Sex
One of the most fascinating things about Dream of the Red Chamber is that the novel is unapologetic in the way it treats human sexuality.
It’s actually somewhat shocking from a Western standpoint. Most of us who grew up reading classical literature are used to sexual allusions and comments being made in a subtle manner, in a way that requires interpretation and a lot of reading into things.
In yesterday’s post we had some extremely vivid descriptions of human sexuality, such as Jia Rui earnestly pulling down the pants (扯褲子) of the person he thought was Wang Xifeng, pulling down his own pants (扯下自己的褲子), and preparing to penetrate that person (硬幫幫就想頂入).
Even a vivid word such as “fuck” (肏) would seem unacceptable in most 18th century and 19th century literature we’re familiar with in the West.
As you recall, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen frank depictions of sexuality in Dream of the Red Chamber. In fact, we saw some even more direct descriptions of human sexuality elsewhere.
For example, there was this description of Jia Baoyu’s first sexual encounter, which is likely an example of him raping his own maid:
There are also clear descriptions of homosexuality that might make even modern audiences a big squeamish:
And there’s this kind of unspoken sense of sexual politics that underlies the entire Jia family experience:
Now, if you were to look at this book from a purely Confucian standpoint, the premise alone is concerning. After all, the women in Dream of the Red Chamber are portrayed as strong individuals with their own dreams and desires, not simply as people properly subordinate to the men around them. If anything, it’s the women who run the show in the family while the men are busying themselves with pointless tasks and ventures.
As frank and direct as this book is, however, it’s nothing compared to the infamous Plum in the Golden Vase (金瓶梅), which had been around for about a century and a half by the time Cao Xueqin started writing Dream of the Red Chamber.
I won’t go into too much detail regarding the language of Plum in the Golden Vase, other than to assure you that it’s as close to pornographic as anything you’ll see in Chinese literature. There is a good argument that it’s not actually a “pornographic” novel because its characters are actually real people living real lives, and because there’s a lot of artistic merit to the novel aside from its prurient nature. However, the descriptions of sexuality there would make even modern readers feel a bit squeamish.
As shocking as certain passages of Dream of the Red Chamber might seem, we’ve got to keep in mind that there were other texts from before its time that were even more explicit. And the real point of all of Jia Rui’s foolishness is to show how those emotional feelings, or 情, can cloud your judgment to an extreme extent.