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Cover of Pai Hsien-yung’s Close Reading of Dream of the Red Chamber
Pai Hsien-yung’s Close Reading of Dream of the Red Chamber
Returning to the sources of China’s greatest novel
Completed · 138 episodes
Buy for ¥128.00
Audio in Chinese
Pai Hsien-yung on Dream of the Red Chamber: Trailer Collection Reader’s Guide I: Why Must We Read Dream of the Red Chamber? Reader’s Guide II: Which Edition of Dream of the Red Chamber Should We Read? Reader’s Guide III: The Historical Rise and Fall of Cao Xueqin’s Family Chapter 1: What Metaphors Are Hidden in the Novel’s Opening Chapter? Chapter 2: Cao Xueqin’s Ingenious Introduction to the Four Great Families Chapter 3: The First Heroine Appears—Understanding Daiyu’s Orphaned State of Mind Chapter 3: Wang Xifeng’s Vivid Entrance and the First Meeting of Baoyu and Daiyu Chapters 4–5: Baoyu Visits the Land of Illusion and the Novel’s Mythic Structure Is Complete Chapter 5: The Twelve Songs of Dream of the Red Chamber as a Chain of Elegies Chapter 6: Granny Liu Brings a Breath of Fresh Air into the Novel Chapters 7–9: Xue Baochai Prefers Her “Cold Fragrance Pill” to Palace Flowers Chapters 9–14: Qin Keqing Appears in a Dream to Warn Wang Xifeng Chapters 14–17: Qin Keqing and Qin Zhong as Two Faces of Desire Chapters 17–18: Imperial Consort Yuanchun’s Visit and the Hidden Fate of the Jia Family Chapters 19–21: Why Does Xiren Have More Scenes Than Baochai? Chapters 21–22: Baoyu First Reveals His Wish to Renounce the World Chapters 21–22: Jia Zheng Is Also a Person of Flesh, Blood, and Feeling Chapters 23–24: The Peony Pavilion Inherits The Western Chamber and Opens the Way to Red Chamber Chapters 25–26: Baoyu and Daiyu Are Most Moving When They Confess Their Hearts Chapter 27: Do You Remember Xiaohong in Grand View Garden? Chapter 27: The Cosmic Sorrow of “Burying the Flowers” Chapter 28: “Song of the Red Bean” and Baoyu’s Tenderness Toward Women Chapter 28: Is Jiang Yuhan Baoyu’s Reflection in the Secular World? Chapters 28–30: Even Good-Natured Miss Bao Can Lose Her Temper Chapters 30–31: Qingwen Is Spoiled and Proud, Yet Dies in Misery Chapters 31–32: Baoyu and Xiangyun—Like Brother and Sister, and Like Two Brothers Chapters 32–33: Jinchuan Drowns Herself; Baoyu and Baochai Respond Differently Chapters 33–34: Baoyu’s Beating Reveals Three Heroines’ True Feelings and Calculations Chapters 34–35: The Conflict Between Feeling and Reason Gives Birth to Literature Chapters 35–36: Jia Qiang and Lingguan Mirror the Love of Baoyu and Daiyu Chapter 37: The Young Women’s Poetry Club in Grand View Garden Chapters 38–40: Grand View Garden at Its Height Chapter 40: Dream of the Red Chamber as Cao Xueqin’s In Search of Lost Time Chapter 41: Devoted Miaoyu Still Cannot Become a Buddha Chapters 41–43: Has Baochai Won Daiyu Over? Chapters 43–44: Wang Xifeng’s Fierceness and Warmth Chapter 45: Cao Xueqin Often Plants a Hidden Stroke Through a Third Person’s Words Chapters 45–46: Daiyu Mourns Autumn and Dimly Grasps Her Fate Chapters 46–47: Yuanyang and the Making of a Head Maid Chapters 47–48: Liu Xianglian’s Fate Also Guides Baoyu Toward Awakening Chapter 48: Why Does the Abducted Yinglian Reappear? Chapters 48–49: How Does Daiyu Teach Xiangling to Write Poetry? Chapter 49: Even the Minor Players in Grand View Garden Are Complex Chapters 49–50: At the Jia Family’s Height, Even Snowfall Feels Warm Chapters 51–52: Xue Baoqin Adds New Radiance to Grand View Garden Chapter 52: The Ailing Qingwen Mends a Cloak and Plants the Seeds of Tragedy Chapter 53: New Year’s Ancestral Rites Reveal Confucian Order in the Jia Household Chapter 54: Every Opera Performance in the Jia Household Plants Foreshadowing Chapters 54–55: Kunqu Is the Background Music of Dream of the Red Chamber Bonus: Learn the Art of Mutual Flirtation Through Kunqu Chapter 55: Why Is Tanchun So Unforgiving Toward Her Mother? Chapters 55–56: Tanchun Wins Everyone Over with Kindness and Authority Chapter 57: A Joke Draws Out Baoyu and Daiyu’s Declaration of Life and Death Chapter 57: Zijuan Exposes Daiyu’s Precarious Position Chapters 57–58: Aunt Xue Is a Canny Strategist Too Chapter 58: Young Players Can Feel Profound Devotion Chapters 59–60: Girls and Old Women Ground the Novel in Reality Chapter 60: The Young Players’ Awkward Status in Grand View Garden Chapter 61: Senior Maids Also Hold Considerable Status in the Jia Household Chapter 62: Xiangyun Drunk Among the Flowers—One of the Novel’s Most Beautiful Scenes Chapters 62–63: Simple Xiangling Awakens Baoyu’s Tenderness Chapter 63: Fangguan Sings The Handan Dream, Hinting That Life Is a Dream Chapter 63: Drawing Flower Lots and Receiving Greetings, Baoyu Awakens Again Chapters 63–64: The You Sisters Enter and the Jia Men Reveal Their Lust Chapter 64: Jia Lian and Second Sister You’s Masterful Flirtation Chapter 65: The Pain Behind Second Sister You’s Frivolity Chapter 65: Third Sister You, Strong as Liquor, Stands by Her Own Idea of Love Chapter 65: Grand View Garden Through a Servant’s Eyes Chapter 66: Liu Xianglian—Only the Two Stone Lions at the Eastern Mansion Are Clean Chapter 66: Who Are the Novel’s Most Spiritually Gifted Figures? Chapter 67: Hearing of Third Sister You’s Death, Baochai Again Responds Rationally Chapters 67–68: Second Sister You Enters Grand View Garden and the Nightmare Begins Chapter 68: Sour Xifeng Storms the Ning Mansion with Ruthless Force Chapter 69: In Grand View Garden’s Palace Intrigue, Xifeng Kills with a Borrowed Knife Chapter 69: Feeling Creates Life and Also Destroys It Chapter 69: A Severed Kite Foreshadows the Girls’ Endings Chapters 70–71: Grandmother Jia’s Birthday, the Garden’s Most Elaborate Banquet Chapter 71: A Farce Reveals Grandmother Jia’s Wisdom and Magnanimity Chapter 71: Siqi Secretly Meets Her Lover, Foreshadowing the Jia Family’s Turning Point Chapter 72: Where Has All the Jia Family’s Money Gone? Chapters 72–73: The Critical Turn from Prosperity to Decline Chapter 73: The Embroidered Purse as Grand View Garden’s Forbidden Fruit Chapters 73–74: Timid Yingchun Cannot Be Bothered with Right and Wrong Chapter 74: Searching Their Own Household Opens the Prelude to Decline Chapter 74: Tanchun’s Slap Resounds Through Grand View Garden Chapter 74: Why Does the Embroidered Purse Shock the Jia Household So Deeply? Chapters 74–75: Cold Xichun Cuts Every Tie of Secular Feeling Chapter 75: A Long Sigh Fires the First Shot in the Jia Family’s Fall Chapter 76: A Particularly Bleak Mid-Autumn Festival Chapters 76–77: Daiyu’s Mid-Autumn Poem Again Echoes Her Fate Chapter 77: Lady Wang Expels the Maids; Beauty Carries Original Sin Chapter 78: “Elegy to the Hibiscus” Mourns Two and Points Toward the Mythic World Dream of the Red Chamber as an Elegy for Civilization and a Contest of Life Philosophies Chapters 78–79: After Qingwen’s Death, Desolation Spreads Through Grand View Garden Chapter 79: Xiangling’s Suffering Embodies Life’s Impermanence Chapters 79–80: Another “Wang Xifeng” Arrives in the Xue Family Chapters 80–81: Why Does the Writing Dim in the Final Forty Chapters? Chapter 81: Darkness Falling—or Foreshadowing from Afar? Chapter 82: The Jia Household Reveals Its True Face in Daiyu’s Dream Chapters 82–83: Daiyu Coughs Blood and Gradually Sees Her Fate Chapters 83–84: Yuanchun’s Importance to the Fate of the Four Great Families Chapter 84: Confucian Moral Order Always Neglects the Existence of Feeling Chapter 85: For Baoyu, the Prince of Beijing Functions Like an Immortal Chapters 86–87: Baoyu and Daiyu Are Kindred Spirits Who Recognize Each Other Chapter 87: How Small Objects Plant Major Threads in a Novel Chapter 87: Daiyu’s Qin Carries Sorrow and Links Many Fates Chapters 87–88: How Does Fiction Give Minor Characters Full Dimension? Chapters 88–89: A Fur Cloak Makes Baoyu Remember Qingwen and Gathers Earlier Clues Chapters 88–90: Does Daiyu Truly Want to Marry Baoyu? Chapters 90–91: Baoyu and Daiyu’s Final Spiritual Conversation Chapters 92–93: Small Details Show the Difference Between the Jia Family’s Rise and Fall Chapter 93: The Novel’s Ending Possesses a Kind of Secular Fulfillment Chapter 94: The Precious Jade Vanishes, and Baoyu Loses His Spirit Chapters 95–96: Disaster Arrives at the Jia Household, Echoing the First Eighty Chapters Chapter 96: How Does Cao Xueqin Write the Most Devastating Pain of Daiyu’s Life? Chapter 96: Daiyu Falls Gravely Ill in Resentment as Baochai Endures Humiliation Before Marriage Chapter 97: How Does Cao Xueqin Make Daiyu’s Death Move Heaven and Earth? Chapters 97–98: The Death of Baoyu and Daiyu’s Love—Wedding and Funeral Chapters 98–99: However Deep the Feeling, All Returns to Extinction Chapters 99–100: Baoyu’s Innocent Dream That Grand View Garden Might Never Disperse Chapter 101: Grand View Garden Becomes a Haunted Realm, Foretelling the Jia Family’s Collapse Chapters 102–103: Daoist and Scholar as Two Chinese Philosophies of Life Chapters 104–105: Foreshadowing from Afar Ends in the Search and Ruin of the Jia Household Chapters 106–107: Great Calamity Creates a Great Novelist Chapters 107–108: Cao Xueqin Writes Human Truth Because He Understands the Equality of All Beings Chapter 109: How Does Cao Xueqin Make Every Woman Unforgettable? Chapters 109–110: How Does a Novel Write the Hardest Farewells of Life and Death? Chapters 111–112: Why Does Miaoyu Practice All Her Life While Baoyu Finds Liberation? Chapter 113: Seeing the Suffering of All Beings with Great Compassion Chapters 114–116: Another Possibility for Jia Baoyu Chapters 116–117: The Novel’s World as a Sea of Karmic Wrong and Heaven of Passion Chapters 117–118: A Great Novel Does Not Shun Convention and Fully Reveals a Fickle World Chapters 118–119: Baochai Represents Confucianism; Baoyu Represents Buddhism and Daoism Chapter 119: In a National Literature, Tragedy Does Not Remain Tragic to the End Chapter 120: The Fulfilled Ending of Dream of the Red Chamber Pai Hsien-yung’s Conclusion to Dream of the Red Chamber Bonus | Ideal Youth Dialogue: Young at Eighty-Five, with Great Sorrow, Joy, Feeling, and Love