Dutch Sinologist commemorated with book and documentary

THE HAGUE - A book about a Dutch boy meeting Dutch diplomat and Sinologist Robert van Gulik (1910-67) who introduced Judge Dee of the Tang Dynasty to the West, and a documentary on this versatile all-rounder, were presented on last Tuesday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passing away of the legendary scholar. A limited edition of The Hall Where Clarity is Revered - first published in Dutch in the 1990s, now translated into Chinese and printed on silk-screen and assembled by hand - was presented at the commemoration event held at the Chinese Cultural Center in The Hague.

In the story, Arthur Japin, now 61 years old, describes his childhood encounters with Van Gulik, a family friend. Before meeting him for the first time at the age of 5, Japin's attention had already been drawn by the exotic stamps on the mail his parents received from Kuala Lumpur, where Van Gulik was the Dutch ambassador from 1959 to 1962.

"He made a big, lasting impression on me. Meeting him set parts of my imagination on fire. He opened my mind, I realized that this is what people do, and that I could go and live somewhere far away too," says Japin.