Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 97: Di Gong's Case
Subtitle of this chapter: Living 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 briefcase, took out a stack of manuscripts and handed them to another detective novel enthusiast.
Mr. Louis Baker took it and looked at it. He saw that the title on the cover was "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee". If it is translated literally, it is "Judge Dee's Famous Cases". If we follow the translation method of the Seres, it should be called "The Three Strange Cases of Judge Dee in the Tang Dynasty", because this novel is composed of three stories..
The following is what Yuan Yanshu is best at. But since this time he wrote it to a man, he didn't think too much and just casually wrote: For Mr Baker who don't live in Baker Street.
To Mr Baker, who does not live in Baker Street.
Mr. Baker, who did not live on Baker Street, was delighted when he saw it and said happily, "Neo, is this the detective novel you said you were going to write?"
Master Yuan nodded calmly, and said calmly, just like our Seres "Bamboo Forest Sage": "That's right. Don't you like Sherlock Holmes? Then I'll show you our Seres' Sherlock Holmes."
"Well, thank you..." Louis Baker thanked his friend while opening the manuscript and reading.
As Yuan Yan had expected, this detective novel fan was immediately drawn to it.
Actually, there is nothing much to say about "Detective Dee", but the author of this series of books is very interesting. His name is Robert Hans van Gulik (1910-1967), with the Chinese name Gao Luopei and the courtesy name Zhitai. If there is reincarnation in this world, he is one of those people who was born into the wrong body.
This man is really a strange man. This Dutch professional diplomat is proficient in 15 languages. In 1943, when he was the first secretary of the Chinese Embassy in Chongqing, he married Shui Shifang, a Chinese lady from a famous family. Gao Ropi's fascination with Chinese culture reached a fanatical level. He not only interacted with Chinese cultural celebrities such as Shen Yinmo and Qi Baishi, but also tasted tea, played chess, played the zither, recited poems, painted, practiced calligraphy, made seals, and wrote novels... He was like a thorough ancient celebrity.
Of course, for modern Chinese, he is most famous for his translation and re-creation of "Detective Dee", a total of 19 volumes. You should know that he was actually a legal expert in the Tang Dynasty, and the detective novels he wrote were really well-founded, and he even drew Chinese-style line drawings by himself.
Another interesting thing is that Robert van Gulik was the first sinologist to study Chinese erotic novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties and introduce them to foreign countries. In later times, this special study actually became a prominent subject in Western ancient Chinese literature.
When it comes to detective novels, Yuan Yanshu naturally has many choices. However, since he is planning to promote Seres culture in the foreign land, this set of detective novels is the best choice.
Sadly, in 1920, the impression of the Seres people to foreigners was no longer the dazzling Seres (Latin for silk) and exquisite china, but...
BOXERS.
Yes, it was the Boxer Rebellion that happened 20 years ago. It's just like the impression of foreigners a hundred years later about China still remains at the level of 20, 30, or even 40 years ago.
So in their eyes, the Chinese were ignorant, actually believing that flesh and blood could resist foreign guns and cannons; the Chinese were also brutal, inhumanely killing their fellow believers, missionaries and diplomats , even women and children; the Chinese were even weaker, and the 20,000-strong "Eight-Nation Alliance" that was hastily assembled could easily break into the capital of this "Central Kingdom".
China, no! The most humiliating treaty in human history is the Boxer Protocol. The indemnity of 450 million taels of silver means that every Chinese is guilty. Even if it is symbolic, in fact, every Chinese "really" paid one tael of silver to atone for his sins.!
Yes, even from the perspective of modern Chinese, our ancestors a hundred years ago were really ignorant, cruel and weak. But then again, what do you want them to do? !
This should have been a matter for the "meat eaters", but the "meat eaters" completely gave up their responsibility. So if the "herbivores" who feed the "meat eaters" were allowed to "plan it", would the result be better ?
The people of Seris are still the same people who shouted "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different species?" two thousand years ago. The problem is that the elites of this old empire have been indulging in the self-imagination of the "Central Kingdom" for too long... too long.
How can the ruled class be blamed for the ruling class's mistakes? It's like the boss went bankrupt and ran away with his sister-in-law. How can the employees be blamed?
Yuan Yan suddenly realized that changing the prejudice of foreigners was a long and difficult task... Well, what discouraged him was that this was not really a prejudice but a "correct view". So he had been thinking about this problem these days, that is, how to change the "correct view" of foreigners towards the Seres.
After much deliberation, our Master Yuan finally decided to learn from Japan and South Korea.
The strength of the Japanese is... style. For example, sushi was originally a simple fast food provided to gamblers and business travelers. Adding vinegar to the rice was just to keep it fresh, but in the end it became a high-end dish with a very high style.
There are also tea ceremony, flower arrangement, kendo, shudo and karate... Hey, it seems that there is something strange mixed in. In short, the Japanese are good at raising the level of ordinary things to a very high level and giving them meanings beyond their own.
So why do the various customs of Japan seem so impressive? In fact, the core element is ritualization.
The so-called ritualization refers to the tendency of human beings to specialize in the process of evolution by using behavioral patterns that function as inducers to further enhance the intensity, accuracy, and precision of their functions.
Well, it means making a certain behavior characteristic prominent and simple, and repeating and strengthening its content, and finally forming a certain form. Humans will feel that this form has special significance and regard it as a ritual with religious meaning.
Isn't it just ritualization? Our Master Yuan can do this too. But what should we ritualize first? That's a question.
The strength of South Korea is that they claim everything that is "worth having" as their own. But we Seres don't need to "claim" it at all, because those things are ours in the first place.
In short, Yuan Yanshu's first step was to use his own method to tell the Western world that there once was an advanced, civilized and powerful Seris Empire. And this empire was the origin of Eastern civilization!
