22. Dream of the Red Mansions
Cao Xueqin(1716- 1763), who wrote Dream of the Red Man-
sions, was born into the family of a very rich and important official -
chief commissioner of the Nanjing Silk Bureau. This enviable post was
given by the Qing rulers first to his great grandfather, and then to his
grandfather and father. During his five inspection tours to the South,
Emperor Kangxi stayed in their residence four times, which showed
their close relations with the emperor and the luxury of their house.
Brought up in such a family, Xueqin led the life of the most privileged
people in his childhood. When he grew up, however, his fate drastical-
ly changed. His father fell out of the favor of the rulers, was dismissed
from his post, and quickly became unimportant and poor. Xueqin
moved from Nanjing to Beijing, and lived in a small house in the
western suburb of the city, "eating porridge and drinking wine
bought on credit, "as he said of his own life. It was during this time
that he began to write his immortal novel. Unfortunately, before he
could finish it, he died of illness in poverty. He wrote the first 80
chapters. Later, almost 30 years after his death, a scholar-official
called Gao E added 40 chapters to Cao's work, and made the story
complete. Thus the edition of 120 chapters came into being.
Cao's experience in his childhood made him familiar with the
lifestyle and customs of the aristocrat. The decline of his family and
adverse conditions of his later years helped him to see the corruption
and decadence of the people in his early memories. With this experi-
ence and understanding he was able to paint a most broad, varied,
truthful and colorful picture of the society of his day.
In the novel there are all kinds of characters: hypocritical but
self-righteous aristocrats, their arrogant and prodigal sons, their com-
manding and lazy wives and daughters, their humble and obedient
servants and maids, flattering officials and scholars, poor peasants who
have to hand over large parts of their harvests to their lords, mer-
chants and actors, monks and nuns. In short, the novel shows a cross
section of the urban and rural communities of Cao's time.
Of all the people in the Jia house, Baoyu and Daiyu are most
carefully described. Their love for each other and dislike of the social
environment form the main thread that runs through the whole
novel.
What is special about Baoyu is that he hates the traditions and
moral codes of his family. He refuses to take the road of life that his
family has chosen for him. In a sense he is a rebel of his class.
"Women's bones and flesh are made of water, "he says, "and men's
bones and flesh are made of mud. Women give me the impression of
cleanness, but men stink offensively. "This shows that he is disgusted
with those men who are after fame and wealth, and sees innocence
and purity in women.
Daiyu is a sensitive and sentimental girl. She shares many of
Baoyu's views on life and society. She loves him, but this love is
frowned upon and opposed by the older generation in control of the
family, thus bringing her endless sorrows and sufferings, and finally
causing her early death. Her tragedy reveals the cruelty of feudal
prejudices and practices.
Besides Baoyu and Daiyu, Baochai is also a main character in the
novel. She upholds all the moral principles of feudal society, and this
wins her the favor of those who decide the family affairs, including
Baoyu's grandmother and parents. Arranged by them, she is married
to Baoyu, but the marriage does not bring her any happiness. After
Baoyu leaves the family, she lives a sad, lonely life, and is made anoth-
er victim of the feudal system.
Those lords and ladies like Jla She and Wang Xifeng try hard to
defend the feudal traditions and make themselves look respectable and
virtuous, but they are capable of doing all kinds of evil things.
Xifeng, for instance, commits a great wrong to a loving couple, sepa-
rates them and causes their death, in return for a bribery of a large
amount of money. Many men in the family, old and young, lead a
shamefully immoral life. So one of the old servants in the house says,
"In the whole Jla house only the two stone lions are clean."
Their luxurious life is made possible by their ruthless exploita-
tion of peasants and other working people. In one chapter it is de-
scribed how the peasants working on their land are forced to give
them grain, animals, money, and many other things as rent. One of
the men in the Jla family even said to them, "These years we have
lost much money. You have to make up the deficit for us. Who else
can we ask?"
The writer shows deep sympathy for the victims of feudal op-
pression, especially women like Daiyu and maids like Qingwen and
Yuanyang. At the same time, he mercilessly exposes the true nature of
the oppressors and exploiters. All the events described in the novel
point to the fact that feudalism, which had lasted for 2,000 years, was
becoming rotten, and was about to start going downhill. The Jla fami-
ly is a mirror that reflects this historical process.
The novel is written in beautiful colloquial Chinese based on the
dialect of Beijing, spattered with dialogues and poems in classical Chi-
nese to reflect the literary achievements of some of the characters.
The plot of the novel, which consists of hundreds of incidents in daily
life, is so well woven that there seems to be no break in the continu-
ous development of the story. In these incidents, trivial or important,
the personalities of the characters are clearly shown. All the conversa-
tions between the characters help to make them real individuals who
are different from one another. As one reads on, one seems to under-
stand each character better and better, and has the impression that
anything said or done by a character is what he or she ought to say or-
do on that special occasion. To many readers the novel is so meaning-
ful and interesting that they cannot help reading it again and again.
The content and meaning of the novel are so rich and profound,
and it has aroused so much interest among scholars that a special kind
of learning generally called "Red Studies" started shortly after the
novel was published, and has been continued to this day. Various the-
ories have been put forward about the author's life, family and
friends, his motive in writing the novel, the merits and demerits of the
different editions, and the true meaning of the novel, etc. Even many
details of the story have been explained in different ways by scholars.
Today an increasing number of literary critics in foreign countries are
joining in the study of the book.
The novel has been translated into several other languages. Two
English versions are very popular:one published in Beijing under the
title of Dream of the Red Mansions, and the other in England called
The Tale of the Stone.
Perhaps no other novel, Chinese or foreign, has been enjoyed and
discussed by so many people for so long a time. This fact proves the
greatness of the novel and the unique position it has in the long histo-
ry of Chinese literature.