Sitemap - 2025 - Dream of the Red Chamber

Things Quiet Down

Translating Names

Revolution in the Classroom

Why All The Homosexuality?

The F Word

I Wanna Riot

Cao Xueqin's Specialty

Jia Qiang's Plan

Homosexuality and Masculinity

Yet Another Triangle

Why Was Jia Zhen Afraid?

How To Have Success On Substack

More Homosexual Scandals

Helping King Zhou Perform His Cruelty

Schoolroom Politics

Homosexual Terminology in Classical Chinese Literature

Bum Cake

The Excessive Use Of Classical Phrases

The Homosexual Lovers

Understanding Jia Baoyu's Homosexuality

The Family School

Jia Baoyu and Qin Zhong

Why Jia Baoyu Didn't Say Goodbye To Xue Baochai

Fragrant Blossoms and Homemade Makeup

Jia Zheng and Thomas Gradgrind

Li Gui Recites A Poem

The Ever Shifting Chinese Grammar

Indirect Communication in the Chinese Language

Jia Zheng and Jia Baoyu

Hua Xiren's Role

Jia Baoyu Gets Ready For School

What's In A Name?

Qin Keqing's Origin Story

The Girly Man

Qin Zhong Returns

Why I'm Not Planning On Publishing A Book

Hua Xiren's Defiance

Jia Baoyu Says Too Much

What's Going On?

Baoyu's Drunken Stupor

Ordinary Language

Returning Home

The Sexual Politics of the Jia Family

The Sexual World of Dream of the Red Chamber

The Cone Hat

How This Blog Works

More Drinking

Outsider And Insider

Drunken Fun

What In The World Is Lin Daiyu Talking About?

The Hand Warmer Incident

Hot And Cold

Much Ado About Wine

What If Jia Baoyu Took Xue Baochai's Medicine?

Baoyu and Baochai Square Off

How The Couplets Match

The Inscriptions

The Subversive Romance Book

Dream of the Red Chamber Podcast Episode 1

Xue Baochai Sees The Jade

Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai

Jia Baoyu Sees Xue Baochai

What Was That All About?

An Odd Discursion

The Translation Paradox

Chapter 8 Begins

The Qin Keqing Affair

The Drunken Rant

Jia Baoyu's Formal Language

Jia Baoyu's Plan

Close Friends

What's A Friend For?

Jia Baoyu's Homosexuality

Jia Baoyu's First Love

The Family

Confusing Family Relationships

Who's The Boss?

The Short Journey

The Silk Flowers

Leng Zixing's Mess

The Baguenaudier

Jia Baoyu Admires The Flowers

Internal Deportation

More Drama

Wang Xifeng The Victim

Wang Xifeng's Nap

Why The Interlude

Jia Xichun And The Nun

How To Transition

Walking Around With Zhou Rui's Wife

The Trafficked Girl

Zhen Yinglian Returns

Why Xue Baochai Is Sick

Xue Baochai's Medicine

How To Create Believable Characters

Granny Liu's Triumph

Wang Xifeng The Godfather: Part Two

A Favor For Jia Rong

Why Granny Liu Felt Embarrassed

Jia Rong Arrives

Wang Xifeng The Godfather

The Power Broker

The Color Red

Waiting For Wang Xifeng

Why The Clock Startled Granny Liu

Granny Liu Discovers Clocks

Zhou Rui's Wife

Granny Liu Is Blown Away

The Women Are Smarter

Wang Xifeng's Speaking Ability

Why Wang Xifeng Is Powerful

The True Head Of Household

Little Textual Treats

Setting The Plan In Motion

Granny Liu's Chinese

The Plan

The Literary Style of Dream of the Red Chamber

An Odd Interlude

Jia Baoyu The Sexual Deviant

Jia Baoyu's First Sexual Encounter

David Hawkes on Two-In-One

Jia Baoyu Learns The Secrets

Sensuality in Dream of the Red Chamber

The Most Passionate Person In The World

The Chapter 5 Poems

The Birds Fly Away

Is Emotion (情) Good Or Evil?

Good Things Come To An End

Rebellious Poetry

Late Springtime

The Calculations Of Heaven

Remaining Blessings

My Chinese Source

The Futility of Planning

The Violence Of Peace

The Enlightenment of the Illusory Flowers

The Change In Tone

The Mountain Wolf

Purity Culture

Jade In the Mud

The Clouds of Gaotang

Sorrow In The Midst Of Joy

Implicit Criticism?

Detachment

Is This Pro-Buddhist?

The Evanescent Life

Deliberate Ambiguity

Tears That Flow All Year Round

Starting From The End

The Old Pact Between The Tree And Stone

The Debate Over 情

Remembering The Gold And Mourning The Jade

The Four Noble Truths

The Spiritual World Of Grief

Who The Goddess Really Is

Sensuality As A Cure

More Than Just Ornamentation

Exploring The Celestial Palace

A Look At The Predictive Poems

When Raw Emotions Meet

The Plan

Li Wan's Fate

How Not To Write Great Literature

When Fortune Fails, Don't Talk Of Nobility

Why Chinese Needs To Be Written In Characters

Tricky Text

A Practical Guide To Reading The Chinese Classics In Chinese

From Splendor To Black Clothing

Spoiling The Story To Explain The Poems

The Zhongshan Wolf

Is It Fate?

Jade In The Mud

So What Gives?

The River Flows To Nothingness

Kites and Wind

Crying On The Boat

The Girl In The Palace

The Blooming Pomegranates Light The Palace Walls

Hanging In The Forest, Buried In The Snow

The Hanging Jade Belt And The Buried Golden Hairpin

Who Is Bound Together With The Lotus?

Bound With The Lotus Flower

Who Are The First Two Poems About?

The Prophetic Poems Start

The Evil That Entered Jia Baoyu's Heart

Jia Baoyu Enters The Illusory Realm Of The Great Void

What The Goddess Who Unveils Illusion Does

The Goddess Who Unveils Illusion

Active And Passive Verbs

Jia Baoyu Sees The Goddess Who Unveils Illusion

Whose Fault Is It?

Jia Baoyu Falls Asleep

Making Sense Of The Allusions

More About The Erotic Room

Locked Dreams

Jia Baoyu Visits A Sensual Bedroom

Why Jia Baoyu Hated The Painting

The Rivalry Begins

Chapter 5 Preview

Xue Pan's Paradise

What's In A Name?

The Murderer Heads to the Capital

Trafficking of Women in the Qing Dynasty

Jia Yucun Bends The Rules

Karmic Justice

Hiding Murder With Fate

Dreamlike Karmic Love

Poor Yinglian

Jia Yucun Is Interrupted

Zhen Yinglian Returns

Trivial Information

The Official Protection Register

Virtuous Women And Talented Women

Doomed To Domestic Servitude

The Attacking Fragrance

What Jia Baoyu's Jade Means

Baoyu Throws Away His Jade

Emotion in Dream of the Red Chamber

Jia Baoyu's Attraction To Lin Daiyu

Meaningful Poetry Translation

Lin Daiyu Meets Jia Baoyu

Much Ado About Mealtime

Daiyu's First Meal

Lost In The Details

Politeness

Cao Xueqin and Chekhov's Gun

The Heart Of The Mansion

Why Jia She Refused Lin Daiyu

We Meet The Maids

Tacit Communication

Wang Xifeng and Lin Daiyu

Wang Xifeng Enters

Character Descriptions in Chinese Literature

Lin Daiyu Meets The Family

Why The Architecture of Rongguo Mansion Matters

Lin Daiyu Arrives at Rongguo Mansion

The Chinese Language in Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 3

Lin Daiyu Leaves Home

Is It Really Fate?

The Spring Cycle

Jia Yucun Misses The Point

The Metaphysics of Jia Baoyu

The Jia Baoyu In All Of Us

Jia Baoyu on Men and Women

Breaking The Narrative Rules

Jia Yucun Gossips

4 Ways AI Can Hack Literature

Jia Yucun Misses Transcendence

What's In A Name?

Lin Daiyu Enters

My Language Learning Secret

Chapter 2

Jiao Xing Becomes Lucky

Zhen Shiyin | 甄士隱

Kong Kong | 空空道人

The Ethereal Sage | 渺渺真人

The Vast Master | 茫茫大士

The Goddess Nüwa | 女媧氏

Characters

Abandonment Is Not The Answer

Zhen Shiyin Runs Away

Sewing Another Girl's Wedding Dress

Zhen Shiyin's Bitter Lament

The Bootstraps Myth

Zhen Shiyin Loses Everything

The English Translations

Disaster Strikes

Simple Yet Ambitious

Jia Yucun The Poet

Jia Yucun's Self Deception

Jia Yucun Falls In Love

Whose Side Are You On Anyway?

The Crazy Monk And Priest Intervene

The Original Versions of Dream of the Red Chamber

Start Here

Truth And Fiction

When Does The Story Finally Start?

Repaying The Debt With Tears

Cao Xueqin Defies Convention

Zhen Shiyin's Dream

The Endless Day Of Gloom

The Retired Scholar

How Cao Xueqin Subverts Buddhism

The Many Names Of The Book

Who Were Zhou Wenjun And Cao Zijian?

The Great Chinese Literature Rant

How To Translate Chinese Poems The Right Way

Back To The Ending

Embedded Poetry in Chinese Fiction

The Monk And The Priest

Why Nüwa?

Files

The Discarded Stone

Dreams and Illusions

Chapter 1

The Dream Starts