Di Renjie


Di Renjie, courtesy name Huaiying, formally Duke Wenhui of Liang, was an official of Tang and Zhou dynasties, twice serving as chancellor during the reign of Wu Zetian. He was one of the most celebrated officials of Wu Zetian's reign.

Background

Di Renjie was born in Yangqu County, Bing Province in 630, during the reign of Emperor Taizong. His family, from Taiyuan, was one that had produced many officials. His grandfather Di Xiaoxu served as Shangshu Zuo Cheng, a secretary general of the executive bureau of government, and his father Di Zhixun served as the prefect of Kui Prefecture.
Di Renjie was known for being studious in his youth, and after passing the imperial examination served as a secretary at the prefectural government of Bian Prefecture. While serving there, he was falsely accused of improprieties by colleagues, and when the minister of public works, Yan Liben, was touring the Henan Circuit, which Bian Prefecture belonged to, he was asked to judge the case. After seeing Di, he was impressed by him, and commented, "Confucius had said, 'You can tell a man's kindness by his failure.' You are a pearl from the coast and a lost treasure of the southeast." He recommended Di to become a bailiff for the commandant at Bing Prefecture.
While at Bing Prefecture, he was said to be caring of others. On one occasion, his colleague Zheng Chongzhi was ordered to go on an official trip to a place far away. Di, noting that Zheng's mother was old and ill, went to the secretary general Lin Renji and offered to go in Zheng's stead. It was said that Lin was so touched by the concern that Di showed Zheng as a colleague that he relayed the episode to the military advisor to the prefect, Li Xiaolian, with whom Lin had a running dispute, and offered peaceful relations to Li.
By 676, during the reign of Emperor Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong, Di was serving as the secretary general at the supreme court, and it was said that he was an efficient and fair judge, judging some 17,000 cases within a year without anyone complaining about the results. In 676, there was an event in which the general Quan Shancai and the military officer Fan Huaiyi accidentally cut cypresses on Emperor Taizong's tomb—an offense punishable by removal from office, but Emperor Gaozong ordered that the two be executed. Di pointed out that, by law, the two should not be executed. This initially offended Emperor Gaozong, who ordered Di to leave his presence. Di continued to object, and eventually, Emperor Gaozong relented and exiled them. Several days later, he appointed Di to the imperial censorate.
Around 679, the minister of agriculture Wei Hongji built three magnificent palaces around the eastern capital Luoyang—Suyu Palace, Gaoshan Palace, and Shangyang Palace. Di submitted an accusation against Wei, arguing that he was leading Emperor Gaozong into being wasteful, and Wei was removed from his office. Meanwhile, around the same time, the official Wang Benli was said to be favored by Emperor Gaozong and, on account of that favor, was committing many illegal deeds and intimidating other officials. Di accused Wang of crimes; initially, Emperor Gaozong was set to pardon him. At Di's insistence—pointing out that the empire did not lack people with Wang's talent—Emperor Gaozong relented and allowed Wang to be punished.

During Emperor Ruizong's first reign

As of 686, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong's son Emperor Ruizong, Di Renjie was serving as the prefect of Ning Prefecture. At that time, the censor Guo Han was commissioned to tour the prefectures in the area, and wherever he went, he found faults with the prefects and corrected them, but when he arrived at Ning Prefecture, it was said that the people had no complaints about Di and praised him greatly. Guo recommended Di to Emperor Ruizong's mother and regent Empress Dowager Wu, and Di was recalled to Luoyang to serve as deputy minister of public works.
In 688, Di was touring the Jiangnan Circuit. He believed that the region had too many temples dedicated to unusual deities, and at his request, some 1,700 temples were destroyed; only four kinds of temples were allowed to remain—those dedicated to Yu the Great, Wu Taibo, Wu Jizha, and Wu Zixu.
Later in 688, in the aftermath of a failed rebellion by Emperor Gaozong's brother Li Zhen the Prince of Yue, then the prefect of Yu Prefecture, against Empress Dowager Wu, she made Di, who was at that time Wenchang Zuo Cheng, a secretary general at the executive bureau, the prefect of Yu Prefecture to succeed Li Zhen. At that time, some 600 to 700 households were accused of being complicit in Li Zhen's rebellion and were forced to serve as servants. At Di's request, they were relieved from those obligations, but were exiled to Feng Prefecture.
Meanwhile, the general that Empress Dowager Wu sent to suppress Li Zhen's rebellion, the chancellor Zhang Guangfu, was still in Yu Prefecture, and his officers and soldiers were demanding all kinds of supplies from the Yu prefectural government, requests that Di mostly turned down. This led to an argument with Zhang, and Zhang accused him of showing contempt; in turn, Di angrily stated that Zhang was killing alleged coconspirators of Li Zhen excessively and that if he had the authority to do so, he would have beheaded Zhang even if it meant his own death. Zhang was greatly offended and, upon return to Luoyang, accused Di of contempt, and Empress Dowager Wu demoted Di to be the prefect of Fu Prefecture.

During Wu Zetian's reign

In 690, Empress Dowager Wu took the throne from Emperor Ruizong, establishing the Zhou Dynasty as its "emperor" and interrupting the Tang Dynasty. As of 691, Di was serving as the military advisor to the prefect of the capital prefecture Luo Prefecture, when Wu Zetian promoted him to be the deputy minister of finance and gave him the designation Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi, making him a 'de facto chancellor.
She commented to him, "You did a good job in Ru'nan . Do you want to know who spoke against you?" Di responded:
Wu Zetian was impressed by the response and praised him. Later that year, when the imperial university's student Wang Xunzhi submitted a petition to Wu Zetian asking her to permit him to go on vacation, she was poised to issue an edict to approve of the request, when Di opposed the edict—not on the merits, but on the basis that university students' vacations were such minor events that she should not bother herself with them, but rather should order that such petitions be directed to the university secretaries. She agreed.
In 692, Wu Zetian's secret police official Lai Junchen falsely accused Di, along with other chancellors Ren Zhigu, and Pei Xingben, along with other officials Cui Xuanli, Lu Xian, Wei Yuanzhong, and Li Sizhen, of treason. Lai tried to induce them to confess by citing an imperial edict that stated that those who confessed would be spared their lives, and Di confessed and was not tortured—but when Lai's subordinate Wang Deshou tried to induce him to implicate another chancellor, Yang Zhirou, refused. Di then wrote a petition on his blanket and hid it inside cotton clothes, and then had his family members take the clothes home to be changed into summer clothes. Wu Zetian thereafter became suspicious and inquired with Lai, who responded by forging, in the names of Di and the other officials, submissions thanking Wu Zetian for preparing to execute them.
However, the young son of another chancellor who had been executed, Le Sihui, who was seized to be a servant at the ministry of agriculture, made a petition to Wu Zetian and told her that Lai was so skillful at manufacturing charges that even the most honest and faithful individuals would be forced into confessions by Lai. Wu Zetian thereafter summoned the seven accused officials and personally interrogated them, and after they disavowed the forged confessions, released but exiled them—in Di's case, to be the magistrate of Pengze County.
In 696, during the middle of an attack by the Khitan khan Sun Wanrong against Zhou prefectures north of the Yellow River, Wu Zetian promoted Di to be the prefect of Wei Prefecture. It was said that Di's predecessor Dugu Sizhuang, in fear of a Khitan attack, had ordered the people of the prefecture to all move within the prefectural capital's walls, drawing much fear and resentment from the people. When Di arrived, he, judging the Khitan forces to be still far away, ordered that the people be allowed to return to their homes and farms, gaining much gratitude from the people. After Sun's forces collapsed in 697 after a surprise attack by the Eastern Tujue khan Ashina Mochuo against his home base, Wu Zetian had Di, the chancellor Lou Shide, and Wu Yizong the Prince of Henan to tour the region north of the Yellow River to try to pacify the people.
Later in 697, Di was serving as the commandant at You Prefecture, when, at Lou's recommendation, Wu Zetian recalled him to Luoyang to serve as Luantai Shilang, the deputy head of the examination bureau of government, and again gave him the chancellor designation of Tong Fengge Luantai Pingzhangshi. He submitted a petition advocating that descendants of Western Tujue and Goguryeo rulers be found and be given their ancient lands, to help defend against Eastern Tujue and Tufan attacks—a petition that was not accepted but was said to be well regarded by other officials.
At that time, Wu Zetian's son Li Dan was crown prince, but Wu Zetian's nephews Wu Chengsi the Prince of Wei and Wu Sansi the Prince of Liang both had designs on the position, and repeatedly had their associates reason with Wu Zetian that there had never been an emperor who made someone of a different family name his heir. Di, on the other hand, repeatedly argued to her that it is more proper for her to make her son her heir, and that Li Dan's brother Li Zhe the Prince of Luling, himself a former emperor that Wu Zetian removed in 684, be recalled to the capital, a suggestion echoed by fellow chancellors Wang Fangqing and Wang Jishan, and Wu Zetian began to agree. On one occasion, Wu Zetian asked him, "Last night I dreamed of a large parrot that had two broken wings. What do you think it means?" Di responded:
It was said that thereafter, Wu Zetian stopped considering Wu Chengsi or Wu Sansi as heir. Meanwhile, another close advisor of Wu Zetian's, Ji Xu, also persuaded Wu Zetian's lovers Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong the merits of the proposal—pointing out that as things stood, after Wu Zetian's death, they would be hated and would suffer terrible fates. Wu Zetian finally agreed, and in spring 698 recalled Li Zhe to the capital. Li Dan subsequently offered to yield the crown prince position to Li Zhe, and Wu Zetian agreed and created Li Zhe crown prince, changing his name to Li Xian and then Wu Xian. She soon made Di Nayan, the head of the examination bureau and a post considered one for a chancellor.
Also in 698, Ashina Mochuo turned against Zhou and attacked Zhou's northern prefectures. Wu Zetian made Li Xian the nominal commanding general of the army against Eastern Tujue, but made Di the deputy commanding general and actually in charge of the army. Before Di's army could arrive, however, Ashina Mochuo completed his pillaging of the northern prefectures and withdrew; Di's army never engaged him. Wu Zetian subsequently commissioned Di to tour the prefectures to pacify the people, and he was said to have done so well, helping refugees to return to their home, transporting food supplies to places needing them, repairing the roads, and helping the poor. Fearful that other officials would trouble the people with demands for luxury items, he made a good example of eating unrefined foods and prohibiting harassment of the citizens. Meanwhile, though, he was said to have looked down on Lou, not realizing that Lou had been the one that had recommended that he be made chancellor, until Wu Zetian revealed to him that fact, causing him to be embarrassed.
In 700, Wu Zetian made Di Neishi, the head of the legislative bureau and a post also considered one for a chancellor. By this point, she was said to have respected him so greatly that she often just referred to him as Guolao without referring to him by name. It was said that, on account of his old age, he often offered to retire, and she repeatedly declined. Further, she stopped him from kneeling and bowing to her, stating, "When I see you kneeling, I feel the pain." She also ordered that he not be required to rotate with other chancellors for night duty, warning the other chancellors not to bother Di unless there was something important. Di died in fall 700, and it was said that she wept bitterly, stating, "The Southern Palace is now empty."
Prior to his death, Di had recommended many capable officials, including Zhang Jianzhi, Yao Yuanchong, Huan Yanfan, and Jing Hui. As these officials were later instrumental in overthrowing Wu Zetian in 705 and returning Li Xian to the throne, Di was often credited as having restored Tang by proxy.
Di Renjie's tomb is located at the east end of the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, near the Qiyun Pagoda, on the tombstone engraved the inscription "The tomb of Lord Di Renjie, famous chancellor of the Great Tang dynasty".

In fiction

Di Renjie appears as the main character in a number of gong'an crime novels and films. The first of these stories, Di Gong An or Dee Goong An, is an 18th-century Chinese detective novel written by the pseudonymous author 不题撰人, loosely based on Di Renjie.
Robert van Gulik translated the novel in the 1940s as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. He later wrote a series of detective novels featuring Judge Dee as the main protagonist. These in turn were the basis of a 1969 TV series in the UK starring Michael Goodliffe.
Khigh Dhiegh appeared as the Judge Dee version of the character in the 1974 ABC TV movie Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders, based on Robert Van Gulik's novel The Haunted Monastery. It was directed by Jeremy Paul Kagan and the teleplay was written by Nicholas Meyer.
Frédéric Lenormand published 19 new novels using Judge Dee as detective from 2004 to present.
In 2004, CCTV-8 aired a television series based on detective stories related to Di Renjie, under the title Amazing Detective Di Renjie, starring Liang Guanhua as the titular protagonist. It was followed by three sequels: Amazing Detective Di Renjie 2, Amazing Detective Di Renjie 3, and Mad Detective Di Renjie. Some characters in the television series are fictionalised versions of historical figures, including Wu Zetian and Di Renjie himself. The plot of each season is further divided into two or three parts, each covering one case. The story usually follows a pattern of a seemingly small case gradually leading to Di Renjie uncovering a sinister plot that threatens the Chinese empire.
Kent Cheng portrayed Di Renjie in the 2009 Hong Kong television series The Greatness of a Hero produced by TVB.
Andy Lau played Di Renjie in the 2010 film Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame directed by Tsui Hark.
Bosco Wong portrayed a young Di Renjie in the 2014 Chinese television series Young Sherlock.
Mark Chao portrayed Di Renjie in the 2013 Hong Kong movie "" and its sequel "" both also directed by Tsui Hark. The two films are set as a prequel to the events in the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.
In 2012, Bigben Interactive released a video game based on Di Renjie named Judge Dee: The City God Case. Initially released on PC, the casual hidden-object game later made it on to other platforms including Android and iOS.
Nupixo Games released a new point-and-click adventure game featuring an original story which involves Empress Wu Zetian. Titled Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders, it released in May 2019 for PC/Mac.