A Study of the Dream of the Red Chamber -- Illustrated Edition

Author: Yu Pingbo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the world-renowned great works and also one of the Four Great Classical Novels of China. Later scholars developed the study of Dream of the Red Chamber (briefly referred to as Hongxue) for this book. This book is a classic work of Hongxue research by the renowned Hongxue scholar Yu Pingbo and one of the representative works of the "New Hongxue School." It conducts extensive and in-depth explorations on fundamental Hongxue issues such as the style of Dream of the Red Chamber and the original form of the last thirty chapters of the novel. It is an indispensable read for lovers and researchers of Dream of the Red Chamber.
Yu Pingbo was a modern renowned scholar, litterateur, and Hongxue scholar. In his article On the Authenticity of the Later Chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber, published in 1923, he analyzed and argued from multiple perspectives and levels that the last thirty chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber did not belong to the original work by Cao Xueqin but were instead a spurious continuation by Gao E. He also harshly criticized the last thirty chapters. This article, like Hu Shi's On the Red Chamber Dream, was a foundational work of the New Hongxue School, establishing its academic status. In September 1953, Yu Pingbo slightly revised his 30-year-old work On the Authenticity of the Later Chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber and republished it as Research on Dream of the Red Chamber. Unintentionally, this led him into a political controversy. As a result, the book holds an important and unique position in both the history of Hongxue and the history of Chinese literary studies.
This edition is published with 200 exquisite illustrations to help readers better appreciate the masterpieces of the great scholar.