Gong'an fiction, or crime-case fiction, is a subgenre of Chinese crime fiction featuring government magistrates who solve criminal cases. It first appeared in the colloquial stories of the Song dynasty and developed into one of the most popular genres of the Ming and Qing dynasties; the Judge Dee and Judge Bao stories are its best known examples.
Facts
Place of OriginChina (Song dynasty colloquial storytelling) 1 Notable ExampleDi Gong An (Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee), an 18th-century collection of Judge Dee stories translated into English by Robert Van Gulik in 1949. 1 Defining TraitChinese crime fiction featuring a magistrate-detective who solves cases already explained to the reader at the outset, an inverted detective structure often mixed with supernatural elements such as ghosts accusing the criminal. 1 Connections
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: China, originated there.
Sources
1. Gong'an Fiction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction, second sentence
Gong'an fiction first appeared in the colloquial stories of the Song dynasty.
Themes and style section, first paragraph
the criminal is introduced at the very start of the story and his crime and reasons are carefully explained, thus constituting an inverted detective story rather than a "puzzle".
History section, paragraph on the 1940s rediscovery
an 18th-century collection of gong'an stories, was discovered at a second-hand book store in Tokyo, Japan and translated into English as the Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Dutch sinologist Robert Van Gulik in 1949.
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