What is redology?

Yu Hong's Dream of Red Mansions is recognized as a contemporary "outstanding study" on a par with Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Dunhuang studies, which has a wide influence at home and abroad. In that case, do you find it strange to bring up this topic now? Indeed, not to mention specialized researchers, even an ordinary dream fan can tell you that a dream of red mansions is not a study of a dream of red mansions? That's a good answer However, the definition of any discipline is not a simple question, and redology is no exception. What's more, redologists have different understandings of "",which has triggered a new debate. This shows that this is not an unnecessary topic. A Dream of Red Mansions is obviously about a Dream of Red Mansions. However, I said that learning a dream of red mansions is not necessarily a dream of red mansions. Why do you say that? I mean, a dream of red mansions has its own uniqueness, and we can't study it with the general way, method, vision and attitude of studying novels. If the study of A Dream of Red Mansions is exactly the same as the study of The Romance of Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, The Journey to the West, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio and The Scholars, there is no need to study A Dream of Red Mansions. For example, what is the character of a certain character, how the writer writes about this person, what is the language, what is the image, etc., which are the scope of general novel research. This is of course very necessary. However, in my opinion, these are not the scope of redology research. Redology research should have its own specific significance. If my formulation is not absurd, then quite a few articles about a dream of red mansions you have come into contact with do not belong to the category of a dream of red mansions, but to the category of general novels. Zhou's views on A Dream of Red Mansions have been expressed in many articles. For example, he pointed out in the preface of Liang Guizhi's Exploring the Stone: "What is a Dream of Red Mansions? It doesn't use ordinary novels to study the common sense of ordinary novels, not at all. It is based on the special novel A Dream of Red Mansions, analyzing its specific situation and answering specific questions. " It is considered that Cao Xueqin's life experience research, Stone Story version research, post-80s plot (exploration) research and Zhi Yanzhai research "only these four branches are enough to be a real Dream of Red Mansions." In the article A Dream of Red Mansions, he added: "What is the real noumenon of A Dream of Red Mansions? Is to find out who wrote this novel by Cao Xueqin. In the traditional saying of China literature, it is' technology'. " "Seeking the knowledge of art is the original meaning of A Dream of Red Mansions and the' authentic' of A Dream of Red Mansions." "As for the general views, methods and means, we should regard A Dream of Red Mansions as a work different from ordinary novels (that is, without its uniqueness) to study the skills, structure and language of ordinary novels. It is actually a general fiction, not a dream of red mansions-or not a real dream of red mansions, an authentic dream of red mansions. " Mr. Zhou's point of view is very clear. He emphasized the uniqueness of A Dream of Red Mansions, that the study of Cao Xueqin's family background, edition, loss and criticism is authentic, and that the study of the text of A Dream of Red Mansions is classified into the category of general novels and excluded from A Dream of Red Mansions, which is obviously too biased. The earliest critic of Mr. Zhou's point of view was Professor Ying, a red scientist in Shanghai. He published Tan in the third issue of 1984 Literature and Art Newspaper, pointing out: "Dream of Red Mansions has its particularity, but it cannot be used to deny the ideological and artistic research of A Dream of Red Mansions itself. If only "Cao Xue", "edition", "exploration" and "fatness" are allowed to enter the hall of A Dream of Red Mansions, that's fine. We can establish a new science outside of A Dream of Red Mansions. However, it is unreasonable to say that the study of a dream of red mansions is only a general study, and it is unreasonable to expel the study of a dream of red mansions itself from redology in this name. The study of A Dream of Red Mansions itself should not be excluded from redology. On the contrary, it should be the main content of a dream of red mansions. The four aspects of research proposed by Mr. Zhou are inseparable from the study of A Dream of Red Mansions itself. " In response to Mr. Zhou's rebuttal, Mr. Zhou published a good relationship between A Dream of Red Mansions and A Dream of Red Mansions in the sixth issue of Literary and Art Newspaper 1984, and made a counter-criticism. It is believed that: "The so-called' Dream of Red Mansions' is a special kind of' learning' due to the special situation of the Dream of Red Mansions itself; Its research object and goal is a specialized knowledge that tries to solve the special difficulties encountered in reading A Dream of Red Mansions, which is no different from ordinary novels and not exactly the same. " He also said: "In essence, this is not to admit that things have their particularity, but to advocate the universality of a dream of red mansions, that is, to abolish a dream of red mansions-to keep its name and abolish it." "In my opinion, we should not generalize Redology. Instead, there should be two names and concepts that are both related and different:' A Dream of Red Mansions' and' A Dream of Red Mansions Research'. They "two" should be separated; The division of labor is to facilitate cooperation, achieve the same goal through different routes (emphasizing "achieving the same goal through different routes"), and help together (emphasizing "common help"). " After the article criticized by Mr. Zhou was published, the eighth issue of Literary and Art Newspaper (1984) published Mr. Zhou's article "I see a dream of red mansions", further criticizing Mr. Zhou's point of view. He thinks: "A Dream of Red Mansions, as its name implies, should be the study of a Dream of Red Mansions, just as Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins is the Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Dunhuang historical relics, so no one will suggest that the study of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins is not necessarily the study of Dunhuang historical relics, although Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Dunhuang Studies should also study Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins accordingly. However, A Dream of Red Mansions, which is also known as the "Three Masters" with Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Dunhuang Studies, has the problem that the knowledge of studying A Dream of Red Mansions is not necessarily a Dream of Red Mansions, and artificially divides the respective fields of A Dream of Red Mansions and A Dream of Red Mansions. " Zhao Qiping also believes that, instead of studying the work itself, it is "constantly shifting from interior-line operations to exterior-line operations, or expanding the encirclement", which is a worrying question of "Where is the Dream of Red Mansions going?". This is the general situation of the discussion. Although not many experts and scholars participated in the discussion, it had a great influence. On the surface, this is just a discussion about it. In fact, the issues involved in the discussion have gone far beyond the explanation of the concept of a dream of red mansions. What needs to be pointed out here is that the reason why Mr. Zhou repeatedly raised the topic of "Dream of Red Mansions" during that period is probably due to two famous articles with Chinese-American professors, namely "The Development of Modern Dream of Red Mansions and Dream of Red Mansions Revolution-An Analysis of Academic History" and "A Dream of Red Mansions".