Jordan Jia and the Lost Manuscripts Chapter 29

Quentin Snow was the son of Jian Tingyin, a noble family, well-versed in literature and writing, but he was not successful, so he became unrestrained and mixed with actors and actresses, sometimes performing plays for fun, such as what Yang Sheng'an did. (Note: For details, see "New Evidence of Dream of the Red Chamber" page 701.) 

There are not many words, but they are extremely important. It is really a very valuable historical material. We all remember that in "Dream of the Red Chamber", Quentin Snow wrote a lot of things related to acting, and there is no need to list them all; just "actors" (this is today's word), he wrote about three types: one is the girls in the small troupe of the rich family, such as Fangguan, Lingguan and other twelve girls, all of whom were bought from Suzhou; one is a male actor like Jiang Yuhan (Qi Guan), who is also "working" in a certain royal palace; the other is Liu Xianglian, who is not a "professional artist", but a son of a noble family, a romantic figure who plays as a guest actor for fun. 

Jasper Jade admires, pities and sympathizes with all three types of people. Some of them were his confidants and close friends. He even got into trouble and suffered because of his close relationship with such people. One of the reasons why he was beaten by Jia Zheng was because he "harboured" Qi Guan. At that time, it was very "disgraceful" to associate with these people. Actors were not respected as actors and artists like today, but were called "actors", who were the most despised and had a very low social status. 

Therefore, to associate with them was something that "upper class" people "despised". As for mixing with actors and actresses, appearing on the stage in person, "appearing on the red carpet", in the eyes of feudal people, it was simply appalling and shameless, and a "ugly act" that ruined the family! From this point of view alone, it is not surprising that Quentin Snow was locked in an empty room when he was a teenager and was not allowed to go out and move freely. 

Quentin Snow had his own views and evaluations on "actors", as he said when discussing "people who came from two poems": "Even if you are born in a poor family, you will never be a vagrant or a servant. If you are willing to be driven and controlled by mediocre people, you will definitely be a famous actor or a famous prostitute." People today should understand that this evaluation is indeed very high. Quentin Snow was unwilling to be "driven and controlled" by mediocre people - to work and serve like cattle and horses.