and a Hundred Years of China

Author: Liu Mengxi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: In a person's life, meeting a true friend is both precious and not easily obtained. The same applies to academic works; being recognized in one's own time is always a challenging endeavor. Some exemplary works in cultural history often contain the keys to specific cultural systems. Who will create such works, and who among the audience can become the true "companion in understanding" of their time or later generations—these individual roles in the process remain obscure and cannot be predetermined by history. It is not merely a matter of knowledge and cultivation, but also the attitude of having "empathetic understanding" toward the works of others and predecessors. It may even require "fate." Redology is the study of Dream of the Red Chamber, and thus the novel Dream of the Red Chamber is naturally the primary object of study in redology; otherwise, the "Red" in redology would be meaningless. Researching Cao Xueqin ultimately aims to understand Dream of the Red Chamber more accurately, profoundly, and richly.