Early Chinese Detective Fiction
GONG AN stories, like
the old DRAGNET and more modern TV dramas that change the names to protect the
innocent, use actual case records for their plots. These are the earliest form
of Chinese detective fiction. There are several GONG AN story collections going
back to the Yuan Dynasty. A particularly famous one is the CIRCLE OF CHALK.
GONG AN stories
are inverted detective stories. The reader knows up front who committed the
crime and why they did it. The crime is described in great detail at the
beginning. The typical detective is a judge or a government official. Usually
there is a supernatural element in the tales. The ghost of the victim appears
in the story full of accusations and with a desire for revenge.
The detective is usually involved in
numerous unrelated cases at the same time. He doesn't have to puzzle out who
did it or why. Because of this the stories often digress from the actual crime
story.
The stories are also
very long, for two main reasons. One, philosophy, crime documents, the law,
political implications and more, are expounded on in great detail. Plus the
books have a lot of characters, sometimes hundreds. Almost everyone, who has or
ever had any contact with any of the main players, are described in great
detail.
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