Hung Lou Meng - book 1

Hung Lou Meng - book 1

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Title: Hung Lou Meng, Book I
Author: Cao Xueqin
Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9603] [This file was first posted
on October 9, 2003]

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Editors note: This novel is divided into two books, of which this is
Book I. Book II (7hlm210.txt, 7hlm210.zip, 8hlm210.txt, or
8hllm210.zip) will be found in our etext05 directory
(http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext05/).

HUNG LOU MENG, BOOK I
OR, THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER, A CHINESE NOVEL
IN TWO BOOKS
BY
CAO XUEQIN
Translated by H. BENCRAFT JOLY

BOOK I.

PREFACE.
This translation was suggested not by any pretensions to range myself
among the ranks of the body of sinologues, but by the perplexities and
difficulties experienced by me as a student in Peking, when, at the
completion of the Tzu Erh Chi, I had to plunge in the maze of the Hung
Lou Meng.
Shortcomings are, I feel sure, to be discovered, both in the prose, as
well as among the doggerel and uncouth rhymes, in which the text has
been more adhered to than rhythm; but I shall feel satisfied with the
result, if I succeed, even in the least degree, in affording a helping hand

to present and future students of the Chinese language.
H. BENCRAFT JOLY, H.B.M. Vice-Consulate, Macao, 1st September,
1891.

THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER.



CHAPTER I.
Chen Shih-yin, in a vision, apprehends perception and spirituality. Chia
Yü-ts'un, in the (windy and dusty) world, cherishes fond thoughts of a
beautiful maiden.
This is the opening section; this the first chapter. Subsequent to the
visions of a dream which he had, on some previous occasion,
experienced, the writer personally relates, he designedly concealed the
true circumstances, and borrowed the attributes of perception and
spirituality to relate this story of the Record of the Stone. With this
purpose, he made use of such designations as Chen Shih-yin (truth
under the garb of fiction) and the like. What are, however, the events
recorded in this work? Who are the dramatis personae?
Wearied with the drudgery experienced of late in the world, the author
speaking for himself, goes on to explain, with the lack of success which
attended every single concern, I suddenly bethought myself of the
womankind of past ages. Passing one by one under a minute scrutiny, I
felt that in action and in lore, one and all were far above me; that in
spite of the majesty of my manliness, I could not, in point of fact,
compare with these characters of the gentle sex. And my shame
forsooth then knew no bounds; while regret, on the other hand, was of
no avail, as there was not even a remote possibility of a day of remedy.
On this very day it was that I became desirous to compile, in a
connected form, for publication throughout the world, with a view to

(universal) information, how that I bear inexorable and manifold
retribution; inasmuch as what time, by the sustenance of the
benevolence of Heaven, and the virtue of my ancestors, my apparel was
rich and fine, and as what days my fare was savory and sumptuous, I
disregarded the bounty of education and nurture of father and mother,
and paid no heed to the virtue of precept and injunction of teachers and
friends, with the result that I incurred the punishment, of failure
recently in the least trifle, and the reckless waste of half my lifetime.
There have been meanwhile, generation after generation, those in the
inner chambers, the whole mass of whom could not, on any account, be,
through my influence, allowed to fall into extinction, in order that I,
unfilial as