Song Ci
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Song Ci (1186–1249), “Father of World Legal Medicine”: History, Science, and Forensic Culture in Contemporary China
Abstract Song Ci (1186–1249) was an official of the Southern Song Dynasty best known for authoring the Collected Writings on the Washing Away of Wrongs (Xiyuan jilu), a work often hailed as the world's first systematic treatise on forensic medicine. While biographical details about his life were known in local history writings during the late imperial period, Song had garnered relatively little attention among those who handled forensic examinations, despite the fact that his work had impacted Chinese forensic practices for centuries. In modern times, by contrast, Song has been praised by historians and forensic professionals and viewed as a founding figure of the modern forensic sciences in China and, in the boldest claims, across the globe. Song has also become the subject of historical novels, television shows, and other popular media. This article examines the ways in which the historical image and meanings of Song Ci have been negotiated in China over the Republican Period (1912–49) and after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It argues that a confluence of modern developments—new concepts of national and world history, the successful implementation of legal medicine in China, and the global popularity of forensics-themed popular culture—has given new meaning and importance to this thirteenth-century figure under the new conditions of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Keywords:
Chinese Medicine Doctors: Song Ci (AD 1186-1249)
Song Ci was a forensic medical expert active during the Southern Song Dynasty who wrote a groundbreaking book titled Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified (Xi Yuan Ji Lu). He is often considered to be the Founding Father of Forensic Science in China. song ciSong Ci was born into a bureaucratic family in Fujian Province and a Confucian learner when young. He served as a presiding judge in the Chinese high courts for many terms. During his post at a criminal court in Hunan Province, Song Ci would personally examine the crime scene each time he encountered a difficult case of homicide or physical assault. In all his life he dealt with numerous cases. Two years before he passed away (1247), he composed and published the five-volume Xi Yuan Ji Lu, which was his lifetime experience and thoughts on forensic medicine and the first of its kind in the world. It was completed more than 350 years earlier than the first European forensic work written by the Italian Forturiatus Flaelis in 1602.
Song Ci, Chinese first forensic expert, Song Dynasty
Song Ci (1186 – 1249) was a forensic medical expert in the Song Dynasty. He also is called"the father of forensic medicine". Song Ci, a Confucian learner when young, was appointed the local official at over ten places, mostly taking charge of prison administration. Song Ci served as a presiding judge in the Chinese high courts for many terms. During his post at a criminal court in Hunan Province, Song Ci would personally examine the crime scene each time he encountered a difficult case of homicide or physical assault. Song Ci combined many historical cases of forensic science with his own experiences and wrote the book Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified (Xi Yuan Ji Lu) with an eye to avoiding miscarriages of justice.Yale University The book was esteemed by generations of forensic scientists. Eventually it was translated into English, German, Japanese, French, and other languages.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 Song Ci had more skills than a mere investigator and his observations one feels are based on a great deal of experience
2 In the Twelfth Century Song Ci in China was aware of details in forensic examinations, such as entomology, which we mistakenly believe are of recent origin.
3 During his post at a criminal court in Hunan Province, Song Ci would personally examine the crime scene each time he encountered a difficult case of homicide or physical assault.