Most remarkable is that for all it artful construction The Story of the Stone is also a great, straightforward read. The debate over the last 40 chapters and the 1791–92 prefaces continues to this day. Many modern scholars believe these chapters were a later addition. Hu Shih, in his Studies on A Dream of the Red Chamber (1921) argued that these chapters were written by Gao E, citing the foreshadowing of the main characters' fates in Chapter 5, which differs from the ending of the 1791 Cheng-Gao version. However, during the mid-20th century, the discovery of a 120 chapter manuscript that dates well before 1791 further complicated the questions regarding Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan's involvement—whether they simply edited or actually wrote the continuation of the novel. [13] Though it is unclear if the last 40 chapters of the discovered manuscript contained the original works of Cao, Irene Eber found the discovery "seems to confirm Cheng and Gao's claim that they merely edited a complete manuscript, consisting of 120 chapters, rather than actually writing a portion of the novel". [13] They descend steps to an underground river with large stone statues at intervals of death gods from various cultures, like Yen-wang-yeh, Emma-hoo, Gilgamesh, Osiris and others. They climb a steep flight of steps and emerge in an antechamber with four statues holding four canopic jars in Chinese style and four doors. The first door leads to the tomb, where they discover that Tou Wan's Hairpin, which had a piece of the Stone, is indeed missing. The next door leads to a room containing the Laughing Prince's medical research. He was using the Stone to chart the patterns of ch'i and shih. The third door leads to a series of polished chutes that exit in the underground river. Lio Pau is not there and they find tassels from his robe leading up a flight of stairs to a side passage. Moon Boy produces the illusion that they have entered and the roof of the tunnel collapses.

Later, they walk through the part of Peking known as Heaven's Bridge, a crime filled area. Master Li spots a robbery in progress and makes a detour to Fire Horse Park, specifically to the Eye of Tranquility, a small lake surrounded by old sinners hoping for salvation, following the tradition of Chiang Taikung, a Taoist who fished without worms. Li Kao wrings a confession about the mushrooms from a toadish fellow named Hsiang. He identifies the manuscript fragment as a Ssu-ma Ch'ien, but an obvious forgery. It has also been traced recently. So if you ask why Chinese readers have for 300 years so loved this novel, um, they respect it for its honesty. Because to face these problems, which are really endemic problems in traditional Chinese society, to face them as candidly and as openly as this author does takes a lot of courage, actually. Takes a lot of courage.Ronald Egan: Without exception, all of the young daughters and female cousins in the family, as they turn 16, 17, 18 years old, one by one, they're all married off by the grown ups in the family. And without exception, these are unhappy marriages.

Hsia, Chih-tsing. 1999. A History of Modern Chinese Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. First published 1961. [ Google Scholar] Qing Dynasty–the dynasty by the Manchu or Manchurian rulers that lasted from 1644 until the end of dynasties in 1911 ( Chinese Revolution). The land of Illusion is the staging area for the birth of these “amorous young souls” who are to be born into the illusion of human life. We kind of learn that this whole encounter of Shi-yin has been a dream, when a rather ragged pair accost him.

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Ronald Egan: The girl's mother could be a member of the Jia family, but her father cannot be. So consequently, she has a different surname. So even though she's a first cousin, she's a potential future wife for the young man. This will be an unfamiliar reading exercise for most of us, but as we go on, some of the imtrigues and interactions between characters will come to have the kinds of tensions and resonance we expect from literature. In addition, the novel gives us some insight into historical China—the philosophies, religious attitudes, and social systems that affected all aspects of life in that huge country. During the long journey, they learn that Grief of Dawn has no memory of her life before she was about 18. She was found covered in blood by an old woman who later raised her. Master Li gets in by pretending to be the Greatest Living Master of the Wen-Wu lute. The king sees through the imposture, but is pleased with the performance. He collects rare people, of which Moon Boy is the jewel. Several early manuscripts are still extant. At the present, the "Jiaxu manuscript" (dating to 1754) is held in the Shanghai Museum, the "Jimao manuscript" (1759) is held in the National Library of China, and the "Gengchen manuscript" (1760) is held in the library of Peking University. Beijing Normal University and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences both also held manuscripts of the novel that predate the first printed edition of 1791. Zachary: Yeah, it strikes me as a testament to the power of a great artist who can shed the illusions that we might have of the past.