Classical Chinese novel masterpiece... Mirrored Flowers and Fragrant Blossoms

Author: Li Ruzhen (Qing Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: During the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, the erudite and versatile Liu Ruzhen from Daxing County, Beijing, wrote a unique novel titled A Dream of the Red Chamber. What makes the novel distinctive is its ahead-of-its-time feminist thought and its display of profound knowledge. Liu Ruzhen's purpose in writing this book was to "bewail the lack of recognition for talented women and record them in writing," meaning to give fame to women of talent across the world. Hu Shi said, "A Dream of the Red Chamber is a novel that discusses women's issues, and its answer to this question is that men and women should receive equal treatment, equal education, and an equal electoral system." What most impressed people at the time when A Dream of the Red Chamber was published was the author's vast erudition—covering the Hundred Schools of Thought, figures and flowers and birds, calligraphy and painting, music, chess, medicine, divination, phonology, arithmetic, riddles, drinking games, Shuanglu and Maiao, and more—all with great expertise. Mr. Lu Xun regarded it as a novel that "showcases talent through fiction."