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Is Jia Baoyu’s jade a blessing or a curse? We’re diving in deep in this week’s “podcast” version of the blog. Please let me know what you think in the comments!

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This is a fun section. Qin Zhong goes after the girl that he’s interested in, and winds up getting a huge surprise.

My Translation

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One of the most fascinating aspects of Dream of the Red Chamber is how lifelike the characters are.

I should note that they’re not lifelike because they are described as if they were real people. Rather, they are lifelike because they have complex motivations and personalities.

The old adage about this book, repeated by numerous scholars over the centuries, is that there are really no heroes or villains. The protagonist, Jia Baoyu, is so overcome with his emotions and feelings that he’s honestly just as sexually profligate as his older male relatives. Lin Daiyu, the main female love interest of the novel, flies into rages from time to time. Meanwhile, Wang Xifeng, who people tend to think of as the villain, seems more like a victim of the male dominated society she lives in than an evil person.

But the other fascinating thing here is the motivation. And it’s not entirely clear to me whether Wang Xifeng is actually motivated by money, or if what she really cares about is prestige and power.

This is the passage that kind of confuses me:

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Our translation passage today is actually a really interesting anecdote with all sorts of direct mentions of bribery. It also makes you wonder just what Cao Xueqin thought about the religion of his day. After all, it’s not every day you hear about a nun offering a massive bribe.

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My Translation

Meanwhile, Wang Xifeng went to her room to rest, and the nun went along with her. Since there was nothing else going on, the older maids had left to rest, leaving only a few younger and trustworthy maids behind.

Jingxu seized the opportunity to say what she wanted. “There’s something I’d like to ask Grandmother Jia about at the mansion,” she said. “But could you please give me some advice first?”

“What is it?” asked Xifeng.

“Praise Buddha!” replied Jingxu. “It’s just that, when I first became a nun, I was at the Shancai Convent in Chang’an County. We had a donor there whose name was Zhang; he was very rich.

“He had a daughter who we called Jin Ge who came to burn incense at our convent. And it just so happened that she was seen there by the younger brother of the Prefect of Chang’an, a man named Mr. Li. Mr. Li took one look at Jin Ge and fell in love with her. And so he sent someone right away to propose marriage.

“But it just so happens that Jin Ge had already accepted the proposal of the son of the former Brigadier of Chang’an. The Zhangs thought about calling off that engagement, but they were worried that the Brigadier would be upset. And so they said that she was already engaged.

“But who would have thought that Mr. Li still insisted that he needed to marry her? And so the Zhang family was caught in a difficult situation and couldn’t do anythingt o solve the problem.

“And then, unexpectedly, the Brigadier’s family heard this news. Without looking into what was right and what was wrong, they started a massive argument. ‘She’s only one girl,’ they said, ‘and yet how many families are you going to promise her to?’ They absolutely refused to allow their engagement gift to be returned, and so the problem has gone to the courts.

“Anyway, the girl’s family is very worried. They sent people up to the capital to find some connections to solve the problem. They’re also furious and are insistent on returning the engagement gift.

“Now, I know that General Yun, the Military Governor of Chang’an, is a good friend of your family. I was wondering if you might ask Grandmother Jia and the master to write a letter to him to ask him to have a word with the Brigadier. I doubt he would dare refuse. If you are willing to help, the Zhang family would do whatever it takes, including spending their entire fortune in gratitude.”

“That sounds like a small matter,” said Xifeng with a smile. “I think it’s probably too minor for Grandmother Jia to intervene.”

“If she won’t handle it,” replied Jingxu, “perhaps you could take care of it.”

Xifeng laughed. “I don’t need the money,” she replied, “and I don’t do this sort of thing.”

When Jingxu heard this, she lost all hope. She was silent for a few moments. Then she said with a sigh, “Even though you say that, the Zhangs already know that we were going to ask your house for help. At this point, if we don’t do anything, they won’t say that you have no time or that you don’t care for their reward. They’ll think that your house doesn’t even have enough influence to help a little matter like this.”

Xifeng’s head perked up at once when she heard this. “You’ve known me for a long time,” she replied. “And you know that I’ve never believed in all that talk about hell or retribution. Whatever I say I’ll do, I’ll do it. Tell them to bring me three thousand taels of silver, and I’ll help them get this weight off their chests.”

Jingxu was delighted when she heard this. “We have the money!” she said. “That will be no problem at all.”

“I’m not like those other people who engage in crazy schemes just to get money,” added Xifeng. “These three thousand taels are merely to cover the travel expenses for the servants I’ll send to deliver the message, and allows them to earn a little bit of money on the side. I won’t take a penny of it. After all, even if we were talking about thirty thousand taels, I could get it right now.”

“I see,” replied Jingxu. “In that case, ma’am, could you be so kind as to begin tomorrow?”

“Look at how busy I am!” said Xifeng. “Is there anything I could stop doing? Now, since I promised you, I’ll naturally see it through.”

“A little thing like this would have most people so busy that they’d become confused,” replied Jingxu. “However, for you, ma’am, even if I were to add a little bit more, it wouldn’t be enough to keep you busy for long! Just as they say, ‘the able are always busy.’ Grandmother Jia sees how talented you are, and so she adds more and more things to you. But you must remember to take care of your precious health.”

With this steady stream of flattery, Xifeng felt more and more gratified. She no longer felt tired, and continued to chat.

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Translation Critique

Hawkes

David Hawkes translates the 善才庵 as “The Treasures in Heaven Convent.” This is actually a really good translation, and conveys the same irony as the original Chinese text.

We see another difficult word in Hawkes’ translation here. He describes how Jingxu’s “face assumed an expression of great benignity.” If you’re like me and have no idea what benignity means, it refers to the state of being benign, or “kind, gentle, or mild.” The problem, of course, is that the Chinese text says 打去妄想, which means something like “her vain hopes were dashed away,” with nothing about Jingxu having a benign expression on her face.

Hawkes translates 能者多勞 as “the able man gets little leisure.” It’s a good enough translation of the idiom.

Yang

The Yangs opt for a more literal translation of 能者多勞: “The abler a man, the busier he gets.” Overall, their translation of this section seems to be a lot more faithful to the original text.

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Chinese Text

鳳姐也便回至淨室歇息，老尼相伴。此時眾婆子媳婦，見無事，都陸續散了，自去歇息，跟前不過幾個心腹小丫頭。老尼便趁機說道：「我有一事，要到府裡求太太，先請奶奶的示下。」鳳姐問道：「什麼事？」老尼道：「阿彌陀佛！只因當日我先在長安縣善才庵裡出家的時候兒，有個施主姓張，是大財主。他的女孩兒小名金哥，那年都往我廟裡來進香，不想遇見長安府太爺的小舅子李少爺。那李少爺一眼看見金哥，就愛上了，立刻打發人來求親。不想金哥已受了原任長安守備公子的聘定，張家欲待退親，又怕守備不依，因此說已有了人家了。誰知李少爺一定要娶。張家正在沒法，兩處為難。不料守備家聽見此信，也不問青紅皁白，就來吵鬧，說：『一個女孩兒，你許幾家子人家兒？』偏不許退定禮，就打起官司來。女家急了，只得著人上京找門路，賭氣偏要退定禮。我想如今長安節度雲老爺和府上相好，怎麼求太太和老爺說說，寫一封書子，求雲老爺和那守備說一聲，不怕他不依。要是肯行，張家那怕傾家孝順，也是情願的。」鳳姐聽了，笑道：「這事倒不大，只是太太再不管這些事。」老尼道：「太太不管，奶奶可以主張了。」鳳姐笑道：「我也不等銀子使，也不做這樣的事。」靜虛聽了，打去妄想，半晌，嘆道：「雖這麼說，只是張家已經知道求了府裡。如今不管，張家不說沒工夫，不希圖他的謝禮，倒像府裡連這點子手段也沒有似的。」

鳳姐聽了這話，便發了興頭，說道：「你是素日知道我的，從來不信什麼陰司地獄報應的。憑是什麼事，我說要行就行。你叫他拿三千兩銀子來，我就替他出這口氣。」老尼聽說，喜之不勝，忙說：「有，有。這個不難。」鳳姐又道：「我比不得他們扯篷拉縴的圖銀子。這三千兩銀子，不過是給打發說去的小廝們作盤纏，使他賺幾個辛苦錢兒，我一個錢也不要。就是三萬兩，我此刻還拿的出來。」老尼忙答應道：「既如此，奶奶明日就開恩罷了。」鳳姐道：「你瞧瞧我忙的，那一處少的了我？我既應了你，自然給你了結啊。」老尼道：「這點子事，要在別人，自然忙的不知怎麼樣；要是奶奶跟前，再添上些，也不夠奶奶一辦的！俗語說的：『能者多勞』。太太見奶奶這樣才情，越發都推給奶奶了，只是奶奶也要保重貴體些才是。」一路奉承，鳳姐越受用了，也不顧勞乏，更攀談起來。

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Translation Notes

老尼 means “the old nun,” and clearly refers to 靜虛 (Jing Xu).

心腹小丫頭 refers to younger maids that Wang Xifeng trusted (心腹 means trustworthy person).

示下 means advice or instruction

善才庵, or the Shancai Convent, seems to be a name of a fictional convent. Shancai (善才) is the Chinese transliteration of Sudhanakumāra, or Sudhana, which is translated as the Child of Wealth. The name is also written 善財. Choosing this figure is probably ironic because of what Jingxu is trying to do here.

施主 means an alms giver or a donor.

金哥 (Jin Ge) literally means “golden older brother.” It’s kind of an odd name for a girl, and seems to indicate that the Zhang family is not particularly refined despite being wealthy.

聘定 means a marriage proposal.

青紅皁白 litereally means “wheat and chaff.” It’s a common idiom that means “right and wrong.”

找門路 means to find a way to solve the problem. The implication here is that they’re going to find someone with connections who can make this legal headache go away.

傾家孝順 is kind of a complex phrase here. 傾家 means for one’s family, or family fortune, to be completely overturned. 孝順 means to be dutiful and obedient, as if you were obeying a parent. In this case, 傾家孝順 works as an euphemism: they’re basically saying “even if it bankrupts us, we would be more than happy to show you this great devotion for your help.” It’s not an outright bribe, but it’s obvious from the context that they’re talking about a bribe.

打去妄想 means that her wild hopes were struck away. 妄想 means a vain hope, as in a hope that really has no chance of coming true.

半晌 here implies that Jingxu was silent for a while, though it doesn’t outright say that she was silent.

扯篷拉縴 means to set up a sail and pull a towline. Here it’s an idiom that refers to acting as a broker or a go-between in various shady deals.

能者多勞 is an idiom that means “able men are always busy.”

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Normally I would want to wait to talk about something like this until we’ve finished a basic translation of Dream of the Red Chamber and can start getting into the commentaries. However, yesterday’s translation passage about Qin Zhong and Zhineng is simply too deep to ignore.

It’s deep because it starts to get at the philosophy that motivates Jia Baoyu. And to really understand that, we need to at least take a peek at some of the famous Zhiyanzhai commentary.

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Today we dive into the attraction between Qin Zhong and Zhineng. There are a lot of interesting implications here that we’ll go deeper into tomorrow.

My Translation

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For something a little bit different, I’ve decided to write a few things to expand on my most recent video.

You can watch the video here:

Now, what I didn’t mention here is that I started to learn a second foreign language while I was in Germany.

We met with a lot of people from mainland China, the vast majority of whom were foreign students at local universities. By “a lot,” I’m talking in terms of hundreds.

I actually counted once, and realized that my companion and I got to know at least 200 different Chinese students during the 12 weeks I was in Stuttgart at the end of my mission. I’ll let you figure out how many people I was meeting with a day.

Anyway, for obvious reasons, I decided to start learning Chinese while serving as a missionary in Germany. Of course, I didn’t exactly have the time or money to take actual language lessons. And so I kind of winged it to see where things would take me.

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I spent about 10 Euros on a Chinese textbook that was written in German. It was pretty basic and wasn’t all that useful without audio tracks. However, it at least got me to understand some of the most basic grammatical principles.

A guy I knew in Augsburg gave me a huge Chinese-German dictionary, which also helped quite a bit. We had copies of the Book of Mormon in something like 60 different languages in our apartment, and so I started messing around with a simplified Chinese copy, seeing if I could figure out what a few words meant and trying to piece things together.

There was an older lady from Taiwan I knew in one of the congregations I served in. She had written up a very basic list of Chinese church vocabulary words that she gave to the missionaries, largely because we were meeting with so many Chinese students. I was also able to use that to gather some really basic vocabulary.

And then there were the native speakers that I knew pretty well, some of whom were members of the church. I’d ask them for help from time to time. That’s how I learned basic Chinese pronunciation, the tonal sandhi rules, and a few other basic odds and ends.

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All of this was somewhat helpful, though it wasn’t magic. In fact, I wound up taking Chinese 101 in university after I returned and studied the language the proper way.

While it wasn’t perfect, there were a few things I learned that can help you if you’re trying to learn a language on your own:

• Always find a native speaker to help. This was the most powerful tool I was able to use. If somebody is willing to listen to your feeble attempts to speak their language, you’ve really got it made. And you get bonus points if they actually correct what you say and don’t just try to make you feel good.

• There’s always something you can do. If something doesn’t make sense, there’s usually a way you can at least try to figure it out. It was a lot harder in the days of paper dictionaries, of course. These days, you can always “cheat” and ask an AI chatbot for help when you encounter one of those phrases or sentences that just doesn’t make sense.

• You can be immersed even if you’re not in the country. I was lucky in that there were so many foreign students from China that I could listen to their conversations pretty much anytime we were near the university campus. If you can get yourself into a position like that, your language skills will improve immensely. If you can’t, of course, you can always fake it, usually by watching television shows.

Anyway, there are a few pointers that might help you out. More to come in the future.

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This passage includes quite a bit of explanation about the Iron Threshold Monastery and some of the accomodations in the area.

My Translation

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Here’s this week’s podcast episode. I’m going to keep the writing here relatively short.

However, I am very interested in what all of you think about why Jia Baoyu seems so fascinated with staying in the countryside. Is he really interested in the country girl who spun the wheel in front of him, or do you think something deeper is going on?

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This is another short passage, but there are two really interesting things going on here. Here we see that Qin Keqing’s devoted maid Baozhu decides to stay with her coffin. At the same time, Jia Baoyu refuses to return home, preferring instead to stay in the countryside where he seems to feel that life is more authentic.

My Translation

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If you’ve been paying attention to the 400 or so posts I’ve created so far, you’ve probably come to the same conclusion that I’ve come to. Dream of the Red Chamber really is a “romantic” novel at heart.

But there’s a problem, of course. This novel was originally drafted sometime in the middle of the 18th century, long before the true explosion of the Romantic literary movement in Europe.

And, when you start really digging in, you’ll realize that Dream of the Red Chamber has a different approach to Romanticism entirely. Rather than a reaction to cold rationality in the post-Enlightenment sense, the emphasis on 情 (emotion) in this book seems to be a reaction to the general state of emotional repression in the society Jia Baoyu grew up in.

In other words, there’s a lot of really interesting philosophic stuff going on here. And we really need to pay attention to it.

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We’ve got another short passage today. This one is extremely significant, however. Jia Baoyu’s overwhelming feelings for 二丫頭, or “girl number two,” says a lot about his character and a lot about the nature of this novel.

My Translation

Baoyu felt sad and bored once she left. Just then a servant sent by Wang Xifeng arrived to ask them to come into the main room.

When they went in, they saw that Xifeng had already cleaned up and had changed her clothes. She asked if Baoyu wanted to change clothes as well. Baoyu declined.

The maids brought out a tray of snacks and poured cups of fine tea. Xifeng and the others had their tea, waited while things were cleared away, and then got up and went into the carriage.

Meanwhile, Lai Wang was busy giving red envelopes willed with cash to the members of the rural family. The women quickly went over to him to express their gratitude.

Baoyu looked carefully, but did not see the girl who had demonstrated the spinning wheel. However, after they went a little bit further, he saw her.

She was holding a small child in her arms and was standing with two little girls at the edge of the village. She was staring straight at him.

Baoyu couldn’t contain his feelings. However, he was stuck inside the carriage by this point, and could only convey his overwhelming emotions by looking at her.

And then, like a gust of wind or a flash of lightning, they sped away. When he turned back, she was already gone without a trace.

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Translation Critique

Hawkes

David Hawkes does a very good job here conveying Jia Baoyu’s emotions:

Bao-yu could not repress a strong emotion on seeing her, but sitting there in the carriage there was not much he could do but gaze back at her soulfully; and soon, as the carriage bowled along at a smarter pace, ertie was lost to sight for ever.

This strikes me as much better than earlier passages in The Story of the Stone, where 情 is interpreted only in a romantic sense. Baoyu’s feelings here are more than just romantic.

Yang

The Yangs translate this scene in a way that I find less satisfying:

Pao-yu longed to alight and go with her, but knowing that the others would not agree he could only follow her with his eyes as their carriage drove swiftly off. Soon she was out of sight.

This seems to emphasize Jia Baoyu’s youth more than anything else, and implies that he wanted to play with the girl and the other children. The truth is that the phrase 眼角留情 is a lot stronger than just wanting to stay behind and play. Jia Baoyu’s frustration is that the sight of this farm girl brings out an uncontrollable emotional feeling (情) within him that he simply has to express.

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Chinese Text

寶玉悵然無趣。只見鳳姐打發人來叫他兩個進去。鳳姐洗了手，換了衣服，問他換不換。寶玉道：「不換。」也就罷了。僕婦們端上茶食果品來，又倒上香茶來。鳳姐等吃了茶，待他們收拾完備，便起身上車。外面旺兒預備賞封，賞了那莊戶人家。那婦人等忙來謝賞。寶玉留心看時，並不見紡線之女；走不多遠，卻見這二丫頭懷裡抱著個小孩子，同著兩個小女孩子在村頭站著瞅他。寶玉情不自禁，然身在車上，只得眼角留情而已。一時電卷風馳，回頭已無蹤跡了。

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Translation Notes

旺兒 seems to refer to the servant Lai Wang (來旺). We met the servant Lai Wang very briefly at the beginning of chapter 14, though the focus was honestly more on his wife than on him.

In my mind, the phrase 眼角留情 here is one of the most powerful phrases we’ve seen so far. Faced with no other choice, all Jia Baoyu can do to express the overwhelming emotion (情) that naturally wells up inside him is to try to speak with his eyes (here described as 眼角, or the corner of his eye). Remember that Jia Baoyu naturally overflows with 情, to the point where he seriously cannot control or contain himself. It’s not really that Jia Baoyu feels some sort of romantic affection for 二丫頭, though you could interpret it that way if you wanted. Rather, it seems that Jia Baoyu is romanticizing the idea of an authentic lifestyle, or even of something different than the stiflingly opulent upbringing that he has always known. More on this tomorrow.

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When I was first planning out this publication, I thought to myself that I might create and sell Anki decks made up of passages from Dream of the Red Chamber.

In my defense, I know that other language focused content creators have done similar things in the past. Some offer really good Anki decks that feature native speaker audio. Others offer decks that are a bit less helpful - and I know this because I’ve spent more money than I care to admit on products that don’t help out all that much.

However, the truth is that you really shouldn’t buy somebody else’s deck, no matter how good it seems.

The truth, as uncomfortable as it may be, is that there’s no real shortcut to learning a language. You’ve got to put in the time and effort to learn it yourself, and programs like Anki are really designed to reinforce things you have already learned, not to teach you something new.

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I’ve tried a few tricks here and there over the years, thinking that they would help me get a special edge on learning this language or that language.

For example, as I mentioned in a previous video, I once used the sub2srs program to automatically convert a number of television shows with subtitles into Anki cards.

That plan worked in the sense that the program chose the right audio clips and created presentable cards. I did find myself frustrated at first by all the cards that weren’t actually sentences, but I was able to delete those on my own.

However, what I learned is that I had absolutely no connection to the content, since I didn’t bother to watch the television shows beforehand. All I had were clips taken completely out of context from a show that sounded somewhat interesting, but that was utterly confusing.

You see, effective language learning requires at least some sort of context. And when you try to take the context out of language learning and turn it into a simple memorization problem, the whole thing loses its flavor.

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This is why you should stay away from downloading precreated Anki decks. The problem isn’t just that the decks are likely inaccurate. The real problem, rather, is that you didn’t go through the learning process required to actually create them.

You see, when you take the time to look up something you don’t know, or to focus for long enough to at least attempt to learn a difficult grammatical concept from a textbook, your brain has to work at actually making sense of the language.

When you strain your ears to figure out what somebody just said in your target language, your brain is working to try to understand just what is going on.

However, if everything is completely spoonfed for you, or if you just mine a ton of sentences without context and throw them into your deck, you’ll find the process boring and ultimately not very useful.

I have thousands of notes in my Anki deck that I honestly should clean out. It’s not a great position to be in, to be honest. I keep committing the sunk cost fallacy, convincing myself that the fact that I spent time copying a bunch of sentences from a grammar book a few years ago means that there’s got to be some value there somewhere.

Don’t be like me. Take your time, learn the language the right way, and keep your deck clean.

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This is another somewhat short segment from the book. Jia Baoyu gets his first takes of actual rural life here, and he seems mesmerized by it.

My Translation

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So what do you guys think? Should I work towards getting this translation out in print? Or is there no market for that sort of thing anymore?

Naturally, I probably want to wait until I’ve got a bit more translated before seriously thinking about that. Having said that, we’re going faster than you think…

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We run into yet another interesting literary reference today. It’s time to geek out over more Chinese poetry!

My Translation

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It’s time, once again, to ask one of those pesky literary questions that we honestly do not have an answer for.

In yesterday’s translation post, we saw Wang Xifeng intervene to stop Jia Baoyu from riding horseback with the other men:

鳳姐因惦記著寶玉，怕他在郊外縱性，不服家人的話，賈政管不著，惟恐有閃失，因此，命小廝來喚他。

But Wang Xifeng was worried about Jia Baoyu. She was worried that he would do whatever he wanted if he was outside, that he wouldn’t listen to what he was told, and that Jia Zheng would be unable to control him. Since she was worried that something might go wrong, she had a young servant call him over.

But is Wang Xifeng really concerned about Jia Baoyu out of some sort of familial affection? Or is something else going on here?

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This is another one of those transitional scenes. I’ve broken this transition up into two parts because, as usual, something interesting is going on here. More on that tomorrow.

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My Translation

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There’s a reason why I really wanted to dive deep into Dream of the Red Chamber. And there’s a reason why I keep complaining about the other English translations.

You see, the problem is that most people who translate this book skip over the literary references. And that’s like trying to eat your ice cream cone without any ice cream.

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This is a long passage, but is one of my favorites. The literary allusion here is simply great.

My Translation

Chapter 15

Wang Xifeng Abuses Her Power at the Iron Threshold Monastery;

Qin Zhong Finds Pleasure in the Steamed Bun Convent

After he approached the carriage and lifted his eyes, Baoyu saw that the Prince of Beijing, Wang Shirong, wore a white official cap with a silver pin and tassel and silver-tipped wings on his head, along with a white ceremonial dragon robe with wavy borders embroidered with the insignia of a dragon with five claws, as well as a scarlet leather belt inlaid with jade. His face was like beautiful jade, and his eyes looked like bright stars. He was an extremely handsome man.

Baoyu hurried forward to pay his respects. When Shirong reached out from his chair to help Baoyu up, he saw that Baoyu was wearing a silver headdress that gathered up his hair, a headband with a twin-dragons-rising-from-the-sea design, a white arrow-sleeved dragon robe, and a silver belt dotted with pearls. His face was like a spring flower, and his eyes were like dots of paint.

“You live up to your reputation,” said the Prince of Beijing with a smile. “Like your name, you truly are precious and a jewel! Where is that precious jewel that came in your mouth?”

Baoyu responded by quickly taking it from inside his clothes and handing it over. The Prince looked closely at it, read the characters inscribed on it aloud, and asked, “Does it really work as well as they say?”

“Though they say it works,” replied Jia Zheng, “we’ve never tried it yet.”

The Prince commented on how amazing the jade was as he smoothed out its silk cord and placed it back on Baoyu’s neck. He then held Baoyu’s hand and asked him how old he was and what books he was currently studying. Baoyu answered every question clearly.

The Prince saw that Baoyu’s speech was clear and that he was well spoken. He turned to Jia Zheng with a smile. “Your esteemed son is truly brilliant and promising! I don’t mean to be presumptuous in your venerable presence, but surely one day ‘the young phoenix will sing more clearly than the old.’ His future will surely be beyond all measure.”

“How could my dog of a son accept such an undeserved golden compliment? And yet, if things were to turn out as Your Grace has so benevolently suggested, it would indeed be a great blessing to the younger generation.”

“Only one more thing,” replied the Prince. “With such natural gifts, it’s clear that your honored son must be the apple of his revered grandmother’s eye. And yet we of the later generation are not well served by excessive indulgence, for excessive indulgence surely will lead to the neglect of our studies. I myself once fell into this very trap, and I suspect that your esteemed son will also do likewise.

If he finds it difficult to apply himself at home, he should come frequently to my humble residence. Though I am a man of little account, I am fortunate that none of the renowned scholars of the empire who pass through the capital fail to extend their favorable regard towards me. Accordingly, my humble abode is a gathering place for men of exceptional talent. If your esteemed son were to come often to converse and meet with them, his learning would certainly progress daily.”

“Of course,” replied Jia Zheng with a deep bow.

The Prince then removed a string of beads from his wrist and handed them to Baoyu. “Today is our first meeting,” he said, “and, in my hurry, I was unable to bring a congratulatory gift. This is a bracelet made with fragrant prayer beads that I graciously received from His Imperial Majesty. Let this gift represent my congratulations and respect.”

Baoyu accepted the gift, and turned and presented it to Jia Zheng. Jia Zheng and Baoyu then offered their thanks to the Prince.

At this point, Jia She and Jia Zhen came together and asked the Prince to return to his carriage.

“The departed has now ascended to the Immortal Realm, and is no longer part of our world,” said the Prince. “Though I, as a minor prince, have been privileged with the Emperor’s favor and have inherited an empty noble title, how could I dare proceed ahead of the casket of the departed?

When Jia She and the others saw that he was determined, they had no choice but to express their gratitude for his grace and leave. They ordered their attendance to silence the music, they allowed the funeral procession to pass, and the Prince only proceeded after that. No more of this story.

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Translation Critique

Hawkes

David Hawkes calls 鐵檻寺 (the Iron Threshold Monastery) “Water-moon Priory,” for some reason. I’m not entirely sure why.

Hawkes doesn’t do a great job with the poem, unfortunately:

“I trust I shall not offend you by saying so to your face,” he said, “but I venture to prophesy that this fledgling of yours will one day ‘sing sweeter than the parent bird.’”

You’d have to know the Chinese original to understand the phrase “sing sweeter than the parent bird.” Hawkes was a master of classical Chinese poetry, and I can only cringe at the fact that he didn’t do anything more with this masterful literary reference. It really loses the flavor of the original, and is a tremendous shame.

Hawkes deals with the troublesome phrase 蕶苓香念珠 by calling it a “rosary made of the aromatic seeds of some Indian plant.” The uncertainty by the word “some” is actually masterful here, hiding the fact that nobody knows what in the world 蕶苓香 actually refers to.

Yang

The Yangs avoid the poem entirely: “May I venture to predict that in time to come this young phoenix may even surpass the old one?”

Again, this really is a shame, especially since the Yangs frequently use footnotes to explain the novel. This was a great chance to show the reader the literary masterpiece that is Dream of the Red Chamber, and yet they sadly let it slip away.

The Yangs deal with 蕶苓香念珠 by calling it “this string of beads made of the aromatic seeds of some plant.” Again, the unclear “some” helps cover up the fact that nobody really knows what in the world it refers to.

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Chinese Text

第十五回 王鳳姐弄權鐵檻寺　秦鯨卿得趣饅頭庵

話說寶玉舉目見北靜王世榮頭上戴著淨白簪纓銀翅王帽，穿著江牙海水五爪龍白蟒袍，繫著碧玉紅鞓帶，面如美玉，目似明星，真好秀麗人物。寶玉忙搶上來參見。世榮從轎內伸手攙住，見寶玉戴著束髮銀冠，勒著雙龍出海抹額，穿著白蟒箭袖，圍著攢珠銀帶，面若春花，目如點漆。北靜王笑道：「名不虛傳，果然如寶似玉！」問：「銜的那寶貝在那裡？」寶玉見問，連忙從衣內取出遞與。北靜王細細看了，又唸了那上頭的字，因問：「果靈驗否？」賈政忙道：「雖如此說，只是未曾試過。」

北靜王一面極口稱奇，一面理順彩絛，親自與寶玉帶上，又攜手問寶玉幾歲，現讀何書。寶玉一一答應。北靜王見他語言清朗，談吐有致，一面又向賈政笑道：「令郎真乃龍駒鳳雛！非小王在世翁前唐突，將來『雛鳳清於老鳳聲』，未可量也。」賈政陪笑道：「犬子豈敢謬承金獎。賴藩郡餘恩，果如所言，亦廕生輩之幸矣。」北靜王又道：「只是一件：令郎如此資質，想老太夫人自然鍾愛；但吾輩後生甚不宜溺愛，溺愛則未免荒失了學業。昔小王曾蹈此轍，想令郎亦未必不如是也。若令郎在家難以用功，不妨常到寒邸。小王雖不才，卻多蒙海內眾名士，凡至都者，未有不垂青目的，是以寒邸高人頗聚。令郎常去談談會會，則學問可以日進矣。」賈政忙躬身答道：「是。」

北靜王又將腕上一串念珠卸下來，遞與寶玉，道：「今日初會，倉卒無敬賀之物，此係聖上所賜蕶苓香念珠一串，權為賀敬之禮。」寶玉連忙接了，回身奉與賈政。賈政帶著寶玉謝過了。於是賈赦賈珍等一齊上來叩請回輿。北靜王道：「逝者已登仙界，非你我碌碌塵寰中人。小王雖上叨天恩，虛邀郡襲，豈可越仙輀而進呢？」賈赦等見執意不從，只得謝恩回來，命手下人掩樂停音，將殯過完，方讓北靜王過去。不在話下。

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Translation Notes

弄權 means to abuse one’s power or to manipulate one’s power for personal goals

秦鯨卿 is the courtesy name (or 字) of Qin Zhong (秦鍾). I don’t believe that we’ve seen this courtesy name before.

秀麗 means beautiful or pretty, and is normally used to describe a woman.

The Prince’s first comment to Jia Baoyu, 名不虛傳，果然如寶似玉, is a play on Baoyu’s name. Baoyu’s Chinese name is 寶玉; 寶 means a treasure (or, as an adjective, precious), and 玉 means jade. You can think of this phrase as the Prince saying something like “you really are a precious piece of jade, just like your name.”

銜 means to hold in the mouth. The Prince’s question refers to the jade piece that Jia Baoyu was famously born with in his mouth. That story is implied here by that simple verb 銜.

寶貝 usually means “darling,” “honey,” or “baby” in modern Chinese. Here it means “a treasure.”

靈驗 means effective. This is a fascinating word to use here, since the name of the jade piece is 通靈寶玉; as you’ll remember, this translates to something like “The Precious Jade of Spiritual Understanding,” though the phrase 通靈 is kind of hard to translate. 靈驗 actually is a word that means “effective”; however, it’s interesting that Cao Xueqin would have the Prince say this particular word. See more here:

極口稱奇 means to express one’s wonder at something over and over again.

令郎 is an honorific noun meaning “your son.”

龍駒鳳雛 means “a dragon’s colt and a phoenix’s chick.” It’s a phrase that refers to a young person who is especially bright and who has a promising future.

世翁 is another honorific term. The Prince is noting the fact that Jia Zheng is from an elder generation.

The line 雛鳳清於老鳳聲 comes from a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin (李商隱) that he composed to praise the son of a good friend. The poem is called 韓冬郎即席爲詩相送，一座盡驚。他日余方追吟「連宵侍坐裴回久」之句，有老成之風，因成二絕寄酬，兼呈畏之, which is a long name that translates to “Han Donglan composed an impromptu poem at the farewell feast, astonishing everybody. Days later, when I recited that line ‘All night we sat together, lingering long,’ I found it mature far beyond his years. Therefore I wrote this four line poem to send him in return, and have also presented them to Wei Zhi.” Wei Zhi (畏之) was the courtesy or literary name of Han Wo’s father, Han Zhan, who was Li Shangyin’s friend. This is the full poem:

十歲裁詩走馬成，冷灰殘燭動離情。

桐花萬里丹山路，雛鳳清於老鳳聲。

劍棧風檣各苦辛，別時冰雪到時春。

爲憑何遜休聯句，瘦盡東陽沈姓人。

At ten, you composed poems as fast as a horse.

With cold ashes and a dying candle, there was a feeling of parting.

On the thousand mile road to Mount Dan, amid the phoenix tree blossoms,

The young phoenix sang clearer than the old phoenix.

The sword-path bridge and the wind-tossed mast both have its toil.

It was icy when we parted; it will be spring when you arrive.

Don’t press He Xun to make a linked verse;

Mr. Shen from Dongyang has already wasted away.

The second part includes a pretty obscure reference about not composing a matching poem. He Xun was a gifted poet of the Liang Dynasty, several hundred years before this poem was created. Meanwhile, Mr. Shen was a famous poet of the Southern Qi dynasty who was known for being very thin; Li Shangyin used Mr. Shen to refer to himself, claiming that he was too thin and weary to keep up with the brilliance of his friend’s son.

Mount Dan (丹山) was the mythological home of the phoenix, and doesn’t really refer to an actual place. The idea is that the old phoenix, or Li Shangyin’s friend, is already living on the mountain. The new phoenix, his friend’s son, is going up the mountain to replace the old phoenix, and will likely surpass him.

The phrase 冷灰殘燭動離情 evokes the emotion of parting. Note the word 情 at the end, which, of course, is one of the most important words in the entire novel. This poem would fit in nicely with the poems by Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu that we’re going to eventually get to.

Anyway, in the novel text, the Prince of Beijing is clearly saying that Jia Baoyu will outshine his father Jia Zheng.

賴藩郡 is an old fashioned formal phrase used to address royalty such as the Prince.

寒邸 is a humble term used by nobles or officials to refer to their own residence.

蕶苓香念珠 is a fragrant group of prayer beads. It’s not entirely clear what 蕶苓 actually stands for.

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