#dream of the red chamber

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

the absurdity of the plot of the Chinese Classic is in inverse proportion to how boring the title is.

-magical monkey takes a monk to india to pick up his library books, fighting demons along the way : Journey to the West - 108 demons reincarnated as bandits find brotherhood and redemption through the power of Extraordinary Violence: The Water Margin

-fanfic author writes a historical RPF that becomes so popular it ruins a politician's reputation for the next 700 years: Romance of the Three Kingdoms

-at this point the fandom is cooler than the actual canon, i need at least two more degrees to explain what the plot is: Dream of the Red Chamber

#chinese classics #san guo #jttw #water margin #dream of the red chamber #i have not read dream of the red chamber and at this point i'm afraid to ask

[meraki-yao]

So I found this on Weibo and I couldn't stop laughing. This is incredibly niche but I feel the need to share and explain this to my friends on this side.

So the bottom half is the photos that we initially thought were the royal suitor photos before the movie came out, then realized it was in the texting montage, then confirmed by Matthew that this actually isn't Alex and Henry, it was Taylor and Nick chilling between takes.

NOW, the photo on top is a still from 1987 TV show adaptation of one of the four Chinese Classics: "The Dream of the Red Chamber". That is the main couple reading another classical Chinese novel (yes this is very meta) "Romance of the Western Chamber" together, and I think this book that they're reading is the first romance novel/love story to have the couple be in starkly different social standings yet be together in the end.

This isn't a case of parallel in the same sense as my posts putting firstprince and Rapunzel x Eugene or Simba x Nala or Jack x Rose together and finding similarities. In fact, the couple from Red Chamber is nothing like firstprince or Taylor and Nick, not even remotely close, and their relationship ended in tragedy: spoilers, the girl died of a broken heart and the boy lost the will to live and became a monk.

But the point here is that this pair? This is our culture's Romeo and Juliet, our Pyramus and Thisbe. This scene in particular, this imagery of them reading in the garden together, has the same significance as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Like, if you ask a Chinese person for an imagery from classical literature that depicts love, this is the image most people will say.

AND SOMEHOW THIS PHOTO OF TAYLOR AND NICK THAT WE ALL THOUGHT WAS ALEX AND HENRY LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT

This is the most random connection and it's definitely a stretch but as someone who cried over the ship in the top half at the age of 11 I am so fucking amused by this comparison

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #taylor zakhar perez #alex claremont diaz #nicholas galitzine #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry hanover stuart fox #firstprince #dream of the red chamber #jia baoyu #lin daiyu #also the boy and the girl are technically cousins but we don't talk about that #rwrb parallels #taynick? I don't know what this counts as anymore #rwrb rambles #again this is purely self indulgent #meraki translates #but I find joy in sharing things of my culture that i approve of #and translating is fun #the dream of the red chambers is the most complex out of the four Chinese classics #it has the most literature scholars studying it #also we technically have two sets of tragic lover they're one of them #the other one basically is beat for beat romeo and juliet #and they die and turn into butterflies #anyways i'm done rambling for this #chinese literature

[dappercatdice]

Tears of the Crimson Pearl Flower, designed for my LNY giveaway. Inspired by Lin Daiyu.

#handmade #dice #dnd dice #dice maker #dice goblin #polyhedral dice #resincraft #lunar new year #dream of the red chamber

[linghxr]

I came across this children’s illustrated version of 红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber). Honestly it still looks pretty challenging to me 😬 There are a fair number of unfamiliar 汉字. But I’ll give it a shot!

#culture stuff #红楼梦 #紅樓夢 #honglou meng #hongloumeng #dream of the red chamber #langblr #language learning #mandarin chinese #studyblr #mandarin #chinese langblr #chinese #mandarin langblr #chinese language #learning languages

[correct-limbus-company]

Normalize reading a 500 page classic chinese lit novel because of a video game character

#dream of the red chamber #hong lu

[algoney]

I finished reading "Hónglóumèng". I'm confused...

#hong lu #limbus company #dream of the red chamber

[calitsnow]

{Family ?}

I wanted to make some changes to the background (less blue more red) of my last drawing, nothing extraordinary but I still wanted to share this version

Click for better quality

#limbus company #Hong Lu #dream of the red chamber #project moon #my art #digital art #new version of an old art #fan art #hong lu limbus company #eye horror #well it looks like blood but it is wax #which is also bad ... #Jia Huan #well Jia Huan's hand #I'm excited for Hong Lu's backstory and scared at the same time #yes it's a reference to THAT scene in the book

[nikkilover-miraclenikki]

【 Miracle Nikki CN 】

Miracle Nikki Collaboration ​

Miracle Nikki x ​Charming Shengzhou & ​Yueju Museum (Dream of The Red Chamber)

【 Miracle Nikki CN 】

Miracle Nikki Collaboration​

Miracle Nikki x ​Charming Shengzhou & ​Yueju Museum (Dream of The Red Chamber)

Shaoxing Opera

Yuèjù music conveys the clear sound, and the wonderful relationship recalls the Red Mansion.

Suit Display ::

He was born in a heap of splendid things, but he is not proud of his birth.

He "loves gambling and works hard", respects the women around him, Respect all living things in the world.

Red Suit :: Red Plate (赤瑛盘 • Chì yīng pán)

Daiyu, who has just entered Jia's mansion, is always cautious and cautious in everything.

"Don't say one more word, don't take one more step.

Pink Suit :: Fairy (世外仙 • Shì wài xiān)

The pink face contains the power of spring but does not show it, and the red lips are smelled before they smile.

"Yesterday the magpies were agitated in the building, and today there are distinguished guests in front of the court."

Worthy of the name of “Feng Lazi” in Southern Province.

Yellow Suit :: Jinling Phoenix (金陵凤 • Jīnlíng fèng)

Collection ::

Treasures and Dreams • The Yueju Museum (越韵绮缘)

Date ::

Red & Yellow Suit :: 01/09/2023…..

Pink Suit :: 01—21/09/2023

Type ::

Red & Yellow Suit :: Welfare (Free)

Pink Suit :: Event (Collect the books and use its to answers the questions)

#Treasures and Dreams #Miracle Nikki Collab #Collab #Welfare #Yueju Museum #The Yueju Museum #Charming Shengzhou #Dream of The Red Chamber #奇迹暖暖 #Miracle Nikki #Love Nikki #Nikki Up2U 3 #Nikki 3 #Orangecatty #Dress-Up Game #Nikki Diary Thailand

[maggiecheungs]

no i’m sorry but dream of the red chamber makes me legitimately insane,,,,, like what do you MEAN she was a flower in her past life and he gave her water and she promised to pay him back with a lifetime of tears,,,, what do you mean ‘the beast of a thousand legs is a long time dying’,,,, what happened to qin keqing????? where did baoyu’s jade go when it disappeared . these two little girls were taken from their families to become actresses for rich families and fell in love with each other so so deeply and then one of them died and the other one burns money for her even though it’s forbidden on pain of beatings or death. wang xifeng is a functionally illiterate teenager who was suddenly put in charge of running the entire jia estate after marrying into the family, and she somehow manages despite that, and then eventually the whole thing comes crumbling down and she is the first one everyone blames. xiangling was kidnapped and and enslaved and abused but all she ever wanted was to write her poems, and then she dies in childbirth and her long-lost father goes to fetch her soul and lead her to the afterlife. they gaslit baoyu into marrying baochai when his grip on reality is already tenuous and diayu is literally on her deathbed... they didn’t even tell him when she died. yuanyang hangs herself from the rafters of her room right after dowager lady jia dies because she knows she’s lost any semblance of control over her own life with her mistress’ passing. ping’er loves xifeng so so deeply and sincerely. all the girls are going to be married away to men and families that could abuse or neglect or exploit them, and they don’t have any choice in the matter. and baoyu cries when he thinks about it because he loves them all so very much. daiyu would rather spend hours burying petals than watch them rot in the stream. after a childhood spent being mistreated by her uncle, xiangyun marries a good husband who she loves, and then loses him almost immediately. all the young people leave the garden eventually and it gets overgrown with weeds. qiaojie is sold by her uncle but saved by ping’er and granny liu and spirited away from the corruption and rot of the jia estate... maybe there’s hope for the children after all. baoyu and diayu love each other so deeply and know each other so intimately and inevitably that they never even try to put it into words, and even the reader is locked out from the bond they share. the stone just wants to experience the passions and tragedies of the mortal world!!! and cao xueqin loved and admired the women in his life so deeply that he wrote hongloumeng partly so that they would be remembered. like????????

#hong lou meng #dream of the red chamber #ellis reads #ellistxt #books #in case you couldn't tell i reread it recently #in may i think? #but i've literally not been able to stop thinking about it since #i think i loved it even more on the reread #it's just. fuck. wow.

[storyswept]

Finished The Running Grave the other day. Spoilers for the whole series below the cut.

Robin's last chapters undercover had me on the edge of my seat, I was so stressed for her.

Once again didn't realise whodunnit until Strike laid out the facts. I was in the “Daiyu is still alive” camp. After we learned that Mazu originally claimed that Alexander Graves was Daiyu's father, I thought the title of the book was a clue to her still being alive but… nope XD

Then again, the only character we met that could have been her was Becca, but she didn't quite fit the bill, did she? As Abigail said, “’Er sister an’ bruvver would’ve known she wasn’ Becca! ’Er muvver would’ve known! (...)” And it didn't explain the role of the hatchet or the burned rope.

One thing I wasn't surprised by was Charlotte's suicide, though I expected it to happen later on in the book.

Some background: after the first sample came out, I'd found out through some research that Dream of the Red Chamber (or The Story of the Stone), a novel in which one of the main protagonists is called Daiyu, had been adapted in a English-language opera in 2016. One of the changes in the opera version was that Daiyu kills herself by drowning into a lake after the man she loves marries someone else. In the novel, Daiyu succumbs to chronic illness before the marriage takes place.

Considering Tannhäuser turned out to parallel Strike's love life in The Ink Black Heart pretty closely (for an in-depth explanation, see this series of posts on The Strike & Ellacott Files Blog), I did wonder if Daiyu's suicide in the opera and/or other plot points of Dream of the Red Chamber would play a role in The Running Grave. A synopsis of the opera is available here.

Of all recurring Strike characters, Charlotte seemed the most likely to commit suicide. She has attempted it in the past. Plus, some aspects of her character seemed similar to Dream of the Red Chamber's Lin Daiyu:

[Daiyu] is an icon of spirituality and intelligence: beautiful, sentimental, sarcastic, self-assured, an accomplished poet, but subject to fits of jealousy. - Dream of the Red Chamber, Wikipedia

I couldn't see (or didn't want to see :P) a Strike/Robin marriage being followed by him becoming a monk though.

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. In the end, here's how The Running Grave parallels the opera adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber:

In both stories, Daiyu only drowns in the retelling (the opera / the story what was spread by the UHC).

Daiyu and Charlotte are tragic characters, who both had been “unwell for a long time” (to quote Strike).

Daiyu / Charlotte kills herself because she can't handle the love of her life being with someone else. However, Charlotte doesn't drown, though she dies in a bath. Robin is the one who almost drowns.

Baoyu turns to religion after Daiyu's death / Strike visits a religious building (a church) after Charlotte's death.

After Robin escapes the cult, the story takes a very different turn, concluding with Strike's sort of confession. At first I was worried that Murphy was going to propose to Robin (since Daiyu's murder at Abigail's hands was clearly supposed to mirror the siblicide of The Cuckoo's Calling), but this was much better.

Who knows what awaits our heroes in Book 8 though… Hopefully not more (un)intended consequences of Strike's fling with Bijou. She said it wasn't his but she could be lying (or, more likely, have no idea who the father is).

P.S. Special mention to Pat who, along with her husband Dennis, was amazing in this book.

#the running grave #cormoran strike #robin ellacott #charlotte campbell #pat chauncey #dream of the red chamber #just read #spoliers

[carrotanikerok]

SOMEONE TELL ME IF THERE IS A DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER ALIVE FANDOM HERE PLEASE I NEED CONTENT ANYONE?????

#hongloumeng #honglou meng #dream of the red chamber #Jia Baoyu #limbus company #??? kinda ??? #i guess???? #sketch #my art #紅樓夢 #红楼梦

[moononmyfloor]

A Compilation of Chinese Period drama OSTs that are inspired by Classical Poetry- Part 3

Part 1, Part 2

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More in Confirmed List

8. The Long River

"Life Passes Like a Dream (浮生若梦)" (Ending theme) by Li Bai, performed by Wang Zhenhua

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9. Oh My General (2017)

Yang Lin [杨蔺] - Pride of the Fishermen [渔家傲] by Fan Zhongyan

I couldn't find a way to share an mp3, but you can find it here and listen from there.

.

10. Dream of the Red Chambers (1987)

Source

Source

Sadly I couldn't find any other songs he composed based on the original poems for the drama, except the one below. If you know more, please do share! 🥺 🙏

Burial of Flowers

A famous cover by Tong Liya

I highly recommend listening to this chilling cover done for the kiddie drama version of Red Chambers as well.

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11. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1994)

滚滚长江东逝水 Gǔngǔn Chángjiāng Dōngshì Shuǐ (The Billowing Yangtze River Flows East) by Ming Dynasty poet Yang Shen, performed by Yang Hongji

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短歌行 Duǎngē Xíng (A Short Song) by Cao Cao; performed by Yang Hongji

Extra: Rendition of the same scene in Three Kingdoms (2010) with Eng translation and in Advisors Alliance (2017)

.

子夜四时歌 Zǐyè Sìshí Gē (The Midnight Song) Lyrics adapted from a Southern Dynasties era poem; performed in a Wu accent. Played during Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang's wedding scene in episode 43. Source

A translated fanvid

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七步诗 Qībù Shī (The Seven Steps Poem) by Cao Zhi; performed by Liu Huan

(Aka the Bean Poem. Here's a nice comparison of the same scene in different dramas by another Tumblr user!)

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丈夫歌 Zhàngfū Gē (A Song for Men) by Luo Guanzhong; performed by Lü Jianhong

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There are more but this is all I was able to find :(

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12. The Advisors Alliance (2017)

In the same spirit (their version of Duan Ge Xing is already shared above),

十五从军征 At Fifteen I Joined the Army on Expedition by unknown Han dynasty poet, performed by Jin Yushan (金语衫) (not sure, Wikipedia says Jin Yubin) Here's a cartoon version as well.

The thumbnail of the vid is incorrect for some reason btw. It's from AA not 3K.

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怨歌行Yuan Ge Xing (Song of Regret) by Ban Jieyu, performed by Yeung Tung & Lu Moyi

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13. My Fair Princess (1998)

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14. Shaolin Wendao (2016)

Not a poem, but the ost is made out of the Mahayana Buddhist Sutra Da Bei Zhou/Great Compassion Mantra/Nilakantha Dharani.

This was one of the first songs I have listened on YouTube, even before I started watching Cdramas etc. It has always brought me great sense of calm and peace. Only recently, more than like 5 years later I finally found out where it is from.

Da Bei Zhou (大悲咒) by Jing Shan Yuan (敬善媛)

The scene from drama

Full ost:

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15. Journey to the West (2011)

Similarly, the opening ost was taken from the mantra of the Mahayana Buddhist scripture Heart Sutra.

Xin Jing (心经) performed by Yang Xiaolin

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My other posts

#Youtube #My goodness I am so tired #classical Chinese poetry #drama osts #Cdrama #Chinese drama #gufeng #guofeng #The Long River #romance of the three kingdoms #oh my general #dream of the red chamber #my fair princess #shaolin wendao #journey to the west #three kingdoms #the advisors alliance #poetry

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

So one day I was reading your meta and a post about the Black family in Harry Potter. At the end of the post, you mentioned "Every time someone writes a Regency style fic starring the Black family I just laugh. I laugh so hard."

Then a weird idea came to my mind: So I am not sure whether Muffin has heard of "Dream of the Red Chamber" by Cao Xueqin. Basically, one of the main subplots is about the Jia family and co. and how the Jia family's power, legacy and wealth all turned into shit because they fucked up. I feel like this is the kind of story the Black family would end up with if fanfic writers have read "Dream of the Red Chamber." I might get a "write-your-fic" gif but what I am saying here is--I just want to compare the whole vibe of the Black family to other literature work and share with Muffin. (This ask also came from a dude who is not that familiar with Western culture so I have no idea what is a Regency style despite looking up)

I have never heard of it but that sounds like a beautiful story.

Alas, Regency is... @therealvinelle has more feelings than I do but basically think Downton Abbey, Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights, etc.

It's a particular style of period piece that tend to have particular plots.

#harry potter #harry potter meta #harry potter headcanon #dream of the red chamber #meta #opinion

[smolnerdisms]

So apparently I'm going to check out more Yang Yang dramas (I can't help it, the man is gorgeous) so I am putting a poll for which one I should watch next. Point one: I adored Love O2O so. My standards are high. Point 2: I will check out Dream of the Red Chamber after I finish the reading the book for studying.

I am also looking forward to: My Fireworks on Earth releasing this year. (Another firefighter x doctor drama? Interesting!)

#yang yang #love o2o #the king's avatar #you are my glory #who rules the world #my fireworks on earth #dream of the red chamber

[mothgravez]

Jade and gold am right hahahaha *coughs up blood and dies* <- Lin daiyu moment. I will ramble under cut of Spider Of Marriage or Marriage ? Marriage Hong lu? we are marrying her?? wife??

basically i was discussing brainrotting with friends before potential abnos and i just realized spider of marriage was kinda.. COUGHS .. . COUGh .. um Well. Red Chamber reference ( Xue Baochai and Jia Baoyu ( Who Hong Lu is based in Limbus ) ). I can and will go full autism on it later cuz im a bit SCARED scary

So i decided to kinda? Design an EGO , theres littol symbolisms like his ribbon being tied up with a yellow ribbon strand symbolizing baochai, yet the torns hurting him yknow .. . and the flower being on side of his heart, the blood could be a sick and twisted way to say amarilys right? crimson pearl flower? goddess Nüwa?

Summarizing the best i can, they were a loveless couple, he didnt want to marry baochai but his family just went umm yes You Will. to try easy the situation out cuz horrors been happening and a marriage would've been a "happy celebration". So uh Lin Daiyu same day ends up dying while Jia Baoyu marries Xue Baochai 👍👍👍👍👍👍 screwed up lungs i guess! coughing up blood. He goes kinda emo with the news but its ok we gang fr.

I have NO IDEA how PM will approach, the whole family stuff with Hong Lu esp the marriage thing in Canto 8 / VIII, or even if Daiyu and the other girls from Hong Lu Family will show up ( Including Hua Xiren girl you'll always be famous, iirc she was referenced on Canto VI or im absolutely stoned but yeah . Tho if daiyu does NOT even get a little mention i might distort irl ). Since like.. PM doesn't go into a 1v1 version with their adaptations of course, also cuz the book is GIGANTIC ( 5 volumes and the last 2 iirc being lost media ) I theorize they might grab the last few volumes like the marriage thing?? maybe?? or give a completely new twist... in any way im excited !!! stimmy!! im sure late this year we gotta see them anyway :] absolutely the end of me

#my art #hong lu lcb #dream of the red chamber #(i go autistic about it under cut anyway) #project moon

[crabflowerclub]

one thing that’s kind of funny/interesting about dream of the red chamber is that tbh baoyu and daiyu don’t really spend much time together (alone, at least) on-page (and then half the time we do see them alone together they’re arguing lmao)... from the very beginning it seems like the narrative just takes their bond for completely granted, like the presence of gravity or the sovereignity of the emperor. this could so easily backfire, but imo it ends up just strengthening this feeling of ‘fated soulmates’ instead. it creates a feeling of intimacy so exclusive that not even the reader is privy to their little world.

it’s also interesting because it reminds me of how red chamber is so often described as a ‘love triangle’ between baoyu, daiyu and baochai--but i’ve always felt that’s a misrepresentation of the central storyline, because baoyu is from the very beginning very resolute about who holds a special place in his heart (daiyu). it is never really a conflict about who he loves the most; it’s a question of whether this pure, fated, soulmate-ish love for daiyu outweighs everything that baochai represents (filial piety, confucian masculinity, secular ambition, loyalty to the emperor and the state, a secured position within the feudal family/social heirarchy, etc)

#hongloumeng thoughts #dream of the red chamber