Jordan Jia and the Lost Manuscripts Chapter 1

I am grateful and ashamed to Huayi Publishing House for reprinting and distributing these six of my works, and for giving them a good name, "Roman Zhou's Collection of Redology". Because none of my works can be ranked among the "best sellers", most of the six books were "printed only once", and almost all of them have very tortuous and bizarre stories (it's hard to describe in a few words). If Huayi wanted to make "big money", it would never have taken a fancy to these manuscripts of mine - this is the first reason why I am grateful and ashamed.

Although these six books are not all that I have written in my 50 years of research on the Dream of the Red Chamber, they are indeed representative and original, so I would like to take this opportunity to briefly explain them. The first edition of "New Evidence for the Dream of the Red Chamber" was published in September 1953, and within three months of that year, it was reprinted three times (revised and supplemented), which was a surprise to overseas people at that time and was highly praised. However, the understanding at that time was always limited to the superficial phenomenon of "rich information", which is not surprising. In my personal opinion, the true spiritual meaning of this book is not here. Just looking at the fact that there are more than 700 cited books, a batch of "historical materials" "excavated", etc., it is a bit like "buying the box and returning the pearl" - the originality and value of this book lies in, first, it established "Cao studies"; second, it closely combined "Cao studies" with "Redology", reflecting a fundamental understanding: "Cao studies" are the fundamental basis of "Redology"; third, it comprehensively explains the high-level cultural significance of "Dream of Red Mansions" from the three major aspects of literature, history and philosophy (at the same time, it also compares the ideological connotation and spiritual world of the last 40 chapters of Gao E's fake sequel, which is very different from Quentin Snow's original work).

"A Brief Biography of Quentin Snow" was published in 1980. It was originally a revised and expanded version of "Quentin Snow" (1964, Writers Publishing House). Quentin Snow's family background has been roughly documented by "New Evidence", but there is a lack of historical materials on his life, so it is impossible to make a "biography". However, in order to fill this huge and important gap, "knowing that it is impossible but trying hard", I tried my best to outline a "better than nothing" outline. After the book was published, it received praise and encouragement from experts and scholars, and then I realized that although this topic is extremely difficult to explore, it is a "heavy" task and a victory worth continuing to work on.

As mentioned above, although the "New Evidence" has a heavy "Cao Studies" component, it is actually a comprehensive treatise on literature, history, and philosophy. Therefore, it can be said that the formal formation of "Cao Studies" should be represented by the "Biography". The "True Appearance of the Dream of the Red Chamber" is actually a pioneering discussion of the integration of "version studies" and "Zhi Studies" (these two specialized branches of Red Studies were also initially studied in the "New Evidence", but not in depth). This book reveals the astonishing and difficult to distinguish of the numerous and complex variant texts in many ancient manuscripts. My late brother Huchang and I have put the most effort in this regard. This book is the "crystallization" of this idea, using a large number of scientific tables and data to show the actual situation of Quentin Snow's original writing and the (multi-level) changes made by later generations - for example, some people superstitiously believe in the "Gengchen Edition" and say it is "the best", but in fact, it is not the case as soon as you look at the "True Appearance", and it has already had very badly changed sentences.

At the same time, it explores the special, intimate, deep and strange relationship between Zhiyan, the book critic, and the author Quentin Snow. "A Visit to the Red Mansion" is an exploration of the mysterious historical locations of the "West Mansion" and "East Mansion" written by Quentin Snow. My view has always been that Quentin Snow's literary technique is based on realism, and his places and characters all have "prototypes". This book proves the actual location of "Rongguo Mansion" at multiple levels, from the oral traditions of the folk elders to the records of scholars' poems and essays, plus my own research, and I have come to a conclusion: this mansion was originally the abandoned mansion of Yinzhen, the fourteenth son of Emperor Kangxi, who was designated as the heir to the throne. Yinzhen was a victim of usurping the throne by being imprisoned by Leo Young (i.e. Yinzhen) ["The East Mansion was originally the abandoned mansion of Yin■ (Prince Dun), and Yin■ was the first political enemy punished by Leo Young]. This special research is not only "fascinating", but also reveals the great significance of this political destiny of the Cao family in the past.

The Dream of the Red Chamber and Chinese Culture is the result of my research while I was a lecturer in the United States (1986-1987). It was published in two volumes in Beijing and Taipei. This is the first time that the Dream of the Red Chamber has been combined with Chinese culture. It is unprecedented. This does not mean that this book can contain such a great and brilliant connotation, but it is to awaken this important cultural relationship and the cultural status and value of Qinshu. This alone makes its historical significance very important.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is devoted to the study of "autobiographical legend". The second part discusses the historical proposition and meaning of "foolishness". The third part proposes the unique narrative aesthetics of Qin Shu - the structural law of great symmetry and contrast. All of them are original research and discussion, which is very different from the common clichés.

The first part starts with Ba Jin and Lu Xun's views on the Redology, tracing the origins of "autobiography" literature in Chinese culture, pointing out that the Qing people had already revealed that The Story of the Stone was Quentin Snow's "self-portrait", and Hu Shi only "revived" this insight, not the original one. At the same time, the opinions of famous overseas scholars and novel experts Xia Zhiqing, Andrew H. Plaks, Gao Yougong, and Liu Shaoming were also cited as reference. "Autobiography" is an extremely "sensitive" issue in the "history of Redology" and has been criticized most fiercely. The discussion in this book can provide scholars with deep reflection [Note 2].

I don't need to say much about "The True Story of Dream of the Red Chamber". It is an artistic form of my "exploration of lost works". It is novel in style and aims to peek into the important ideological content and plot development of the original novel by Quentin Snow (before it was tampered by Gao E and others). Because if we want to truly and deeply understand Quentin Snow's mind and heart, there is no good way except this, so we should not stick to one pattern and try to explore. Although it is difficult for us to do it well, we must always have a serious start to seek the truth, so that we can gradually approach a more perfect state.

These six books have clearly shown that my efforts in studying the Redology are both "disciplined" and "comprehensive". These six major aspects are perhaps the key and essence of the Redology, and other branches and derivatives should be secondary. We should always have more scholars pay attention to these aspects.

From a brief description, it is clear that this subject is not a subject of "literature" or "novel writing", but a subject of the great subject of Chinese culture. My knowledge and ability are too far away to be competent. Although I have been "still diligent" in my 50 years of work, my achievements are really meager. Looking back, I feel ashamed.

The people at Huayi Publishing House, including Ms. Jin Lihong and Mr. Zheng Zhiqing, were extremely enthusiastic about republishing these six books and urged me in many ways, which made me feel ashamed and grateful. The six books were first created in 1947. At that time, I was still a student in the Spanish Department of my undergraduate program. I suddenly took up "Redology" as a side job, which was really beyond my ability. The more I delved into it, the more I realized that my academic ability and knowledge were insufficient, and the various working conditions were not ideal, so that in 50 years, I could only achieve this. It can be seen that the words of shame are different from the usual humble words. I think that "Redology" is not just a general literary and artistic study but a great Chinese cultural study. In front of it, those who dare to get involved will naturally show their "ability" - and at the same time, they will also show their "ugliness". The various forms of the "Redology community" now just illustrate this great truth.