Dream of the Red Chamber Edition Guide
You might remember the video I came out with the other day:
If you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out.
Anyway, I originally wanted Monday’s post to be a full guide to the various editions of Dream of the Red Chamber that are out there. However, I wound up spending more time doing research on those editions than actually piecing together a post.
To make up for that, I’ll just make today’s post the edition guide. Here are the raw notes that I took while piecing together the video, complete with a few comments about where these editions come from.
I’m putting this out for free for all of you who are curious students of this book. It can take quite a bit of time to piece all of this together, especially since almost all the information out there is in Chinese. The names of these manuscripts and variations are also difficult to piece together even if your native language is Chinese.
Anyway, here goes:
Manuscripts
This includes all handwritten copies of Dream of the Red Chamber. Most of these include commentary in red, which is the famous 脂硯齋 (Zhiyanzhai, or red inkstone) commentary. None of these are original manuscripts; they are all copies of copies.
1754 甲戌本 Jiaxu manuscript
Purchased by Hu Shi in 1927; is now at Cornell university
Chapters 1-8, 13-16, and 25-28; original probably had 80 chapters.
Most copies we have are black and white. A color version was printed in Taiwan in 1961 but is rare.
1759 己卯本 Jimao manuscript
Held in National Library of China, Beijing
Originally 41 chapters with 13 recovered later for a total of 54 chapters (this is confusing, I know)
1760 庚辰本 Gengchen
In Peking University library
78 chapters survive; chapters 64 and 67 are missing, and chapters 17 and 18 are unseparated
This is the most complete “zhi commentary” version and is the basis for most of the modern critical versions of the novel
This one is the reason why you see chapters 17 and 18 combined in official published editions of the book.
戚序本 Qi-Preface
Manuscripts that contain a preface by Qi Liaosheng (戚蓼生) who was a scholar-official in the 18th century
This includes all 80 chapters with integrated commentary
These were the earliest manuscripts to reach the public, going back to a photographic reproduction in 1911.
There are numerous versions of this manuscript out there, which can be pretty confusing. The thing they all have in common is the Qi Liaosheng preface.
蒙府本 Mongol Prince Mansion
Found in a Mongol Prince palace in the 1960s
120 chapters, but the last 40 chapters are unique
The final 40 chapters are usually considered a later patchwork and are likely not a Cao Xueqin original
Some variants in first 80 chapters
列藏本 Leningrad
Found in Leningrad in the 1960s; brought to China in the 1980s for study
78 chapters with some commentary but less than other manuscripts
Also has some unique readings
Seems to have gone from China to Russia sometime in the 1830s.
梦稿本 Dream
Owned by Qing dynasty scholar Yang jizhen (楊繼振); he got it sometime in the 19th century
120 chapters
First 80 chapters seem to be a printed-style text
Last 40 chapters have traces of a revised draft
Could this be an earlier version of what Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E were working on?
楊藏本 The Yang Manuscript
This seems to have originally been published in 1973. This is a 120 chapter manuscript covered with deletions and so forth.
南圖本 The “Nanjing Library” version
Probably came from sometime in the middle of the 19th century, kind of hard to tell
Includes Zhiyanzhai commentaries and the Qi Liaosheng preface
1784 甲辰本 Jiachen
Dated 1784 in the text
80 chapters
Includes a preface by Mengjuezhuren (夢覺主人)
Shows some editorial interventions, and seems to be a textual bridge
1789 舒序本 Shu-Preface
Dated 1789
Only 40 chapters
With preface by Shu Yuwei (舒元煒)
郑藏本 Zheng Zang Ben
Chapter 23 only
Discovered in Zheng Zhenduo’s collection
卞藏本 Bian Zang Ben
10 chapters that surfaced in 2006
Some people think this is a modern fake
Printed Versions
There are hundreds of different printed versions of Dream of the Red Chamber, probably because the text itself is not under copyright. It’s common to see random editions spring up from small and somewhat bizarre publishing companies in random parts of China. Some of these use font sizes that are so small that the text is literally unreadable.
I like to collect these different versions. However, the list below includes only the major variants that I am aware of rather than including every single different possible permutation of the book.
1791 程甲本 Cheng Jia edition
First completed and printed 120 chapter edition
Lots of differences from the old manuscripts with red ink commentary
Includes preface in which Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan explain that the final 40 chapters were reconstructed based on different manuscripts.
This was the most popular version of the text until 1927; almost all easily accessible versions were this text.
1792 程乙本 Cheng Yi edition
Revised edition that formed the base of the most popular version of this book in the 20th century
Most changes in this version came to the final 40 chapters.
Includes additional preface note with more explanation about the provenance of the final 40 chapters; Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan claim that they found better quality original manuscripts of these chapters, but offer no real provenance information or explanation.
This is generally considered the popular version of the novel to this day; chances are that your Chinese grandparents read this version.
三家評本 19th century commentary version
Includes three different commentators: Wang Xilian (王希廉), Zhang Xinzhi (張新之), and Yao Xie
This is what basically cemented the Cheng-Gao base in the understanding of this novel.
These commentaries did not take into consideration any manuscripts, which were difficult to find and very obscure.
Yadong Editions 亞東版
Published by Yadong Library in Shanghai
Prefaces by Hu Shi and Chen Duxiu
1921 edition was the Cheng Yi edition with Hu Shi’s preface; this is what turned the novel into a modern printed book
1927 edition was this version with further revisions and used the 1792 text as the base.
This is the version most prominent in the Republic of China era
1953 作家出版社 Zuojia Chubanshe
First standardized popular edition in the PRC
1957 人民文学出版社 Renmin Wenxue Chubanshe
Base text with the Cheng Yi veresion
Includes a preface by that reflects the orthodox Marxist interpretation
This was the standard text for two decades, though there was a period between 1966 and 1971 or so when Dream of the Red Chamber was not allowed to be sold in stores.
Includes explanatory footnotes for difficult to understand characters
1982 人民文学出版社 Renmin Wenxue Chubanshe
The first 80 chapters here are based on the Gengchen manuscript primarily
This is where they started combining chapters 17 and 18
This instantly became the standard version in China
This is basically the most important version of the novel since the Yadong Editions, and marked a major scholarly shift towards the manuscripts.
1983 紅樓夢校注 Taipei version
Also uses the Gengchen manuscript for the first 80 chapters, but with parts of the Leningrad manuscript
This is the scholarly version in Taiwan
Note, however, that it’s much easier to find versions of the 1792 text in Taiwan through publishers like 三民書局.