Di Renjie

Di Renjie

Di Renjie ( Chinese  狄仁傑 , Pinyin Dí Rénjié ; * 630 ; † 700 ) was a Chinese official of the Tang Dynasty, who was known for his fight against corruption . He was twice Chancellor of the Chinese Empire under Empress Wu Zetian and is the model for Judge Di , the hero of a series of detective novels by the Dutch diplomat and writer Robert van Gulik .

Life

Little is known about his early life. He was born in Taiyuan , his grandfather Di Shaoshu was Vice Chancellor under Emperor Tang Taizong . In 686 he became mayor of Gansu . Because he showed great skill in dealing with the non- Han Chinese population, he enjoyed great popularity.

In 688 he was dismissed from office for criticizing Zhang Guangsun and later installed as mayor of Fuzhou . In September of that year he was appointed chancellor and was responsible for external affairs. In February 693, he was arrested for defaming Wu Chengyi .

In 696 Chitan forces occupied an important city in Hebei . To stabilize the situation, Empress Wu Zetian installed him as Mayor of Weizhou City .

In October 697 he was reappointed to the court and chancellor for the second time, which he remained until his death. He persuaded Empress Wu to appoint the former Emperor Tang Zhongzong as Crown Prince in order to gain the support of the people. In 698 Di Renjie was appointed deputy commander against external invasions. After his death in 700 he was highly honored by the court. Empress Wu expressed her feelings with the four characters 朝堂 空 也 to express that the court would have become empty without Di Renjie.

His two sons, Di Guang-se and Di Djing-hui, also became civil servants, and his grandson Di Djien-mo later became governor of the capital of the empire.

In later times, Di Renjie's acumen and ability to solve crimes became proverbial and he became the hero of a number of short stories and at least one Chinese detective novel called Di Gong An .

literature

• Strange criminal cases of Judge Di , edited by Robert van Gullik, Diogenes Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-257-23014-1

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Di is the family name here, Renjie is the first name.