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The Injustice to Dou E Book Review - Edwin Fu 
I finished The Injustice to Dou E (???) in a futile attempt to improve my mastery of the Chinese language. Nevertheless, this story by acclaimed playwright Guan Hanqing opened my eyes to the zeitgeist of Yuan Dynasty in China - the prevailing moral attitudes, religious beliefs and government then. Here is a brief summary before my analysis of the story against the backdrop of my beliefs. In my opinion, there are four main characters in the story - Dou E, Dou Tianzhang, Widow Cai and Zhang the Mule. The titular Dou E is the daughter of Dou Tianzhang, a poor scholar. Dou E is left in the care of Widow Cai when her father decided that the only alternative to death from poverty is to chance at officialdom through seating for the Imperial Examinations. Part of the arrangement was for Dou E to marry Widow Cai's son, but he died soon after and Dou E dutifully continued serving Widow Cai as a virtuous daughter-in-law.
Zhang the Mule enters the story as an unscrupulous imposer. Widow Cai's life was saved by Zhang the Mule, but her misfortune merely changed hands as Zhang the Mule exploited his benefactor status by blackmailing Widow Cai to marry herself and Dou E to his father and himself respectively. This arrangement was met with fierce resistance by Dou E, and in response, Zhang the Mule hatched a scheme to poison Widow Cai to better take advantage of Dou E. Zhang the Mule's plan backfired and his father ended up poisoned instead.
Ever the crafty scoundrel, Zhang the Mule sought to benefit from the tragic situation by accusing Dou E and Widow Cai of murdering his father. Through a drawn out succession of blackmail, bribery, lies and torture, Dou E was framed as a murderer. She appealed to the gods for justice to be served and for 3 miracles to demonstrate her innocence to the watching public. The miracles occurred as follows: 1) she dripped blood that does not stain the ground 2) snow fell in the midst of summer 3) drought in Chouzhou which lasted 3 years. She was then beheaded and became a grieving ghost.
Dou E's father, Dou Tianzhang, succeeded in passing the imperial examination, and was rapidly promoted to Chief of Administration. Three years after Dou E's death, Dou Tianzhang was tasked by the Emperor with checking on the conduct of local magistrates, especially by re-examining court cases. Eventually, with otherworldly help by Dou E, Dou Tianzhang exposes the injustice and dispenses due punishment to the true transgressors. First, a disclaimer: I am interpreting this Chinese classic based on an english translation, so there are 3 layers of possible distortion of the intended story that Guan Hanqing tried to convey - his words, the translator's words, my words. Do not misconstrue my interpretation as more accurate than it is. The story is centered around the theme of justice - how injustice came to be and how justice was eventually served. Eastern justice during the Yuan Dynasty as opposed to modern notions of justice appears to be more symbolic, mystical, evident by the role of the miracles. There is also a belief in karmic justice as illustrated is Dou E's father returning as a judge and Dou E acting as a witness even as a ghost; it is believed that the truth will come to light and good will prevail in the end. My instinctive reaction to Dou E's plea to the gods was bewilderment. My reaction towards injustice would be more vengeful; I would want the guilty party and the one who framed me to experience greater punishment; that would be, in my opinion, justice served. Dou E's appeal for three miracles served no immediate change to her predicament nor punishment to the guilty. In reflection, the miracles serve as a demonstration of her innocence to the watching public and future generations. It seems that vengeance, to the Yuan Dynasty Chinese people, is less important than being vindicated.
My opinion is that the judgement came too little too late. An innocent lady who lived a virtuous life suffered hundreds of strokes of the cudgel and was beheaded; the guilty culprits lived in luxury for three years before being beheaded. To me, ultimately Dou E was not rewarded for her virtue, but was punished for her naive thinking that justice is bestowed, not pursued. Also, remember when I mentioned the importance of being vindicated to the Yuan Dynasty people. The extent of this is perversely apparent when Dou E appealed to the gods to demonstrate her innocence by (get this!) causing a drought in Chouzhou. Inevitably, crops, trees, and many innocent people starved and died. Where is the justice in that? Misery loves company it seems. Yuan Dynasty people have no notion of utilitarianism as well. However, there is a sense of togetherness, of a community, as opposed to individualism in modern societies. People came together to witness and lambaste Dou E as she was brought through the town to the execution site, as they believed her to be guilty of the heinous crime of poisoning one's father-in-law. The people also suffered together for the injustice to Dou E. Another noteworthy point is that the characters, including the judge, used rhetoric, cultural stereotypes and emotional appeals instead of employing rigorous logic and plain facts. E.g. "Dou E was a young girl. Where would she have got poison from. Do people normally keep poison in their homes? The poison must have been made up at an apothecary's shop." - Dou Tianzhang as Imperial Inspector. Furthermore, biases toward or against the plaintiff or defendant are frequently in play. Even Dou Tianzhang, a supposedly impartial judge, was biased towards finding in favour of his daughter. The religion Taoism has a minor role in the story. I say minor because the role of the gods merely serve to make Dou E's death more dramatic and her innocence more apparent through the performance of miracles. In fact, the story is still coherent with the exclusion of gods and supernatural in the form of Dou E's ghost. As a religion, the Taoist gods as not omniscient as they actually need to mingle with the crowd in order to know the worldly affairs on the ground. Apparently, a whole host of gods can be sent to look into the case of a single individual, Dou E, in order to perform miracles. In all, The Injustice to Dou E is an enjoyable and educational read.
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