Qigong told you about the Dream of the Red Chamber

Author: Qi Gong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: When I was a teenager, I saw a set of Dream of the Red Chamber in my mother's place, but she forbade me to read it. I secretly read it a few times, fearing discovery, and always flipped through it hastily, opening it randomly without a clear direction. I only felt it was filled with trivial matters, the characters were like aunts and uncles, and the plots revolved around eating and drinking. It truly made me put down the book in despair. What was there to see in it? Why was it so mysterious? Later, I learned that even a single meal could contain much substance. For example, in the "Night Banquet" of Shou Yi Hong (Chapter 63), the seating arrangement was originally unremarkable and didn’t need to be noted. But if someone asked why a particular character was seated there, many readers might not have considered it.
, Zhao Yima had already borne children and was a concubine rather than a maid in the Jia household. Her brothers-in-law were naturally the maternal uncles of Taichen and Jia Huan. Yet Taichen refused to acknowledge them as her maternal uncles in front of her own mother and instead claimed Zongteng as her uncle (Chapter 55). During the Qing Dynasty, emperors selected concubines from households within the inner and outer banners, while aristocratic officials chose their concubines from their estates. The parents and siblings of a concubine held a dual identity: in the master's presence, even in front of their own grandchildren, they were servants. However, their families could still interact as family members in their daughters' or sisters' quarters, provided the master was not present. Taichen’s refusal to acknowledge her maternal uncles’ status as estate heads not only reflected the class system but also, from Taichen’s perspective, was an integral part of her character.
In Qing Dynasty aristocratic families, as well as among relatives, "legitimate" children were valued more than "illegitimate" ones. It was common for illegitimate children to register in banner offices (household registration) as legitimate. Taichen openly claimed to be Zongteng’s niece, which was essentially an illegitimate child’s bold claim to legitimacy. This sometimes had a basis in reality. In banner families (though it wasn’t limited to banner families—I’ve seen similar practices in many Han official families), unmarried daughters held a high status. A younger brother-in-law had to be extremely polite to his younger sister-in-law, and a sister-in-law could treat her younger brother and younger cousins, even if they were only a few years younger, with condescending arrogance. In daily life, they sometimes didn’t strictly adhere to "etiquette" to avoid taboos. That’s why Fengjie could treat Baoyu and Jia Rong so casually. When Jia Rong and Fengjie were entangled (Chapter 6), in the second edition by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E (the so-called "Cheng Yi edition"), someone added the phrase "suddenly flushed her face" after the line "Fengjie only slowly drank tea, lost in thought for a long while." The revisor probably thought this could hint at an ambiguous relationship between them. In reality, the author didn’t need such "cheap labels" to describe the "passionate longing" plot, as it was already permitted for them to be close by custom. Even if their faces were pale and lifeless, they could still maintain an ambiguous relationship.
For example, Xue Baochai eventually became Baoyu’s wife. This was not only a necessary arrangement for the tragic plot but also reflected the realities of feudal family life. Daiyu was the granddaughter of Grandmother Jia, while Baochai was the daughter of Lady Wang’s sister. In feudal families, even though grandparents and grandmothers held the highest authority, they had to respect the opinions of the grandchildren’s parents, especially their mothers, because the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was crucial. Grandmother Jia loved her grandson Baoyu and also her granddaughter Daiyu, especially since Daiyu’s parents were already deceased. Her affection for Daiyu would naturally have been even stronger. If she were forced to marry Baoyu, after her death, Daiyu’s fate would still be in Lady Wang’s hands. How could Grandmother Jia dare to act rashly in such a situation? Since Baoyu’s marriage was arranged by Lady Wang, Baochai’s selection was inevitable. This can be illustrated by a historical example: When the Empress Dowager Cixi sought an heir, she chose from her sister’s family, extending the selection to the next generation. How strong and unshakable this relationship was is very clear.
Additionally, the custom of avoiding marriage between "cousins by marriage" was common, especially between the children of aunts and uncles. If an aunt’s daughter married her uncle’s son, it was considered an even greater taboo, called "reuniting flesh and blood." The ancient belief that close relatives marrying would lead to "infertility" was based on experience and had long been passed down in folk traditions. Could the author of this book, in his plot, have avoided such customs? Regardless of who wrote the last forty chapters, we should acknowledge that their handling was entirely consistent with the historical context, rather than being artificially arranged for tragic effect. Understanding these kinds of issues is helpful for reading the book. But is it merely a matter of annotations?