Challenging the supernatural in Chinese traditional law – comparison of Judge Dee and van Gulik’s translation

Abstract

ABSTRACTAlthough Robert van Gulik translated the detective stories of Judge Dee (Dee Gong An), he did not translate everything in the original text. He omitted some parts and rewrote them to suit the appetites of Western readers. These parts in the translation reveal important messages regarding the translator’s evaluation of the original text. Therefore, this paper aims (1) to compare the translation and the original text to illuminate ideas regarding the supernatural in law; and (2) to examine whether the original text really needed to be revised by the translator, and to consider if, in fact, some legal ideas in traditional Chinese law questioned by the translator have already been presented in the original text.