The dream of the red chamber = Hung lou meng: a Chinese novel of the early Ching period

CDI =cn ?CO 'CMCONTENTS Franz Kuhn xiiiIntroduction, by The Chia xvii Family xixMaidsPrincipal Waiting xxiTranslators' Note CHAPTER 1: Shih is carried in a dream and receives aYing away Yu Tsunrevelation. Amidst the toil and welter lifeof daily finds the maiden his heart.of theCHAPTER 2 : In a the ofYangchow high-born lady joins company Blessed. In the tavern Yu Tsun learns more about his noble 13relatives. CHAPTER 3 : Mr. his the West an introductionfromLing gives guest " -~a motherlessto the The Princess Ancestress takesYungkuo palace. child into her home. 20lovingly suitor. A littleCHAPTER 4: An anunfortunate finds unfortunategirl bonze the the Gourd acts as 34from ofTemple judge. about in the PhantomCHAPTER 5: The Pao Yu ivandersspirit of Realm the Great Void. Theof of FearfulFairy Awakening vainly 43him in the Dream of the Red Chamber.forinterprets songs CHAPTER 6: Pao Yu tries the time the Cloud andfor offirst "Play Rain." In he becomes with histhe Ningkuo palace acquainted Chin 52nephew Chung. CHAPTER 7 : Pao Yu is shown the amulet his cousin. Theofgold girl cousin is shown Pao Yu's stone. 58girl CHAPTER 8: Chia his Ill-Cheng reprimands delinquent offspring. behaved create a disturbance in the school. 65boys CHAPTER 9: The Prince Hermit's is celebrated in thebirthday N'ng- kuo The carnal inPhoenix awakens desires thepalace. sight of heart Chia Jui. 74of CHAPTER 10: Phoenix incites an Inmaliciously unrequited passion. Chia Jui looks into the side thespite of forbidden ofwarnings, Wind and Moon Mirror. 84 CHAPTER 11 : Ko anddies receives the titleChing of wifeposthumous of a mandarin the rank. Phoenix takes over the householdof fifth in the 93management Ningkuo palace. CHAPTER 12: Pao Yu meets the Prince of the Northern onQuietness the road. Chin in the 101himselfChung enjoys nunnery.CHAPTER : and13 is exaltedof favorBeginning Spring by Imperial chosen to be Mistress the Phoenix Palace, Chin sets outof Chung on kis to the Yellow 114prematurely journey Springs. CHAPTER 14: Pao Yu reveals his talent in the Park Vi-of Delightful sion. Black Jade is the bite a 123annoyed by of fly. CHAPTER 15 : the consortOn 'the the Lantern Festivalof Imperialday her a visit. 134pays family CHAPTER 16:-One the maid Pearl tests Pao Yu's andnight feelings her conditions. Black Jade makes Cousin Littlefun ofstipulates Cloud. 144 CHAPTER maid and Pao Yu to task.17: The Pearl sulks takes quietly The maid Little silence and saves Chia Lien fromPing keeps being discovered. 154 CHAPTER 18: thePao Yu out with two his cousins at samefalls of time. Two lovers tease one another with "Thefromquotations Play the Western Pavilion." 166of CHAPTER 19: Ni the usurer when drunk.proves impulsively generous A lovelorn maid ideas about a lost 177handkerchief.gets queer CHAPTER 20: A sorcerer bewitches the cousins. The marvellous power the stone about their 188of magic brings recovery. CHAPTER 21: On the Waist a lovelorn maidWasp Bridge expresses her in words. The "Courtesan startlesfeelings commonplace Yang" two in the Pavilion the 200butterflies of Kingfisher-Blue Drops. CHAPTER :22 The better one the more one troubles about one'sis,off The more a woman is and the more lovewelfare. cherished loved, does she demand. 214 CHAPTER 23: A lost unicorn amulet causes Little Cloud to herexpose bare i ad to the sun. Gold cannot over the insult shefierce Ring get and seeks the death honor. 228suffers of CHAPTER 24: The the aofdegenerate offspring experiences pain 238paternal flogging. CHAPTER The25: Club meets in the ClearBegonia Hermitage of Autumn Weather. The Princess Ancestress entertains the god- mother the in the Park Vision. 245from of Delightfulcountry _ 'A TER 26: Pao Yu sets out to burn incense in the dust theof high- in a dear On the the Thousandof ofway memory departed. Day Autumns 264Phoenix turns into a barrel.unexpectedly vinegar CHAPTER 27: The and mood a autumn eve-ofwindy rainy gloomy Black with an the wind and the rain.Jade onning inspires elegy The maid Mandarin Duck renounces the bliss a Mandarin Duckof union. 27428: and ex-CHAPTER The Mad Robber Count has designsimproper a sets on a to avoidThe Coldperiences flogging. Knight off journey 294trouble. CHAPTER 29: seeks distractionThe shamed andlibertine, disgraced, in a business A the art ofexpedition. superior girl practices poetry, 302the best masters.studying *' with andCHAPTER 30: A doctor treats Cloud 'tigerquack Bright medicines" Cloud sacri-wolf ill,Despite being heroically 311Pao Yu and mends his cloak.fices herself for peacock-plume CHAPTER : Yu's31 The maid Cuckoo tests Pao feelingswaiting slyly and his mental balance at a Aupsets by hinting parting. kindly aunt a lovelorn maiden with words. 326pacifies gentle CHAPTER 32: Chia Lien takes the second Miss Yu to wife.secretly The third Miss Yu to the hand the Cold 342ofaspires Knight. CHAPTER 33: A ashamed hermaiden, offiery unrequited passion, takes her The Cold strides with a cold heartlife. Knight through the the Great Void. 356ofGateway CHAPTER 34: Phoenix and so out thecross-examines the servant finds master's deceits. The Yu allows to be luredherselfunhappy girl into a 366trap. CHAPTER 35: with and thePhoenix, malice,cunning plays young rival the older to the secondone. Drivenoff against desperation, Yu kills 382herself by swallowing gold. CHAPTER 36: The with the becomes abag springlike embroidery traitor in the hands a The in the Park De-of ofsimple girl. girls Vision into discredit and have to the torture alightful fall ofsuffer house search. 393 CHAPTER 37: A sinister atoccurrence the nocturnal awakensbanquet '.Inrh At the Mid-AutWfl-n Festival a new stanza awak-forebodings. ens the 411happy promises for future. CHAPTER 38: The maid cannot over the donecharming get wrong and inher, dies the her The scionflower of ofyouth. unhappy dedicates a to the dead maid. 422funeralprinces hymn CHAPTER 39: The Plaster Priest makes Pao Yu and invents aofgame Four beauties with thefor fateremedy jealousy. question fishing rod. 431 CHAPTER 40: An evil dream an lovesick maidenfrightens unhappy in the Bamboo is visited herHermitage. Beginning of bySpring relatives on her sickbed in the Palace. 441ImperialCHAPTER 41 : The saint is in the sin as shebeautiful ofcaught up fire on and intosits her is carriedprayer cushion, away ecstasy by demoniacal Black Jade is the shadow theforces. offrightened by in andsnake the all nourishment with sublimebeaker, rejects resolution. 452 CHAPTER 42: The Ancestress a reverse theputs interpretation upon evil omen the in winter and tries to drownof begonia blossoming anxious doubts in the tumult a Pao Yu loses thejoyous of banquet. stone and his reason as a 463forfeitsspirit consequence. CHAPTER 43: Black her works to theJade consigns poetical flames and renounces her love. Precious crosses thefinally unhappy Clasp threshold her bower the last andof formaidenly time, goes through the her 480of life.great ceremony CHAPTER 44: The Pearl returns to the Ban-ofplant Purple Sphere ished The stone drenches with tears the ofSuffering. spirit place dear memories. 500 CHAPTER 45: Taste marries and Pao Yuof far from home,Spring bitter tears her. Ghosts at inafter themselvesweeps disport night the deserted 507 , park. CHAPTER 46: Yu Tsun in hermit his oldtherecognizes mysterious friend and The known as the Drunkenbenefactor. Ni,moneylender becomes the in the 516Diamond, pike carp pond. CHAPTER 47 : The Pao stirs Thelover, Yu,unhappy up past feelings. the Minister take the westernof of Finance ofbailiffs possession 529palace. CHAPTER 48: The Princess Ancestress, before heaven,prostrate nobly takes her own head the the whole andof clan,upon guilt generously distributes her treasures. The is showeredImperial grace upon Chia and the restored once isCheng, title, more,princely passed on to him. 541 CHAPTER 49: Robbers loot the the Ancestress andleftproperty by abduct the anchoress. Pao Yu back his stone and isbeautiful gets awakened. 550 CHAPTER 50: Pao Yu the examination with honors and re-passes nounces the red dust the world. Shih and Yu Tsun meetof Ying once more and conclude the of the stone. 569storyINTRODUCTION Lou which firstAuthor: The of the Meng, appearedauthorship Hung Dr. Hu Shih'swas for a time unknown. As late as 1921in 1791, long ascribe the firstexhaustive research made it to eighty chap-possible the which has one hundred to Tsaoters of original, twenty chapters, to Kao one of theHsueh and theChin, Ngoh,remaining forty chapters the first edition in 1791. This dualtwo editors of publishedprinted left moreseems to indicate that Tsao Hsueh Chinauthorship probably that Kao and cor-than and Ngoh edited, expanded,eighty chapters related the remaining forty chapters. text is based are an edition ofThe versions on which the present 1832 the Tsui Wen and a modern annotatedby Company,published version with Commercial Press,commentary published by Shanghai. mass theTitle: Chinese architecture for the of populationprovides A mansion with a second is called loulow, one-story buildings. story and Lou stands for "Red toHung Two-Story Building." According asBuddhist it is also a forusage, metaphor worldlysuch_concepts and honors similar to the Buddhistwealth,glory, luxury, interpreta- tion of "red dust" as "the material world.""worldly strivings," Period: The text does not mention date. thereHowever,any particular that takes theare indications the action during Chinpimplicit place titles to those oOfficial and ranksDynasty (1644-1912). correspond the last and Manchuria could be referred to as adynasty, provinc since the to the of Dr. Hionly findingsChing Dynasty. According the author event,Tsao Hsueh Chin wrote aboutShih, contemporary and his own Internal evidence indicates that the mailexperiences. narrative covers the 1737.betweenperiod 1729_and Place: The text of the and Chin Th<:speaks alternately capital ling. theunder was Chin which meanscapital Ching Dynasty Peking. ling, is an theallusion to well-known"golde