The Famous Detective of the Ancient Town

Name: The Famous Detective of the Ancient Town
ISBN: 9787520533973

刘庆玉China Culture and History Press · ChinaNov 2024

3.0

Word count: 433K words
Chapters: 204
ISBN: 9787520533973

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Summary

Based on the investigation of real criminal cases in Porcelain City, The Sleuth of the Old Town is a novel that offers both historical value and instructional insight.

Centered on Ying Jianfeng, a crack investigator in a Jiangnan porcelain city, the novel portrays a group of people's police who devoted their youth, passion, and even lives to public security.

Spanning nearly four decades, the novel witnesses the tremendous changes in criminal investigation in Porcelain City since reform and opening up. It artistically recreates more than ten high-impact criminal cases, allowing readers to experience the compelling presence of police officers who battled day and night on the front lines of investigation. Through clashes and danger, they safeguarded local peace; through life-and-death trials, they earned the renown of the police.

Small in scope yet large in vision, the novel reveals the bigger picture through specific cases and demonstrates with true stories an iron fact: the peaceful life we enjoy today is inseparable from the hard work and unregretted sacrifices of public security investigators.

Editor's review

Set in the porcelain city of Jiangnan, *The Celebrated Detective of the Ancient Town* reworks the investigation of more than a dozen real criminal cases of great impact in novelistic form, building a group portrait of public security detectives around the ace investigator Ying Jianfeng. Spanning nearly four decades, the book covers the development of criminal investigation in the porcelain city since the beginning of reform and opening up. Readers can feel the tension of danger as cases unfold, and also see the professionalization of a team through the evolution of investigative methods and working mechanisms. The book's value lies in "seeing the great in the small and representing the whole through a point": rather than exaggerated legendary treatment, it uses case after case and the youth, passion, and even sacrifice of generation after generation of detectives to show the cost behind peaceful times. It has both historical reference value and professional reference value, and is worth reading for fans of public security subjects, readers in the political and legal system, and those concerned with urban change. When reading, one may compare the order of cases with the historical background, appreciate changes in criminal investigation methods, and note how the author balances real cases and artistic representation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy public security criminal investigation subjects and case narratives
Political and legal public security professionals and police academy students reading for reference
Readers interested in urban change since the beginning of reform and opening up
Writers who want to learn how real cases are adapted into literary form

Not a good fit for

Mystery readers who prefer purely fictional suspense and seek bizarre reversals
Readers with little interest in case details and investigative processes
Readers looking for light, humorous, or romance fiction

Reading tips

One may first read the cases from the earlier and later periods to compare changes in investigative methods and the historical environment.
By separately tracing Ying Jianfeng's character thread, one can see more clearly how the group portrait of detectives is constructed.
While reading the cases, note how the author handles the boundary between real background and artistic representation.
Reading with the porcelain city's regional context in mind makes it easier to understand the relationship between the cases and urban life.

About the publisher

China Culture and History Press China · Founded in 1980

China Culture and History Press has long devoted itself to modern and contemporary literature and culture-and-history reading matter, with publishing directions centered on classic works, social novels, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy, alongside culture-and-history periodicals such as Zongheng. Among the more than 1,500 titles in the collection, representative books include Zhang Henshui's Ti Xiao Yin Yuan, Lu Xun's Complete Classic Works (10 volumes) and Wild Grass, and Lao She's Four Generations Under One Roof series and the boxed set of Lao She's Classic Works (10 volumes), while its author resources are concentrated on figures such as Zhang Henshui, Lu Xun, Lao She and Sima Qian. Its publishing character lies in solid editorial work on culture-and-history source texts and in issuing famous authors' works in sets, balancing the readability of individual texts with the systematic presentation of complete collections for focused reading and collecting. Beyond these directions, public information on the press's contemporary original publishing is limited, so it is not elaborated here.

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后记

FAQ

Are the cases in the book real?

The work is a novel adapted from the investigation background of real criminal cases in the porcelain city. The cases have undergone artistic treatment, and the characters and plots involve literary embellishment, so it should not be read as a strict case file; overall, however, it retains the basic background of the real cases and the texture of detective work.

The book spans nearly four decades. Will it be confusing to read?

The book links cases from different periods through characters such as Ying Jianfeng, and the overall thread is clear. When reading, it is advisable to note the era of each case and treat changes in investigative methods as a hidden thread; this makes the nearly four-decade span easier to understand.

Is it helpful for studying public security work?

The work has a certain textbook-like guiding role, showing investigative thinking and the working conditions of detectives through case investigation, and can serve as supplementary reading for understanding criminal investigation work; but it is essentially a novel and cannot replace professional textbooks and standardized training.

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About the author

刘庆玉 Author · Chinese

Liu Qingyu is a Chinese author about whom little public information is available. Only one work by this author is currently included in the collection: the social novel The Famous Detective of the Old Town. Based on the available information, Liu's writing falls under the category of social fiction, with a story set against the backdrop of an old town and blending detective elements with observations of everyday life and human relations. As the author's dates of birth and death, educational background, and writing career cannot be verified, little more can be said about the author's life. Judging from the existing work alone, readers may regard Liu as a writer attentive to small-town life and social reality, and The Famous Detective of the Old Town serves as the main entry point for understanding this author's writing.