Taoyan's Dream of Memory (Illustrated Treasure Edition)

Author: Zhang Dai (Ming Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: A Dream of the Red Chamber consists of eight volumes, with 123 essays, including 15 in Volume 1, 15 in Volume 2, 16 in Volume 3, 15 in Volume 4, 16 in Volume 5, 17 in Volume 7, and 13 in Volume 8. The content is diverse and covers a wide range of topics. Based on preliminary thematic classification, it can be broadly divided into five categories: landscapes, folk customs, pavilions and towers, theatrical arts, and local specialties. A Dream of the Red Chamber is a prose collection born from the storms and rains of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, an artistic crystallization of Chinese dream culture, a congealed blend of blood and tears in the author's life journey. It is a dream of life, a dream of the soul, a dirge of sorrow after the fall of the nation, a heart-wrenching lament for the chaotic society and its people, and even a series of vibrant life notes filled with aspirations that marked the 50-year journey of Tao'an. Without hope, without extravagance, without expectation—only sorrow, only curses, only dreams. It seeks solace, comfort, and reflection through dreams; it entrusts the lament of the homeland, the longing for the old home, and the sorrow of life to the realm of dreams. This is the driving force behind the writing of A Dream of the Red Chamber, its nostalgia, and its artistic essence. The book covers topics such as Zhongshan, the Bao'en Pagoda, Mount Tiantai's Peony, Jin Rusheng's Chapter Flowers, the Sun and Moon Lake, the Night Opera on Jinshan, and Yunzhi Pavilion. The small book before the readers today is a combined compilation of two works: Zhang Dai of the Ming loyalists' A Dream of the Red Chamber, and a selected edition of the woodblock prints from The Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting, published the year the Ming Dynasty fell. To call it a combined compilation is somewhat unconventional, as the two works are interwoven without clear beginning or end. However, it cannot be said that the manual provides illustrations for A Dream of the Red Chamber, or that A Dream of the Red Chamber serves as a textual explanation for the manual. There is no mutual explanatory relationship between the two. Yet, they share a deep familial bond—even calling them conjoined twins would not be an exaggeration. If one were to introduce both A Dream of the Red Chamber and The Ten Bamboo Studio Manual here, it would be far beyond one's capacity. Yet, there is one point worth mentioning: A Dream of the Red Chamber is the crystallization of the two major literary schools of the Gong'an and Jingling movements, standing unashamedly at the pinnacle of late Ming prose. Hu Rusheng, the master of the Ten Bamboo Studio, a native of Huizhou, spent his later life in Nanjing, and his life marked the zenith of Chinese woodblock printing history. The highest achievements of these two art forms are rooted in the cultural soil of Ming-era scholars, but can this be the reason for their combined publication? This inevitably brings into question the relationship between "emotion" and "context." Emotion is subjective, while context is objective. When emotion and context intertwine, whether one captures the context with emotion or transmits emotion through context, the reader's experience is deepened.