Teaching "The Dream of the Red Chamber"

Just read an interesting article - Red on Gold: Teaching Honglou meng in California - by Ronald Egan, on teaching this novel to UC Santa Barbara students who read no Chinese and have not studied about China before, as part of the University's General Education requirements.

Here are some of his observations:
- the students have a hard time with the many Chinese names
- it is hard for them to comprehend the elaborate web of obligations and prohibitions within which the Jias and their servants navigate their lives
- they are moved by the candor in presenting not just the material splendor and laughter in the Jia household but also the sadness, injustice, and anxieties therein
- the students appreciate how critical Cao Xueqin can be of his own world, whether it be the matter of male lust and adultery, bureaucratic corruption, the shirking of domestic responsibilities by senior members of the clan, insensitivity to the plight of servants, or abuse of personal power for illicit profit
- the youngs students are particularly gripped by the story of the sad fate of the young girls and the parallel account of the tragic end to the love between Baoyu and Daiyu

"On the final examination for the course, one of the questions asked the students to pick the one character in the novel they found the most interesting, to explain why, and to comment on the character's personality, strengths, and weaknesses. ... If a poll had been taken, I believe that Wang Xifeng would have been the students' favorite, with Jiamu and Baochai close seconds. The students were not very sympathetic to Daiyu. They found her moodiness hard to tolerate, and her fatalism hard to forgive. Baoyu remained for my students something of an enigma. Many students, especially the men, did not know what to think of his effeminate tendencies."

Had a similar poll been taken on Chinese readers of the novel, Wang Xifeng would probably also be a "favourite", since there is little doubt that she is an outstanding character created by Cao Xueqin. Similarly, they probably would not be very sympathetic to Daiyu - who would want a modern day Daiyu as girlfriend? The only difference, compared to the Californian students, would be that Baoyu's "effeminate tendencies" should present less a problem to Chinese readers, since they are more familiar with the concept of 公子 in Chinese literature.

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