Mao’s poem on the reading of the Dream of the Red Chamber

 

(Translator’s introduction: Hongloumeng, or A Dream of the Red Chamber, is probably the best and most famous novel from China’s long feudal era.  It describes a love affair conducted in defiance of Confucian values, set against the decline of a group of noble families.

Its main protagonists are Jia Baoyu, the heir to the declining Jia family, and Lin Daiyu, a strong-willed younger cousin. Baoyu defies his father’s instructions to prepare for the imperial examinations, and instead seeks the company of his female maids and cousins with whom he writes poetry. He rejects the feudal view that women are inferior to men, and that servants are inferior to masters. Daiyu has the same world-view, so their relationship is seen as a rebellion against feudalism and is prohibited by Baoyu’s father, who tricks him into marrying another cousin, the conservative Xue Baochai. When Daiyu hears about this she dies of loneliness and grief. Hearing of this, Baoyu rushes to find her and falls unconscious himself.  Baochai revives him, but on the pretext of going to sit the examinations, he disappears and is never heard from again, although a rumour surfaces of him having become a monk.

For many years, the study of Hongloumeng was dominated by the bourgeois scholars around Hu Shih. Their views were challenged in the early 50s by two “nobodies”. Mao took their side against the “big-shots” in his letter concerning the study of the Dream of the Red Chamber[1].

As late as December 1970, he was telling Wang Hairong, the granddaughter of Mao’s elder cousin Wang Jifan, that “Hongloumeng is worth reading. It is a good book. We should read it not for its story but as history. It is a historical novel... If you don’t read Honglomeng, how could you know about feudal society?”[2]  

In the context of the growing dispute between Mao and Lin Biao in 1971, Mao’s sympathies with those who rejected feudal values were in contrast to Lin Biao’s feudal nonsense of eulogising Mao to the skies, and hiding his own career aspirations behind obsequious praise of Mao’s “genius”, of his every word being worth ten thousand of other people’s, of his promoting blind obedience by carrying out orders that were not understood, and by his wanting to “restore the rites”.

In case any native speaker of Chinese comes across this translation, I have included the Chinese original which itself is not widely available in China. It has not, as far as I can tell, been published there in any collection of Mao’s poems.  If someone proficient in Chinese can improve on my translation, please use the Comments box below to do so. I have also added footnotes as background to my translation.)

……………….

Reading The Dream of the Red Chamber

- - to the tune of Seven-Character Jue Ju

(1971)

The masterpiece of the Red Chamber has been passed down through the ages.

The story is a reflection of feudalism and the rejection of kings and princes.

Since ancient times, many loyal subjects have rebellious sons.

Only Bao Dai[3] has entered the divine state[4].

………………………..

七绝。读《红楼梦》

（1971年）

 杰作红楼传万古，

影映封建斥王侯。

自古忠臣多逆子，

唯有宝黛入神州。

…………………………..

[1] LETTER CONCERNING THE STUDY OF THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER (marxists.org)

[2] Conversations With Wang Hai-jung (marxists.org)

[3] Close associates are sometimes referred to by combining their names as though they were a single person. For example, during the pre-Liberation struggles of the Red Army and the PLA, Zhu De and Mao Zedong were often referred to by their followers as “ZhuMao”, whereas Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping after Liberation were often referred to as “LiuDeng”. The two lovers Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu are referred to here by Mao as “Bao Dai”.

[4] The Chinese expression for “divine state” is “Shenzhou”. Shenzhou, or “Chixian Shenzhou” was one of the ancient names for China and first used during the Warring States period (475-403 BC). (Shenzhou is also the name given to today’s Chinese spacecraft.) I think Mao’s meaning here is that as rebels of a feudal aristocratic family, opposed to Confucian ethics, and despising rank and wealth, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu have earned a unique place in the history and culture of China.