Detective Dee and the Curious Case of the Dutch Sinologist

Tsui Hark, that maestro of Hong Kong cinema, has in recent years churned a trilogy of films set in ancient China about one "Detective Dee" who goes around solving strange crimes in the manner of Sherlock Holmes.In reality, Tsui Hark got this idea for a Chinese Holmes from, of all people, a Dutchman. Robert van Gulik was a Dutch diplomat and Sinologist who was posted in China during WWII, and he took to translating, then rewriting, a Qing Dynasty novel featuring one Di Renjie as a genius criminal investigator.And who was the real Di Renjie? As is so often the case, the truth is more interesting than the fiction...Support the show