Title

A New Study on the Text in Yuan Mei’s Suiyuan Shihua：Concerning the Dream of the Red Chamber

Author

Huang, Yi-long  

Genre

Article  

Pages

525-553  

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese  

Key words

Yuan Mei, Suiyuan Shihua, Hu Shi, Neo-Redology  

Abstract

        Suiyuan Shihua 隨園詩話, edited by Yuan Mei 袁枚, was one of the most widely-circulated poetry collections during the Qing Dynasty. The section which concerns the Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 in Suiyuan Shihua is a subject of a heated debate, since it is thought to be the key foundation to the Neo-Redology 新紅學 advocated by Hu Shi 胡適 (1891-1962) — its reliability is tightly connected to the credibility of Neo-Redology. This study examines the changes between various
editions of Suiyuan Shihua, as well as the process of editing, with an attempt to solve this issue. I shall argue that the mention of the Dream of the Red Chamber in Suiyuan Shihua is not based on any actual knowledge. Yuan Mei mentioned it only to show off that his garden, Suiyuan, was the main setting of the famous story. This study also investigates the reason why considerable differences were present and offers possible explanations for the mistakes in the text.