Where Dragons Roam

Words of the Chapter:

Chinese	Romanized	Notes
宋慈	Sòng Cí	A lawyer from the Southern Song dynasty (1186 – 1249) who is said to have written “洗冤集錄|洗冤集录” – the world’s first book on forensic science.
生死	Shēng sǐ	Life or death 生 – pictograph of a bud sprouting up from the ground 死 – combination of 歹 (“carcass”) + 人 (“person”)
南宋	Nán Sòng	Southern (南) + Song (宋) Dynasty (1127-1279) Uses the same (宋) character that is in the main character’s name 😊. The character for “Southern” might have been the pictograph of a home – now with a little man inside waving his arms to say ‘ hello’. 👋🏻 – In ancient China, many homes faced the South.
年二十岁	nián èr shí suì	Twenty Years Old I know “二十” (20) and ‘年’ (year) from my time in China. 岁 (suì) is the classifier that denotes age (e.g., 20 years old). Seems to come from ‘motion’ or walking’ from point to point. Sort of a ’20 years in motion from birth to now’ sort of concept? 🤔
背后	bèi hòu	Behind, At the Back of 背 means ‘behind’ and 后 says it is a preposition. 背 ‘original pictograph looked like the character for ‘North.’ Somehow this came to mean ‘behind’ and was used for being betrayed. I’m guessing that since your home (good things) faced south, the opposite (behind you, betrayal) came to be associated with North? – 🤔

世界法医鼻祖宋慈，生平为何不见史书记载？今天我们能了解宋慈，多亏宋慈挚友刘克庄。本书讲述的正是宋慈和好友刘克庄携手探案的生死友谊。

Sòng Cí was the world’s founder of forensic medicine. . . so why are there no historical records of his life? Thankfully, we can still learn more about Sòng Cí because of his very close friend, Liú Kèzhuāng. This novel tells the story of Sòng Cí and Liú Kèzhuāng’s life-or-death friendship as they work together to investigate these legal cases.

南宋开禧元年，时年二十岁的宋慈，正在太学读书，却无意中卷入一起案件。自小跟随父亲学习验尸推案的宋慈，被责令限期破案。随着走访勘查的深入，他发现案件背后还有案件，冤情背后还有冤情，真相背后还有真相。所有线索最后都指向了多年前的一起案件，而这起旧案不仅埋藏着宋慈家族的秘密，还关系着大宋的安危。

In the first year of the Southern Song dynasty, Song Ci, who was 20 years old at the time, was studying at Tài Xué¹ when he unexpectedly became involved in a case. Sòng Cí had learned about autopsies by following his father since he was a child and was ordered to solve the case within a limited period of time. He found behind this case lay other cases, behind one grievance law other grievances, behind one truth lay other truths. At last, the clues point to a case that occurred many years ago. . . a case that not only hides secrets of Sòng Cí’s family, but also relates to the safety of the Song Dynasty.

1. Tài Xué (太学) – aka Imperial College of Supreme Learning – was the highest educational institute in ancient China until the Sui Dynasty. Established in 124 BC. ↩︎

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Table of Contents

• Introduction