Tang-era detective finds cases elementary

A new TV series, Judge Dee's Mystery, featuring China's Sherlock Holmes, Di Renjie, a famous statesman and county magistrate in the Tang (618-907) court, has been showing on Youku's domestic and international livestreaming platforms since last month.

Youku has confirmed that Netflix has purchased the broadcasting rights to the drama, which is one of the platform's most eagerly anticipated shows. It is adapted from the Judge Dee Mysteries, a series of books written by Dutch Sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik, and will reach audiences in more than 190 countries and regions around the world.

In this adaptation, as Di solves criminal cases in the early stages of his career, he also gradually uncovers the mystery of his birth. Overseas audiences can watch the show with subtitles in 10 languages, including English, Thai and Portuguese, via Youku's international channel.

Inspired by Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, a novel by an anonymous writer from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Van Gulik spent about 17 years writing the Judge Dee books from the 1950s onward. The English-language series includes 14 novels and two novellas that feature Di cracking a series of mysterious criminal cases during the reign of Tang Dynasty Emperor Gaozong (628-683).