Judge Dee Trivia Quiz

Answer: Highwaymen

Ma and Chiao are highwaymen who accost the judge as he is travelling to his first magisterial post, intending to rob him. Judge Dee challenges them and a duel ensues. They are interrupted by a cavalry patrol, looking for highwaymen. The judge identifies himself and claims that he and his retainers are breaking their journey with a bit of friendly swordplay. Impressed by the judge, Ma and Chaio then ask to enter his service.

Answer: An itinerant swindler

The Judge finds Tao being beaten by villagers over loaded dice. Tao cleverly palms the loaded dice and produces honest dice, after which the judge scolds the villagers about gambling and taking the law into their own hands. Tao later asks to be taken into the judge's service. He is an expert at cheating, swindling, forging documents, and finding secret hiding places.

Answer: He was betrayed by his general and left for dead on the battlefield.

After he and his men were betrayed by General Ding, Chiao quit the army in order to search for the general and avenge his men. It was Ma Joong who quarreled with the magistrate, while he was serving as a constable of the tribunal. He fled after striking the magistrate, a capital crime.

Answer: A friend and colleague

Magistrate Lo Kwan-choong is the judge's colleague in the district of Chin-hwa in the province of Kiangsu. Although he is a rather frivolous character, with eight wives, Judge Dee counts him as a friend. Lo calls the judge "elder brother."

Answer: He investigates a crime in which she was the victim of rape and left for dead.

Returning from a visit to her father's house shortly after her marriage to Koo, she is kidnapped and raped. Her rapist is then murdered by another man and she herself is left for dead. When she tells her story to the tribunal, both her father and her husband repudiate her, saying she should have taken her own life after being dishonored. The judge then takes her into his household, as his first lady's companion. He later takes her as his third lady in the short story "He Came with the Rain" published in "Judge Dee at Work."

Answer: He'll be killed by the judge's famous sword.

When he first meets the judge, Chiao asks to see his sword, the famous Rain Dragon. "His eyes shone with a mystic fire as he spoke, 'If it should be ordained that ever I should die by the sword , I pray that it may be this blade that is washed in my blood!'" There is another reference to his dying by Rain Dragon in "The Lacquer Screen."

Answer: He is knifed by a hooded man in a wineshop.

Sergeant Hoong spots the hooded man and attempts to detain him while sending for the judge to make an arrest. He is knifed before the judge and his retainers arrive and the hooded man escapes, although not for long.

Answer: Bluewhite and Coral

Bluewhite and Coral are the daughters of Yuan, an itinerant puppeteer. Ma first encounters the strong-minded and independent Bluewhite as she fends off four ruffians. She is an acrobat, and her sister Coral sings and dances. In "Murder in Canton," it is mentioned that Ma has eight children with his two wives.

The Amber Lady and Gold Lotus are the two wives of Kuo Yuan-liang, in "The Emperor's Pearl." Apricot and Blue Jade are two young prostitutes that Judge Dee redeems and uses to expose the monks in "The Chinese Bell Murders;" he later returns them to their hometown in the Hunan province.

Answer: Zumurrud, The Smaragdine Dancer

Zumurrud, a half-Arab, half-Tanka dancer and prostitute, is involved in the disappearance of an Imperial Censor, whose case the judge is investigating. Chiao falls deeply in love with her. Silver Fairy appears in "The Red Pavilion." She is a courtesan who Ma redeems and generously gives to another man. The blind cricket seller becomes the wife of Tao Gan. Chiao's native province is never named, neither is his true name. Poo-yang is a district where the judge serves as magistrate and the setting of several novels and short stories.

Answer: He has been appointed President of the Metropolitan Court.

Judge Dee is based on a historical character who lived from 630 to 700. He finished his career as the President of the Metropolitan Court in the capital. The judge was appointed an Imperial Inquisitor, or Censor, temporarily, by the Third Princess, in "Necklace and Calabash."