The Chinese Lake Murders

The Chinese Lake Murders were written by author, Robert Van Gulik and can be used to learn about pre-modern Chinese civilization. The book was set during the Ming Dynasty in the town of Han-yuan, which is about 60 miles north west of the imperial capital. The novel tells the tale of how Judge Dee, the magistrate (an official responsible for catching criminals as well as sentencing them) of Han-yuan solves crime cases while indulging himself in beautiful women, greed and political matters. Van Gulik uses this book and many of his others to describe the culture that of Imperial China. Imperial/Confucian culture lasted in China for about 2,100 years (from 200 BCE to 1900 CE and it) and it still keeps the image oh Chinese society strong. To many we are unable to know what Imperial/Confucian culture was like. In reading Robert Van Gulik's book The Chinese Lake Murders, it placed me within Chinese culture, explaining the aspects of Chinese culture better than reading some test books. In reading the book, I learned that each village or section of a town had a warden who was responsible for knowing who lived in his area and what they did. I also learned that districts were ruled over by judges who in turn reported to provincial magistrates, who in turn reported to the Imperial court. To keep things honest, imperial censors traveled throughout the empire incognito, with the authority of the Emperor himself to arrest or condemn officials deemed abusing their authority. Districts judges and provincial magistrates were rotated to different places throughout their career, to avoid the abuses of long rule in any one place. Lastly, ranks of nobility decayed from one generation to the nest. So if you were of one noble rank, your children would be of the next lower rank, and their children would just be commoners, but this rule did not apply for the emperors children. Yet, there are many positive aspects to Imperial/Con