Dream of the Red Chamber

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For other uses, see Dream of the Red Chamber (disambiguation).
"The Story of the Stone" redirects here. For Barry Hughart's fantasy novel on ancient China, see The Story of the Stone (Barry Hughart).
Dream of the Red Chamber
紅樓夢
Author Cáo Xuěqín
Original title 石頭記
Translator David Hawkes (scholar) / John Minford, see Translations section
Country China
Language Chinese
Genre(s) Novel
Publication date 18th century
Published in
English		 1973–1980 (1st complete English translation)
Media type Scribal copies/Print

Dream of the Red Chamber, The Red Chamber Dreams or A Dream of Red Mansions (Traditional Chinese: 紅樓夢; Simplified Chinese: 红楼梦; pinyin: Hónglóu mèng), also known as The Story of the Stone (Traditional Chinese: 石頭記; Simplified Chinese: 石头记; pinyin: Shítóu jì) is one of the masterpieces of Chinese fiction and one of the Chinese Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is attributed to Cáo Xuěqín (Cao Zhan).

The novel is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the fortunes of Cao's own family. As the author details in the first chapter, it is intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants.

The novel is remarkable not only for its huge cast of characters (most of them female) and psychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social structures typical of 18th-century Chinese aristocracy.[1]

Contents

[edit] Language

The novel, written in Vernacular Chinese and not Classical Chinese, is one of the works that established the legitimacy of the vernacular idiom. Its author is well versed in Classical Chinese – with tracts written in erudite semi-wenyan – and in Chinese poetry. The novel's conversations were written in a vivid Beijing Mandarin dialect which was to become the basis of modern spoken Chinese, with influences from Nanjing Mandarin (where Cao's family lived in the early 1700s).

[edit] Plot summary

A scene from the story, painted by Xu Bao (born 1810). Other scenes.
A scene from the story, painted by Xu Bao (born 1810).
Other scenes.

The novel provides a detailed, episodic record of the two branches of the Jia Clan, the Ning-guo and Rong-guo Houses, who reside in two large adjacent family compounds in the capital. Their ancestors were made Dukes, and as the novel begins the two houses remain among the most illustrious families in the capital. The novel describes the Jias' wealth and influence in great naturalistic detail, and charts the Jias' fall from the height of their prestige, following some thirty main characters and over four hundred minor ones. Eventually the Jia Clan falls into disfavor with the Emperor, and their mansions are raided and confiscated.

The story's preface has supernatural Taoist and Buddhist overtones. A sentient Stone, abandoned by the Goddess Nüwa when she mended the heavens aeons ago, begs a Taoist priest and Buddhist monk to bring it to see the world, falls in love with a Crimson Pearl Flower, and then enters the mortal realm.

The main character, Jia Baoyu, is the adolescent heir of the family, possibly a reincarnation of the Stone (although in the most reliable Jiaxu manuscript the Stone and Jia Baoyu are separate while related). The Crimson Pearl Flower is incarnated now as Baoyu's sickly cousin, the emotional Lin Daiyu. Baoyu is predestined in this life to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai. This love triangle against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes forms the most well-known plot line in the novel.

[edit] Themes

The name of the main family, "賈" is pronounced the same in Mandarin as "假" which means false, fake, fictitious, deceitful or sham. Thus Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹) suggests that the novel's family is a "dream" version of his family that is a mixture of real and fake story telling. Baoyu (寶玉) occasionally dreams of another Baoyu, whose surname is "甄", which puns on "眞" (real, true).

The novel is normally called Hong Lou Meng or Hung Lou Meng (紅樓夢), literally "Red Mansion Dream." "Red Mansion" was an idiom for the sheltered chambers where the daughters of wealthy families lived. It can also be understood as referring to a dream that Baoyu has, set in a "Red Mansion," where the fates of many of the female characters are foreshadowed. "Red" also suggests the Buddhist idea that the whole world is "red dust" (紅塵), merely illusory and to be shunned. Thus the novel fits in perfectly with Buddhist (佛) and Taoist (道) beliefs that to find enlightenment, one must realize that the world is but a dream from which we must awake.

[edit] Characters

The novel contains nearly thirty characters often considered major, and hundreds of minor ones. Jia Baoyu is the male protagonist. Females take center stage and are frequently shown to be more capable than their male counterparts.

[edit] The Masters and Mistresses

  • Jia Baoyu (賈寶玉): the main protagonist. The adolescent son of Jia Zheng (賈政) and his wife, Lady Wang (王夫人). Born with a piece of luminescent jade in his mouth, Baoyu is the heir apparent to the Rongguo line (榮國府). Frowned on by his strict Confucian father, Baoyu prefers reading novels and casual literature to the Four Books basic to a classical Chinese education. Baoyu is highly intelligent, but hates the fawning bureaucrats that frequent his father's house. He shuns most men, considering them morally and spiritually inferior to women. Sensitive and compassionate, Baoyu holds the view that "girls are in essence pure as water, and men are in essence muddled as mud." Baoyu's distaste for worldly affairs and his frustrated love for his cousin Daiyu (黛玉) eventually cause him to become a Buddhist monk.
  • Lin Daiyu (林黛玉): Jia Baoyu's first cousin and love interest. She is the daughter of Lin Ruhai (林如海), a Yangchow scholar-official, and Lady Jia Min (賈敏), Baoyu's paternal aunt. The novel proper starts in Chapter 3 with Daiyu's arrival at the Rongguo house (榮國府) shortly after the death of her mother. Beautiful but fragile emotionally, prone to fits of jealousy, Daiyu is nevertheless an extremely accomplished poet and musician. The novel designates her one of the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling," and describes her as a lonely, proud and ultimately tragic figure. Daiyu is the reincarnation of the Crimson Pearl Flower, and the purpose of her mortal birth is to repay her divine nurturer, reborn as Baoyu, her "debt of tears".
  • Xue Baochai (薛寶釵): Jia Baoyu's other first cousin. The only daughter of Aunt Xue (薛姨媽), sister to Baoyu's mother, Baochai is a foil to Daiyu. Where Daiyu is unconventional and hypersensitive, Baochai is sensible, tactful and a favorite of the Jia household; a model Chinese feudal maiden. The novel describes her as a beautiful and intelligent girl, but also very reserved. Although reluctant to show the extent of her knowledge, Baochai seems to be quite learned about everything, from Buddhist teachings to how not to make a paint plate crack. Also one of the "Twelve Beauties in Jinling," Baochai has a round face, fair skin, and, some would say, a voluptuous figure in contrast to Daiyu's willowy daintiness. Baochai carries a golden locket with her which contains words given to her in childhood by a Buddhist monk. Baochai's golden locket and Baoyu's jade contain inscriptions that appear to complement one another perfectly; their marriage is seen in the book as predestined.
  • Jia Yuanchun (賈元春): Baoyu's elder sister by about a decade. Originally one of the ladies-in-waiting in the imperial palace, Yuanchun later becomes an Imperial Consort, having impressed the Emperor with her virtue and learning. Her illustrious position as a favorite of the Emperor marks the height of the Jia family's powers. Despite her prestigious position, Yuanchun feels imprisoned within the four walls of the imperial palace. Eventually Yuanchun's sudden death precipitates the fall of the Jia family. Included in Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
  • Jia Tanchun (賈探春): Baoyu's younger half-sister, by Concubine Zhao, second wife to Jia Zheng. Brash and extremely outspoken, she is almost as capable as Wang Xifeng. Wang Xifeng herself compliments her privately, but laments that she was "born in the wrong womb," since concubine children are not respected as much as those by first wives. Tanchun is nicknamed "Rose" for her beauty and her prickly personality.
  • Shi Xiangyun (史湘雲): Jia Baoyu's second cousin, Grandmother Jia's grand-niece. Orphaned in infancy, she grows up under her wealthy maternal uncle and aunt who use her unkindly. In spite of this Xiangyun is openhearted and cheerful. A comparatively androgynous beauty, Xiangyun looks good in men's clothes, and loves to drink and eat meat (considered masculine). She is forthright without tact, but her forgiving nature takes the sting from her casually truthful remarks. She is learned and as talented a poet as Daiyu or Baochai. She is also one of Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
  • Miaoyu (妙玉, Adamantine): a young nun from Buddhist cloisters of the Rongguo house. Beautiful, very learned but a little arrogant and disdainful. One of the four most important women in Jia Baoyu's life.
  • Grandmother Jia (賈母), née Shi. Also called the Matriarch or the Dowager. The daughter of Marquis Shi of Jinling. Grandmother to both Baoyu and Daiyu, she is the highest living authority in the Rongguo house and the oldest and most respected of the entire Clan, yet doting. She has two sons, Jia She and Jia Zheng, and a daughter, Min, Daiyu's mother. Daiyu is brought to the house of the Jias at the insistence of Grandmother Jia, and she helps Daiyu and Baoyu bond as childhood playmates and, later, kindred spirits.
  • Jia Yingchun (賈迎春): Second female in the generation of the Jia household after Yuanchun, Yingchun is the daughter of Jia She, Baoyu's uncle and therefore his eldest female (second) cousin. A kind-hearted, weak-willed, devout Taoist, Yingchun is said to have a "wooden" personality and seems rather apathetic toward all worldly affairs. Although very pretty and well-read, she does not compare in intelligence and wit to any of her cousins. Yingchun's most famous trait, it seems, is her unwillingness to meddle in the affairs of her family. Eventually Yingchun marries a new favorite of the imperial court, her marriage merely one her father's desperate attempts to raise the declining fortunes of the Jia family. The newly married Yingchun becomes a victim of domestic abuse and constant violence at the hands of her cruel, abusive husband.
  • Jia Xichun (賈惜春) - Baoyu's younger second cousin from the Ningguo House, but brought up in the Rongguo Mansion. A gifted painter, she is also a devout Buddhist. She is also the sister of Jia Zhen, head of the Ningguo House. At the end of the novel, after the fall of the house of Jia, she gives up her worldly concerns and becomes a Buddhist nun. She is the second youngest of Jin Ling City's Twelve Beauties, described as a pre-teen in most part of the novel.
  • Wang Xifeng (王熙鳳), alias Sister Feng (鳳姐) - Baoyu's elder Cousin-in-law, young wife to Jia Lian (who is Baoyu's paternal first cousin), niece to Lady Wang. Xifeng is hence related to Baoyu both by blood and marriage. An extremely handsome woman, Xifeng is capable, clever, amusing and at times, vicious and cruel. Undeniably the most worldly of the women in the novel, Xifeng is in charge of the daily running of the Rongguo household and wields remarkable economic as well as political power within the family. Being a favorite niece of Lady Wang, Xifeng keeps both Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia entertained with her constant jokes and amusing chatter, plays the role of the perfect filial daughter-in-law, and by pleasing Grandmother Jia, rules the entire household with an iron fist. One of the most remarkable multi-faceted personalities in the novel, Xifeng can be kind-hearted toward the poor and helpless. On the other hand, however, Xifeng can be cruel enough to kill. Her feisty personality, her loud laugh and her great beauty formed refreshing contrasts to the many frail, weak-willed beauties that plagued the literature of 18th-century China. Xifeng's name translates to "the Phoenix" - a mythical bird of authority. She is also one of Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
  • Jia Zheng (賈政) - Baoyu's father, a stern disciplinarian and Confucian scholar. Afraid his one surviving son would turn bad, he imposed strict rules and occasional corporal punishment for his son. He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines.
  • Lady Wang (王夫人) - Baoyu's mother, a Buddhist, primary wife of Jia Zheng. Because of her purported ill-health, she hands over the running of the household to her niece, Xifeng, as soon as the latter marries into the Jia household, although she retains overall control over Xifeng's affairs so that the latter always has to report to her. Although Lady Wang appears to be a kind mistress and a doting mother, she can be in fact cruel and ruthless when her authority is challenged.
  • Jia Qiaojie (賈巧姐) - Wang Xifeng's and Jia Lian's daughter. The youngest of the Twelve Beauties of Jin Ling, she was a child through much of the novel. After the fall of the house of Jia, she married the son of Granny Liu's landowner neighbour and lead an uneventful life in the countryside.
  • Li Wan (李紈) - Baoyu's elder sister-in-law, widow of Baoyu's deceased elder brother, Zhu. Her primary task is to bring up her son Lan and watch over her female cousins. The novel portrays Li Wan, a young widow in her late twenties, as a mild-mannered woman with no wants or desires, the perfect Confucian ideal of a proper mourning widow. She eventually attains high social status due to the success of her son at the Imperial Exams, but the novel sees her as a tragic figure because she wasted her youth upholding the strict standards of behavior. She is also one of Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
  • Qin Keqing (秦可卿) - daughter-in-law to Jia Zhen. She is one of the Twelve Beauties. Of all the characters in the novel the circumstances of her life and early death are amongst the most mysterious. The author has clearly edited the present edition. Apparently a very beautiful and flirtatious woman, she carried on an affair with her father-in-law and died before the second quarter of the novel. The present text hint at death by suicide.
  • Jia Lian (賈璉) - Xifeng's husband and Baoyu's paternal elder cousin, a notorious womanizer whose numerous affairs cause much trouble with his jealous wife. His pregnant concubine eventually died by his wife's engineering. He and his wife are in charge of most hiring and monetary allocation decisions, and often fight over this power.
  • Aunt Xue (薛姨媽), née Wang - Baoyu's maternal aunt, mother to Pan and Baochai, sister to Lady Wang. She is kindly and affable for the most part, but finds it hard to control her unruly son.
  • Xue Pan (薛蟠) - Baochai's older brother, a dissolute, idling rake who was a local bully in Jinling. Not particularly well studied, he once killed a man over a servant-girl and had the manslaughter case done over with money.
  • Granny Liu (劉姥姥) - a country rustic and distant relation to the Wang family, who provides a comic contrast to the ladies of the Rongguo House during two visits. She eventually rescued Qiaojie away from her maternal uncle who wanted to sell her.

[edit] The maids and bond servants

The names of the maids and bondservants are given in the original pinyin and in David Hawkes' translation.

  • Xiangling (香菱, Calthrop) - the Xues' maid, born Zhen Yinglian (甄英蓮, a pun with "she who ought to be pitied"), the kidnapped and lost daughter to Zhen Shiyin (甄士隱), the country gentleman in Chapter 1. She was the cause of a manslaughter case involving Xue Pan. Her name is changed to Qiuling by Xue Pan's spoiled wife, Xia Jingui.
  • Ping'er (平兒, Patience) - Xifeng's chief maid and personal confidante; also concubine to Xifeng's husband, Jia Lian. The consensus among the novel's characters seem to be that Ping'er is beautiful enough to rival the mistresses in the house. Originally Xifeng's maid in the Wang household, she follows Xifeng as part of her "dowry" when Xifeng marries into the Jia household. She handles her troubles with grace, assists Xifeng capably and appears to have the respect of most of the household servants. She is also one of the very few people who can get close to Xifeng. She wields considerable power in the house as Xifeng's most trusted assistant, but uses her power sparingly and justly.
  • Xiren (襲人, "Invading Fragrance", Aroma) - Baoyu's principle maid and his unofficial concubine. Originally the maid of the Dowager, Xiren was given to Baoyu because of her extreme loyalty toward the master she serves. Considerate and forever worrisome over Baoyu, she is the partner of his first adolescent sexual encounter during the early chapters of the novel.
  • Qingwen (晴雯, Skybright) - Baoyu's other handmaiden. Brash, haughty and the most beautiful maid in the household, Qingwen is said to resemble Daiyu very strongly. Of all of Baoyu's maids, she is the only one who dares to argue with Baoyu when reprimanded, but is also extremely devoted to him. She was disdainful of Xiren's attempt to use her sexual relation with Baoyu to raise her status in the family. Lady Wang later suspected her of having an affair with Baoyu and publicly dismissed her on that account; angry at the unfair treatment and of the indignities and slanders that attended her as a result, Qingwen died shortly of an illness after leaving the Jia household.
  • Zijuan (紫鵑, Nightingale) - Daiyu's chief maid, ceded by the Dowager to her granddaughter. She is a very faithful companion to Dai-yu.
  • Yuanyang (鴛鴦, Mandarin Duck) - the Dowager's chief maid. She rejected a marriage proposal (as concubine) to the lecherous Jia She, Grandmother Jia's eldest son. After Grandmother Jia's death during the clan's declining days, she possibly commits suicide.
  • Mingyan (茗煙, Tea-mist) - Baoyu's young, male servant-attendant. Knows his master like the back of his hand.
  • Xueyan (雪雁, Snowgoose) - Daiyu's other maid. She came with Daiyu from Yangzhou, and comes across as a young but sweet girl.

[edit] Notable minor characters

  • Qin Zhong (秦鐘) - Qin Keqing's younger brother. He is a good friend and classmate to Baoyu.
  • Jia She (贾赦) - elder son of the Dowager. He is the father of Jia Lian and Jia Yingchun. He is a treacherous and greedy man.
  • Lady Xing (邢夫人) - Jia She's wife. She is Jia Lian's mother.
  • Concubine Zhao (趙姨娘) - concubine of Jia Zheng. She is the mother of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan. She longs to be the mother of the head of the household, which she fails to do. She plots to murder Baoyu with black magic, and it is believed that her plot cost her her life.
  • Jia Huan (賈環) - son of Concubine Zhao.
  • Sister Silly (傻大姐) - a maid who does rough work for the Dowager. She is guileless but amusing and caring. She unintentionally informs Daiyu of Baoyu's secret marriage plans.
  • Second Sister Yu (尤二姐) - concubine to Jia Lian. She is a beautiful and modest young lady. She was the concubine who Wang Xifeng affected so badly that she committed suicide by swallowing gold. She is the younger sister of Lady Yu.
  • Lady Yu (尤氏) - wife of Jia Zhen. She is the sole mistress of the Ningguo House, and a loving, caring woman.
  • Jia Zhen (賈珍) - head of the Ningguo House. He has a wife, Lady Yu, a younger sister, Jia Xichun, and many concubines. Like Jia She, he is very greedy and is an extreme womanizer.
  • Jia Rong (賈蓉) - Jia Zhen's son. He is the husband of Qin Keqing. He is an exact copy of his father. He is the Cavaliar of the Imperial Guards.
  • Qiutong (秋桐) - Jia Lian's other concubine. Originally a maid of Jia She, she was given to Jia Lian as a concubine. She is a very proud and arrogant woman.
  • Sheyue (麝月, Musk) - Baoyu's main maid after Xiren and Qingwen. She is very beautiful and caring, a perfect complement to Xiren.

[edit] Textual controversy

The textual problems of the novel are extremely complex and have been the subject of much critical scrutiny, debate and conjecture in modern times.[2] Cao did not live to publish his novel, and only hand-copied manuscripts survived after his death until 1791, when the first printed version was published. This printed version, known as the Chenggao edition, contains edits and revisions not authorised by the author.

[edit] Early versions

The novel, published up till the 20th century, was anonymous. Since the twentieth century, after Hu Shi's analyses, it is generally agreed Cao Xueqin wrote the first 80 chapters of the novel.

Up until 1791, the novel circulated merely in scribal transcripts. These early hand-copied versions end abruptly at the latest at the 80th chapter. The earlier ones furthermore contain transcribed comments and annotations from unknown commentators in red ink. These commentators' remarks reveal much about the author in person, and it is now believed some may even be members of Cao Xueqin's own family. The most prominent commentator is Rouge Inkstone (脂硯齋), who revealed much of the interior structuring of the work and the original MS ending, now lost. These MS are the most textually reliable versions, known amongst scholars as "Rouge versions" (脂本). Even amongst the some 11 independent surviving manuscripts, small differences in some characters used, rearrangements and possible rewritings made the texts vary a little from another.

According to novel's first chapter, Cao Xueqin revised his novel five times and died before he had finished the fifth version. To compound this problem, parts of the latter chapters of the book were lost, so we only have 80 chapters that are definitively written by the author.

The early 80 chapters brim with prophecies and dramatic foreshadowings which also give hints as to how the book would continue. For example, it is obvious that Lin Daiyu will eventually die in the course of the novel; that Baoyu and Baochai will marry; that Baoyu will become a monk; various characters will suffer in the snow; and that the whole estate will finally be consumed by flames.

Most modern critical editions have the first 80 chapters based on the Rouge versions.

[edit] Chenggao version

In 1791 Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E brought together the novel's first movable type edition. This was also the first "complete" edition of The Story of the Stone, which they printed as Dream of the Red Chamber. While the original Rouge manuscripts have eighty chapters, ending roughly three-quarters into the plot and clearly incomplete, the 1791 edition completed the novel in one hundred and twenty chapters. The first eighty chapters were edited from the Rouge versions, but the last forty were newly published.

In 1792, Chen and Gao published a second edition correcting many "typographical and editorial" errors of the 1791 version with a now-famous preface. In the 1792 preface, the two editors claimed to have put together an ending based on the author's working manuscripts, which they bought from a street vendor.

The debate over the last forty chapters and the 1792 preface continues. Most modern scholars believe these chapters were a later addition, with inferior plotting and prose to the first eighty chapters. Hu Shih argued that the ending was simply forged by Gao E, citing the foreshadowing of the main characters' fates in Chapter 5, which does not agree with the ending of the 1791 Chenggao version.

Other critics suggest Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan were duped into taking someone else's forgery as an original work. A minority believe the last forty chapters contain Cao's work.

The book is normally published and read in Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E's one hundred and twenty chapter version. Some modern critical editions move the last forty chapters to an appendix.

[edit] Translations

There are two complete, published English translations:

  • A Dream of Red Mansions, Gladys Yang and Yang Hsien-yi, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, three volumes, 1978-1980.
  • The Story of the Stone, David Hawkes and John Minford, Penguin Classics or Bloomington: Indiana University Press, five volumes, 1973-1980 (serialized). David Hawkes translated the first eighty chapters and John Minford translated the last forty.

The typescript of a complete, unpublished translation, by BS Bonsall, is available on the web.

Previous incomplete translations include:

  • Florence and Isabel McHugh's 1958 translation, which follows the German translation of Franz Kuhn.
  • H. Bencraft Joly's translation, Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh, 1892-1893, which translated the first fifty-six chapters, now available on Project Gutenberg.
  • Native Wang Chi-Chen's translation, largely translated in 1929, then augmented for publication in 1958.

[edit] Games

Unlike the other three of the "Four Great Classical Novels" of China, Dream of the Red Chamber have not been adapted into games often, primarily due to the subject of the fiction is not suitable for game adaptation. However, there is one role playing game named “The Twelve Beauties of Jinling”.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ CliffsNotes, About the Novel: Introduction. [1]
  2. ^ Dore Jesse Levy: Ideal and Actual in The Story of the Stone, p 7.

[edit] References

  • Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China, ISBN 0-393-30780-8
  • Cao, Xueqin. The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel: Vol 1, The Golden Days, trans. David Hawkes. ISBN 0-14-044293-6. 
  • Cao, Xueqin. The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel: Vol 2, The Crab-flower Club, trans. David Hawkes. ISBN 0-14-044326-6. 
  • Cao, Xueqin. The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel: Vol 3, The Warning Voice, trans. David Hawkes. ISBN 0-14-044370-3. 
  • Cao, Xueqin. The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel: Vol 4, The Debt of Tears, trans. John Minford. ISBN 0-14-044371-1. 
  • Cao, Xueqin. The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel: Vol 5, The Dreamer Wakes, trans. John Minford. ISBN 0-14-044372-X. 
  • Tsao Hsueh-Chin (Cao Xueqin), Dream of the Red Chamber, Translated & abridged by Chi-Chen Wang, Doubleday Anchor, 1958. ISBN 0-38-509379-9

[edit] External links

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