrote are really well-founded, and he even drew his own white illustrations in Chinese style.

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

When it comes to detective novels, Yuan Yanqian naturally has a lot of choices. However, since he is ready to promote the culture of Seris in the realm of foreigners, then this set of detective novels is the best choice.

Sadly, the image of the Cyres in 1920 was no longer the glitzy Seres (Latin silk) and elaborate China, but ......

BOXERS。

That's right, the Boxer Rebellion, which took place twenty years ago. This is like a foreigner a hundred years later, and the impression of China is still in the twenties and thirties. Even forty years ago.

Therefore, in their eyes, the Chinese are ignorant, and they actually believe that flesh and blood can fight against foreign guns and artillery; The Chinese are also brutal, killing fellow believers, missionaries, and diplomats without humanity, including women and children; The Chinese are even weaker, and the 20,000 improvised "eight-nation coalition army" can casually enter the capital of this "central country."

China, no! The most humiliating treaty in human history is the "Xinqiao Treaty", and the indemnity of 450 million taels of silver means that every Chinese is guilty. Even if it is symbolic, but in fact every Chinese "really" pays one or two silver to atone for their sins! (note 2)

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

It should have been a matter of "meat eaters", but "meat eaters" completely abandoned their responsibilities. So let these "herbivores" who feed the "meat eaters" to "seek it", and the results can be better than the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Boxer Rebellion?

The people of Seris are still the same people of Seris who shouted "princely generals have a kind of thing" two thousand years ago, and the problem is that the elites of this old empire have been indulging in the self-imagination of the "central country" for too long...... It's been too long.

How can the pot of the ruling class be carried by the ruling class? It's like the boss went bankrupt and ran away with his sister-in-law, what can the employees below be guilty of.

Yuan Yanqian knows that changing the prejudice of foreigners is a long way to go and very difficult...... Well, to his dismay, this is not really prejudice but "right view". So he has been thinking about this question these days, that is, how to reverse the "right view" of foreigners towards the Serisians.

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

The strength of Little Japan is ...... Forced. Sushi, for example, was originally a simple fast food for gamblers and business travelers, and adding vinegar to the rice was just to keep it fresh, and in the end it became a high-end dish.

What else is the tea ceremony, ikebana, kendo, public way, and karate...... Hey, it looks like there's something strange mixed in. In short, little Japan is good at raising the compulsion of ordinary things very high, giving meaning beyond itself.

So why do the various ways of Little Japan seem so forced? In fact, the core element is ritualization.

The so-called ritualization refers to the fact that in the process of evolution, human beings have a behavior pattern that acts as a predisposing factor, which further enhances the intensity, accuracy, and precision of their functions, and tends to be specialized.

Well, that is, to make a certain behavioral characteristic become prominent and simplistic, and to repeat and reinforce its content until it finally forms a certain pattern. Human beings will feel that this type has a special meaning and use it as a ritual with religious connotations.

Isn't it ritualized, and our Master Yuan will do this thing. But what do you ritual first? That's a problem.

The strength of Nanbang is that he says that everything that is "worth having" is his own. And we Seris people don't need to "say it" at all, those things are ours in the first place.

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

: Note 1: It needs to be explained here that Gao Pero's nineteen novels are collectively called "The Case of Tang Di Gong" by us Chinese, in fact, the first "Judge Di's Fame Case" is an independent piece and is not in this series of novels.

And in addition to the Chinese version, the English or Japanese version of the book is published without the prefix "Di Gong Case", such as the second "The- Chinese- Maze- Murders", and the Japanese version is titled "Lost の Murder".

Note 2: One of the most things that the Artillery Party despises the author is that after the Nanjing Massacre, it continued to pay Gengzi indemnity to Little Japan.