Chen Yinque and the Dream of the Red Chamber

Author: Jian Mengxi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-17
Features: Professor Chen Yinque's interpretations and discussions on the poetry of "Qian Liu Yin Yuan" and the novel "Zai Sheng Yuan" often involve the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber," and this is not coincidental. The authors and characters of these works were active during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, as well as the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty—specifically during times when the ruling regime was particularly harsh and the new dynasty's control was strict. Such historical moments more clearly reveal the choices and moral integrity of scholars. If Professor Chen's late-life writings of "On Zai Sheng Yuan" and "Biography of Liu Shi" can be seen as "praising red attire," then the authors of "Dream of the Red Chamber," Cao Xueqin, and the author of "Zai Sheng Yuan," Chen Duansheng, had already been "praising red attire" in grand fashion three hundred years earlier. It is well-known that Cao and Chen (Duansheng) had historical reasons for their "praise of red attire." But what about Professor Yinque? Why did he, in his declining years, exert immense effort to write "Biography of Liu Shi" and "On Zai Sheng Yuan"?
"The powder on the forehead of the Buddhist disciple has long dried." As stated in the postscript of "On Zai Sheng Yuan."
"Even if Yang Ai laughs a thousand pounds, in the end, there remains the eternal sorrow of returning to Zhuang," as the first poem in the chapter "Origin of Fate" of "Biography of Liu Shi" begins.