The Story of the Stone: a Chinese Novel: Vol 1, The Golden Days (Penguin Classics)

Product Information

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. A handsome woman, Xifeng is capable, clever, humorous, and, at times, vicious and cruel. Undeniably the most worldly woman in the novel, Xifeng is in charge of the daily running of the Rongguo household and wields economic as well as political power within the family. Xifeng keeps both Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia entertained with her jokes and chatter. By playing the role of the perfect filial daughter-in-law, she rules the household with an iron fist. Xifeng can be kind-hearted toward the poor and helpless or cruel enough to kill. She makes a fortune by investing in loan sharking rather than maintaining the family estate and brings about the downfall of the family. She dies soon after the family assets are seized by the government. Ronald Egan: The girl's mother could be a member of the Jia family, but her father cannot be. So consequently, she has a different surname. So even though she's a first cousin, she's a potential future wife for the young man.

He came from a well-to-do family on the decline (like the Jia's), and a number of autobiographical elements are woven into his great work, The Story of the Stone. Then, quite suddenly, in the midst of this placid, agreeable existence, he was discontented. He got up one day feeling out of sorts. Nothing he did brought any relief. Whether he stayed indoors or went out into the garden, he remained bored and miserable. The garden's female population were mostly still in that age of innocence when freedom from inhibition is the fruit of ignorance. Waking and sleeping they surrounded him, and their mindless giggling was constantly in his ears. How could they understand the restless feelings that now consumed him? In his present mood of discontent he was bored with the garden and its inmates; yet his attempts to find distraction outside it ended in the same emptiness and ennui. Metaphysical, allegorical, and vividly realistic, the immense scope of The Story of the Stone provides something for everyone. The elder son of the Dowager. He is the father of Jia Lian and Jia Yingchun. He is a treacherous and greedy man, and a womanizer. He is jealous of his younger brother whom his mother favors. He is later stripped of his title and banished by the government. Zachary: Yeah, no, if you think about it, I mean, you could title this The Illusion of a Big House.

What Is Semantic Scholar?

In Chapter 1 we get the story of the stone. Later, we are to believe, in the character of Bow Yu we get the story of the stone in its incarnated, earthly form. The translation reads very well and where there are significant ambiguities these are generally pointed out in the notes (for example regarding the meaning (or double-meaning) of the names of some of the characters). See how the two are familiar to each other from some vague “before” (when he was the jade stone and she the Crimson Pearl Flower).

Don't try to fool me!" said Dai-yu. "You would have done much better to let me look at it in the first place, instead of hiding it so guiltily." 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 imperial palace, and dies at the age of forty. The name of four sisters together "Yuan-Ying-Tan-Xi" is a homophone with "Supposed to sigh".

Informed Consent Statement

Zachary: Is there any other, um, influence or impact of the book on Chinese or world culture that you would like to comment on? The main protagonist is about 12 or 13 years old when introduced in the novel. [21] The adolescent son of Jia Zheng and his wife, Lady Wang, and born with a piece of luminescent jade in his mouth (the Stone), Baoyu is the heir apparent to the Rongguo House. Frowned on by his strict Confucian father, Baoyu reads Zhuangzi and Romance of the Western Chamber on the sly, rather than the Four Books of classic Chinese education. Baoyu is highly intelligent, but dislikes the fawning bureaucrats who frequent his father's house. A sensitive and compassionate individual, he has a special relationship with many of the women in the house.

Five fair women make subjects for a chaste maid’s verse; And nine jade dragons make a love-gift for a flirt The novel provides a detailed, episodic record of life in the two branches of the wealthy, aristocratic Jia ( 賈) clan—the Rongguo House ( 榮國府) and the Ningguo House ( 寧國府)—who reside in large, adjacent family compounds in the capital. The capital, however, is not named, and the first chapter insists that the dynasty is indeterminate. [16] The ancestors of the two families were made Chinese nobility and given imperial titles, and as the novel begins the two houses are among the most illustrious families in the city. One of the Jia daughters is made a Royal Consort, and to suitably receive her, the family constructs the Daguanyuan, a lush landscaped garden, the setting for much of subsequent action. 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. What is the point of the dream? That Love leads to disenchantment? Look at the final lesson given on 94, that all love is an illusion. He doesn’t seen to get that after his “marriage” to Ke-qing, but. . . Bao-yu was full of admiration for this idea. "Just let me put this book somewhere and I'll give you a hand."Midnight revellers are startled by a sound of evil omen; And Mid-Autumn moon-watchers listen to quantrains of unequal merit The rivalry and friendship among the three -- and the many other characters living in these huge compounds -- shifts throughout the book. There are a number of translations of this work available, generally pared down versions that omit much of the text.