[Note 10] (Translator’s note) Yen Lee-ben died in A.D. 673, at an advanced age. The Museum of Fine Arts, at Boston, has a painting by him.
Translator’s Postscript Notes
[Note 1] In the translation I have transcribed all Chinese names in such a way that they can be easily remembered, omitting the diacritical marks of the Giles system of romanisation, which would only confuse the general reader. Judge Ti, for instance, I transcribe “Judge Dee.” In this postscript, however, I use the regular system of transcription.
[Note 2] I have in my collection a novel entitled Wu-tsê-t'ien-wai-shih, “Unofficial Records regarding Empress Wu,” 28 chapters in two vls.; the author signs himself with the penname Pu-ch'i-shêng, and it was published in 1902, in Shanghai. This book is plain pornography, written in vulgar language. The modern bibliographer Sun Kai-ti, in his well known catalogue of Chinese novels Chung-kuo-t'ung-su-hsiao-shuo-shu-mu (Peiping 1933) lists on page 223 another pornographic novel, with the slightly different title Tsê-t'ien-wai-shih; he adds that he has not seen the book itself. I would not be astonished if on further investigation in this field it would turn out that this Tsê-t'ien-wai-shih, or some other similar older pornographic novel describing Empress Wu’s complicated love-life, is the source of Part II of the text discussed here.
The Poisoned Bride and Other Judge Dee Stories Page 26