Jia Baoyu’s Homosexuality
Okay - I know that I’m getting myself into some dangerous territory here. But I really have to say what I observed in yesterday’s translation post.
There’s an obvious romantic attraction between Jia Baoyu and Qin Zhong.
Now, the fact that these feelings are actually romantic and aren’t just some sort of platonic respect is going to become apparent before too long. As we go through the text, you’ll start having all sorts of questions about precisely what it is that Jia Baoyu is thinking and why he’s doing the things he’s doing.
I’ll try to keep this brief. The deeper I get into this novel, the less inclined I am to do anything else in life - and the longer these posts get. However, in this case I think I can demonstrate precisely what is going on with Jia Baoyu in a few (relatively) short points.
First, you have to understand that Dream of the Red Chamber is patterned after the 才子佳人 (great scholar and beautiful woman) type of romance novels that were prevalent in Ming and Qing Dynasty China.
We know for a fact that this is the case, by the way. It’s not speculation. In fact, the author himself referred to that genre of fiction by name back in the first chapter:
至於才子佳人等書，則又開口文君，滿篇子建，千部一腔，千人一面，且終不能不涉淫濫。
As for books about talented scholars and beautiful ladies, they’re all filled with stories about Zhou Wenjun and Cao Zijian. Thousands of books contain the same tone, and their thousands of characters share the same face. In the end, they all end up indulging in lust and excess.
I’ve said before that the 才子 in those books tended to be masculine. Actually, it seems that I was wrong.
I’m more than happy to admit when I was wrong - and, as most of you already know, it’s not the first time. That’s one of the advantages of doing this as a blog, of course. I don’t have to worry about putting out a second edition of my work.
There’s a good book called The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture by Song Geng that goes into some detail about the 才子. I haven’t actually read the whole book yet (which is the curse of the scholar: it’s hard to read when you’re busy writing). However, this part from the introduction is a pretty good summation of the issue:
This hits everything that I want to cover but don’t have time to cover, including those great old plays that likely hold the key to correctly interpreting Dream of the Red Chamber.
Now, like I said, I haven’t finished reading this great book. But I can tell you that it’s clear that descriptions of characters like Qin Zhong weren’t necessarily unusual at this time in China’s literary history:
But we need to stop here for a moment.
As interesting as it is to talk about the difference between wen (文, culture, or the “soft” side of masculinity) and wu (武, war, the “hard” side of masculinity), there are aspects of Dream of the Red Chamber that separate it from other books in the 才子佳人 genre.
I want to make it clear that I’m not arguing with Song Geng here, largely because I haven’t dug into his work the way I should. However, I do want to say that Jia Baoyu’s attraction to Qin Zhong isn’t just showing how his wen overcomes his wu. When you look at Jia Baoyu as a whole person, you’ll realize that Cao Xueqin is saying something much deeper than the average 才子佳人 novel.
The pattern is there - but it doesn’t end there.
Second, you need to understand that Jia Baoyu simply cannot control his feelings.
This was evident back at the beginning of Chapter 6, when Jia Baoyu takes advantage of Hua Xiren, his devoted personal maid:
寶玉亦素喜襲人柔媚姣俏，遂強拉襲人同領警幻所祕授之事。襲人自知賈母曾將他給了寶玉，也無可推託的，扭捏了半日，無奈何，只得和寶玉溫存了一番。
Since Baoyu had always been fond of Xiren for her gentle, charming, and lovely nature, he then insistently shared with Xiren the secret techniques the Goddess taught him.
Xiren was well aware that Grandmother Jia had given her to Baoyu. Seeing that there was no way to refuse, after some hesitation, and seeing that there was no way out, she had no choice but to indulge Baoyu with gentle affection.
Now, for reasons that are obvious in the Chinese original, this really should be called “the rape of Hua Xiren,” not “Jia Baoyu’s first sexual encounter.” In fact, Cao Xueqin makes a point of telling her that she didn’t really consent. As he puts it, “也無可推託的，扭捏了半日，無奈何,” or “there was no way fo rher to refuse; she hesitated for a while, but saw that there was no way out.”
I think this has been misinterpreted by some well meaning scholars as Hua Xiren acting in a coquettish manner. Actually, the truth is that Cao Xueqin is describing the power imbalance. He’s not applauding Jia Baoyu for what he did. He’s simply reporting on the activity that took place - and it’s up to us as readers to interpret it.
Now, the reason why Jia Baoyu acts this way is because he is out of control. Or, to put it in the terms this novel so frequently brings up, he cannot control his 情 - his passion, his emotions, his feeling, and the desire that burns up inside him.
It’s that same 情 that causes Jia Baoyu to feel like part of his soul is gone when he sees Qin Zhong for the first time. In fact, it’s precisely that 情 that is causing Jia Baoyu to fall in love with everybody and everything that he sees.
Jia Baoyu’s actions towards Hua Xiren are particularly horrible when you consider the third point.
Third, Jia Baoyu is actually already in love with Lin Daiyu. That’s the part that makes all of this extra activity so odd.
This is easy to show:
寶玉早已看見了一個嫋嫋婷婷的女兒，便料定是林姑媽之女，忙來見禮。歸了座，細看時，真是與眾各別。只見：
兩彎似蹙非蹙籠煙眉，一雙似喜非喜含情目。態生兩靨之愁，嬌襲一身之病。淚光點點，嬌喘微微。閒靜似嬌花照水，行動如弱柳扶風。心較比干多一竅，病如西子勝三分。
Baoyu had already seen the slender, graceful young girl, and figured that she must be the daughter of his Aunt Lin. He stepped forward to greet her.
Once he was seated, he took a closer look at her. He saw that she was really unlike anyone he had ever seen.
Her eyebrows were like a faint mist, neither knit nor smooth.
Her eyes had a dreamy sweetness, neither glad nor sad.
Her delicate face seemed touched with melancholy.
Her fragile frame seemed to be wrapped in illness.
There were glistening teardrops on her eyelashes.
Soft sighs faintly escaped her lips.
In stillness, she looked like a flower mirrored in water;
In motion, she was like a willow swaying in the wind.
She was more perceptive than Bi Gan,
And she was three times as sickly as Xi Shi.
As I explained in that earlier post, the references to Bi Gan and Xi Shi indicate that Jia Baoyu thought Lin Daiyu was the most beautiful girl in the history of the world.
But the part that is absolutely maddening here is that Jia Baoyu then rapes his personal maid, likely because she is the first girl he sees after his erotic dream. And then he falls in love with Qin Zhong because of his feminine grace and dainty qualities.
You see - the thing that is fascinating about Jia Baoyu is that he has no control whatsoever over his emotions. He doesn’t even try to control them. He indulges himself at every opportunity with no concern for the thoughts of others.
Do you remember how Lin Daiyu reacted when she was given the silk flowers a few days ago?
笑道：「林姑娘，姨太太叫我送花兒來了。」寶玉聽說，便說：「什麼花兒？拿來，我瞧瞧。」一面便伸手接過匣子來看時，原來是兩枝宮制堆紗新巧的假花。黛玉只就寶玉手中看了一看，便問道：「還是單送我一個人的？還是別的姑娘們都有呢？」周瑞家的道：「各位都有了；這兩枝是姑娘的。」黛玉冷笑道：「我就知道麼，別人不挑剩下的，也不給我呀。」
“Miss Lin,” said Zhou Rui’s wife as she entered, “Aunt Xue asked me to give you these flowers.”
“Flowers?” asked Baoyu as soon as he heard this. “Bring them here! Let me see.” As he spoke, he grabbed the box and looked inside. The box contained two exquisite hair ornaments, palace made gauze flowers crafted in the latest fashion.
Daiyu merely glanced at the flowers in Baoyu’s hands. “Did she only give these flowers to me?” she asked. “Or did all the other girls receive them as well?”
“Yes, everybody received theirs,” replied Zhou Rui’s wife. “These two are for you, miss.”
Daiyu laughed scornfully. “I knew it. I wouldn’t have received anything if the others hadn’t received theirs first.”
Zhou Rui’s wife was silent when she heard this, not daring to utter a single word in reply.
I’ve cut off this segment here. However, the important part isn’t really what is written, but, rather what is not written. Jia Baoyu does nothing to reassure Lin Daiyu or even prevent her from feeling hurt.
I strongly suspect that Lin Daiyu’s remark was not aimed at Zhou Rui’s wife. Instead, it was aimed at Jia Baoyu, and was likely intended to be a test of how much he cares for her.
Jia Baoyu simply ignores it. In fact, you can go back and read the passage again; you’ll see it.
In fact, all Jia Baoyu really cares about here is the quality of the silk flowers. This is a massive contrast to all the idealistic thinking he engaged in when he saw Qin Zhong. He thinks on the one hand that he wishes he were born in poverty; and yet, when his girlfriend worries that she received the leftovers of a gift, he’s more interested in the gift than in her feelings.
Now, none of this is to say that Jia Baoyu is a fraud, or an awful person, or an anti-hero, or anything like that. He’s human. He’s got his strengths and his weaknesses, just like anybody else.
Jia Baoyu rails against the system that enables him. He condemns his own riches, and yet he knows deep down inside that he cannot survive without them.
But the rich irony here is not just that Jia Baoyu is not a traditional 才子; after all, he despises studying and would rather do anything than read the Confucian classics (and we’ll get to that part of the story before too long). No - the great irony is that Jia Baoyu condemns the way that his father lives his life.
You see, all the men in Jia Baoyu’s life - Jia Zheng, Xue Pan, Jia She, and so on - every one of these men spends his time chasing after women and enjoying fine wine. Nobody takes life seriously. Nobody cares about earning a living. Their lives are all about drinking, sex, scandal, and luxury.
Jia Baoyu is honestly no different. For all of his poetic qualities and his desire to renounce the world around him, he’s actually following the path that is in front of him. After all, he’s already fallen in love with the girl he’s “supposed” to be with, after which he quietly raped his personal maid and fell for the first feminine man he met.
All in all, Jia Baoyu is a lot more interesting than your average scholarly 才人, or the muscular hunk in traditional Western romance novels.