On the left in the image above, a page from the jiaxu 甲戌 edition (1754) of the manuscript, featuring interlineal and marginal remarks in red ink. On the right, a scene from the novel, by a female artist Xu Baozhuan 徐寶篆 (1810–1873).
Love, Loss and Enlightenment: Reading the Dream of the Red Chamber
A First-Year Tutorial offered fall 2021, taught by Qiaomei Tang, assistant professor of Chinese
What is love? How to deal with loss and suffering? You may find answers in this Chinese novel Dream of Red Chamber (aka. The Story of Stone) that has been widely read since it was first printed more than 200 years ago. It is a novel about the fall of an aristocratic family. But first and foremost, it is a novel about love, loss, and enlightenment. Throughout the semester we will read chapters from the novel. We will explore the novel from a wide range of perspectives, including gender, class, visual art, religion, education, material culture, food culture, and so forth. On top of the rigorous academic training students will receive, this course also serves as a gateway and an introduction to the rich literary and cultural tradition from China’s past, which will help students greatly enhance their understanding of China today.
Why I’m Teaching This Topic
I choose to teach The Dream of the Red Chamber because it is one of the greatest novels in China. It is also my all-time favorite. As the embodiment of the nation’s cultural identity, the novel can serve as a good introduction to Chinese culture. The novel has inspired numerous iterations in various literary and artistic mediums across East and Southeast Asia since its creation in the 18th century, making it a great choice for a multimedia and multicultural course. It is my hope that by offering this course I could attract more students to the study of Chinese language and culture.
– Qiaomei Tang