论文总字数：44485字

摘 要

1. Introduction 1
   1. About the author ..1
   2. About the work ..1
2. Literature review 3
   1. Previous studies ..3
   2. Purpose of the study ..5
3. Chi in the Characters of A Dream of Red Mansions 6
   1. Jia Rui’s Chi revealed in his pursuit of Xifeng ..6
      1. Jia Rui’s Chi revealed in his infatuation with Xifeng's beauty ..6
      2. Jia Rui’s Chi revealed in his foolishness ..6
   2. Lingguan’s Chi for Jia Qiang ..7
      1. Lingguan’s Chi revealed in her emotional irrationality ..7
      2. Lingguan’s Chi revealed in her sense of belonging and commitment ..8
   3. Xiangling’s Chi ..8
      1. Xiangling’s Chi revealed in her madness about writing poems ..8
      2. Xiangling’s Chi revealed in her surrender ..9
   4. Yuanyang’s Chi ..10
   5. Baoyu’s Chi 11
      1. Baoyu’s Chi revealed in his view of love 12
      2. Baoyu’s Chi revealed in his view of feudal hierarchy 12
      3. Baoyu’s Chi revealed in his view of gender 13
      4. Baoyu’s Chi revealed in his view of beauty 14
      5. Baoyu’s Chi revealed in his view of fame and wealth 14
4. Conclusion 16

References 18

Acknowledgments

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have ever helped me. Without them, I would not have completed this paper.

First of all, I would like to thank Ms. Zhu, my thesis supervisor, for taking the time out from her busy schedule to review and guide my thesis. Under her careful guidance, I have made several modifications. She is a learned and responsible teacher. When preliminarily selecting a topic, she helped me to open avenues for further research. When finally designating the topic, she also gave me a lot of suggestions. When collecting information, she provided me with a great deal of assistance. When studying the text, she rendered me some amendments and addenda as well.

Secondly, I really appreciate all the teachers who have taught me during the four years. It is because of their years of instruction that I have laid a solid foundation for English.

Finally, I am grateful for the company and support of my dear families and classmates. I will continue to work hard.

Abstract

In the characters of A Dream of Red Mansions, Chi not only shows foolishness but also contains other two aspects--love and true feelings. It refers to the love between male and female as well as the true and pure affections. Chi can be divided into several levels. On the one hand, the lowest level is Jia Rui’s infatuation with the beauty of Xifeng, and then is love between Baoyu and Daiyu and so on. On the other hand, Chi includes Xiangling’s obsession with poetry, the servant Yuanyang’s loyalty to Lady Dowager and her courage and persistence in defending her own marriage rights. One of the best illustrations of Chi is manifested by the main character Baoyu. Chi embodied in him is neatly illustrated in his love for Daiyu, in his respect and care for women and in his disdain for fame and wealth. His feelings are pure and sincere. He never tends to be flattered or snobbish. All these are rebellion against the traditional Confucian values of fame and ethics. 

Chi embodied in A Dream of Red Mansions in the main characters chosen here not only means they are immersed in love and forced by the world, but also shows the true feelings of humankind. So the thesis based on the original book and the English translation of A Dream of Red Mansions intends to discuss different meanings of Chi, to reflect the situation of feudal society and to describe the personalities and destinies of different characters through the explanation of Chi. Consequently, the thesis can show the rebellion against the bad side of traditional Confucian values. Furthermore, the paper attempts to discuss some enlightenment concerning the exploration of human nature. The essence of this paper is to encourage people not to be restricted by social etiquette and customs but to maintain their pure and sincere feelings and their own aesthetic values. Finally, with the help of the interpretations in the translated version of the novel, the study can spread excellent Chinese culture.

Keywords: Chi; destinies; traditional Confucian values; A Dream of Red Mansions in

Chinese and in English

中文摘要

解读《红楼梦》里的“痴”，它不仅表现了愚蠢，还包含两个方面，爱和真。不仅指男女之间的爱情，更指的是真性情。痴可以分许多档次。一方面是最低级的贾瑞对王熙凤的痴于美色，然后是宝黛之间的爱情等等。另一方面，“痴”包括香菱写诗的痴迷、龄官划蔷的痴心、仆人鸳鸯对贾母的忠诚和她维护自己婚姻权利的勇敢和坚持。贾宝玉是整部《红楼梦》里用痴字描写最多的人物。在他身上，不仅有对黛玉的痴情，还有对女子的尊重和爱怜，更有对功名利禄的不屑。他的痴单纯而真挚，他不趋炎附势也不卑躬屈膝。所有的这些都是对传统儒家思想功名观和道德观的反叛。

在这里从《红楼梦》中选择的主要人物身上所体现的“痴”，不仅意味着他们耽于情爱、迫于世俗，也是一种真性情的展现。所以本文基于原著和英译版《红楼梦》旨在探讨“痴”的不同含义，反映封建社会的情况，通过对“痴”的解释来描写不同人物的性格和命运。从而体现出对传统儒家思想价值观不足之处的反叛。此外，本文试图就人性方面探究一些启示。实质是鼓励人们不受社会礼俗的束缚，而要保持自己的纯真情怀和自身的审美价值观，最后通过对小说翻译文本的解读，可以弘扬中华优秀文化。

关键词：痴；命运；传统儒家思想价值观；《红楼梦》中英文本

南京工业大学本科毕业设计（论文）

Introduction

About the author

Cao Xueqin was one of the most famous novelists and poets in the history of Chinese literature. He was born in an influential Manchurian bureaucratic family. However, a few years later his family had lost the emperor's trust and he had lived a poor life since then. Because of that, he had a good knowledge of the feudal society and kept away from the officialdom. In his later years, he was dedicated to writing his novel--A Dream of Red Mansions. This novel was known by people all over the world, and also known as one of the four Chinese literature classics.

Yang Xianyi was a famous Chinese translator, foreign literature researcher and poet. He and his wife, Gladys Yang, had worked together to translate the famous Chinese literature--A Dream of Red Mansions, which had been well established both at home and abroad. Based on a close reading of the version of Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, the thesis mainly discusses Chi (Enchantment) in the characters of the novel.

1.2 About the work

A Dream of Red Mansions is based on the social life of China in the 18^th century. Cao Xueqin uses Jia family as the mirror of reflecting the ups and downs of the four families of Jia, Shi, Wang, Xue so as to reveal the sharp contradictions and struggle of all strata in the feudal society and expose the inevitable fate of collapse of feudal ruling class because of its decadence. This novel is not only the product of Chinese literature but also the carrier of Chinese literature. It involves the knowledge about Chinese feudal society such as ancient architecture, eating habits, folk customs, patriarchal concepts and so on. Therefore, A Dream of Red Mansions is considered as the encyclopedia of Chinese feudal society.

Among several English versions of A Dream of Red Mansions, the version translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang is excellent. They agree with Yan Fu's translation principles of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”, and always regard these as the highest standard of their own translation. That is to say, according to the principle of “faithfulness”, the translation

Chapter1 Introduction

Should be faithful to the original text; according to the principle of “expressiveness”, the translation should be coherent and intelligible and according to the principle of “elegance”, the translation should be beautiful and exotic.

The couple strictly adhere to the criteria and successfully apply these to their translation so their translation make great strides in the Chinese translation field. This paper takes advantage of the translated version, using the terms carefully chosen and translated by the Yangs, to explore Chi (Enchantment) in the characters of the novel in depth.

Chapter 2 Literature review

Literature review

2.1 Previous studies

A Dream of Red Mansions is undoubtedly an excellent work and there are lots of researches on Chi (Enchantment) in it.

Chi has three meanings--Doing things against nature, Being infatuated with temporal affairs in the Buddhist sense and being foolish in the general sense (Liang, 2011). Chi embodied in the novel has two levels--Enchantment in human body of desire and enchantment in love (Mu, 2015). For example, Jia Rui’s Chi for Xifeng is based on appearance and sexuality while Chi between Baoyu and Daiyu reflects their true love. When Jia Rui meets Xifeng for the first time, he becomes a captive to her beauty. He is devouring her with his eyes as he speaks to her. He just wants to have intimacy with her while Xifeng always makes a fool of him. He is just enchanted by her beauty and body. However, the love relationship between Baoyu and Daiyu is a spiritual love based on feelings. The common outlooks on life and values on love are the foundation of the love between Baoyu and Daiyu (Kang, 2018). Both of them are pursuing free love and yearning for free life. Their love will not be obliterated by the external environment. Even though they do not get married in the end, they are soul mates.

Some scholars think that Xiangling's Chi is a kind of blind devotion or even numbness. Xiangling's sincerity to Xue Pan is only because he is her so-called husband (Zhu, 1998). Zhan (2011) also points out that Xiangling is numb and is always instinctively evading pain. Xiangling’s Chi is paralyzed by feudal evil.

Xiangling's Chi not only shows her purity but also shows her numbness. Hearing the news that Xue Pan is going to marry Xia Jingui, Baoyu is worried for Xiangling about her future, but Xiangling even looks forward to Xia Jingui's arrival. She thinks Xia Jingui is a girl of great family and there will be another sister who can write poems with her together. Xiangling is such a pure and kind girl (Zhang, 2018).

However, in the plot of Xiangling picking flowers and herbs with the girls, when she finds a husband-and-wife orchid, girls banter her that she is longing for Xue Pan. Xiangling blushes. In fact, there is no true feelings between Xiangling and Xue Pan. Their marriage is a product of buying and selling. Xue Pan scolds Xiangling without any respect. But she feels that she should love and follow Xue Pan since he is her husband. In face of such a vicious husband, she is still so infatuated that she blushes when others make fun of her (Zhang, 2018). We can also imagine the numbness of Xiangling because she is poisoned by feudalism.

南京工业大学本科毕业设计（论文）

The superficial connotation of Chi is that someone is enchanted with love between male and female and and the deep meaning is that someone is faithful and sincere to others, regardless of sex, class or age. It is pure affection among people. For example, Lingguan’s pure and secret love to Jia Qiang, the feelings of the servant girl Yuanyang to the Lady Dowager. Yuanyang’s Chi means loyalty, courage and persistence (Ding, 2019). She has a genuine and abiding feelings for Lady Dowager and is ready to accompany her forever.

Zhou (2009) has explained Chi (Enchanted) people are those that ordinary secular people can not understand so they call them monsters... Because they refuse to be blinded by worldly standards and they are honest and frank enough. They dare to speak freely, to say what they think, to do what they want. Qiu (2018) holds the same idea that when people try to use Chi to describe someone, this person is more inclined to be unaccepted by the secular people because of his enchantment which is deviated from mainstream values. That is to say, although this person is born in the world, his spirit is far away from the secular mainstream values. He adheres to his own belief so that his affections are unacceptable.

Just like Baoyu, his Chi not only reflects in his attitude towards fame and wealth but also reflects in dealing with things and treating people. In the view of the world, Baoyu is stupid because he loves all things, such as people around him especially the female, strangers that he is not familiar with and even the plants and trees (Zhang, 2018). Baoyu has the consciousness that exceeds mundane affairs, however he is regarded as an outcast by the public. He disdains the rules at that time, he is unsatisfied with the feudal orthodoxy and pursues the right of free choice. Fame and wealth is turning into nooses around his neck and he is not willing to be a vulgar fellow who bustles around for the fame and wealth.

Just like Yuanyang, when everyone considers that it is lucky to be a concubine of the master, she despises this begging and vulgar action. This wise girl has already realized that it is not a good thing to be a concubine for a rich and powerful family. Other servant girls’ experiences, like Pinger, have warned her to have a deep and clear understanding of the bitter fate of being a concubine. Her advanced thought is also not recognized by others. But the author totally admires her.

Therefore, Ding (2019) maintains that when the author shapes the characters using the secular perspective, he will inevitably comment on their words and deeds by the secular values. Therefore, the author describing someone Chi is aimed to appreciate and praise him instead of criticizing him because this person is always pure, clean and untainted by worldly matters when he faces the secular.

Chapter 2 Literature review

2.2 Purpose of the study

In the characters of A Dream of Red Mansions, Chi not only shows foolishness but also contains other two aspects--love and true feelings. It refers to the love between male and female as well as the true and pure affections. Chi can be divided into several levels. According to the different levels, the thesis chooses the following characters: Jia Rui, Lingguan, Xiangling, Yuanyang and Baoyu. Here Chi in Jia Rui means infatuation, in Lingguan means anxiety, in Xiangling means silliness, in Yuanyang means trust, in Baoyu means eccentricity.

On the one hand, the lowest level is Jia Rui’s infatuation in beauty of Xifeng, and then is love between Baoyu and Daiyu and so on. On the other hand, Chi includes Xiangling’s obsession with poetry and the servant Yuanyang’s loyalty to Lady Dowager. One of the best illustrations of Chi is the main character Baoyu. Chi embodied in him is neatly illustrated in his love for Daiyu, in his respect and care for women and in his disdain for fame and wealth. His feelings are pure and sincere. He never tends to be flattered or snobbish. Therefore, by taking advantage of the English translation, the thesis through the explanation of Chi has several purposes:

Firstly, it intends to discuss different meanings of Chi, to reflect the situation of feudal society and to describe the personalities and destinies of different characters.

Secondly, this study can help us to have a deeper understanding of these characters and their destinies, to be convinced of the bad side of traditional Confucian values of fame and ethics as well as the importance and necessity of rebellion.

Thirdly, to some extent, it can help us to know a lot about the author’s family background and then to appreciate this novel on an even profounder level.

Finally, since Chi embodied in A Dream of Red Mansions in the main characters chosen here not only means they are immersed in love and forced by the world, but also shows the true feelings of humankind, the paper is beneficial to discuss some enlightenment concerning the exploration of human nature. Then the essence of this paper is to encourage people not to be restricted by social etiquette and customs but to maintain their pure and sincere feelings and their own aesthetic values. To some extent, with the help of the interpretations in the translated version of the novel, the study can spread excellent Chinese culture..

南京工业大学本科毕业设计（论文）

3. Chi in the Characters of A Dream of Red Mansions

3.1 Jia Rui’s Chi revealed in his pursuit of Xifeng 

Jia Rui is the oldest grandson of Jia Dairu who is a tutor in Jia family’s private school. He indulges in the love for his sister-in-law Xifeng and dies from the vicious trap set by Xifeng. 

Here Chi in Jia Rui means infatuation. Chi is not only used to describe his feelings towards Xifeng, but also to show his foolishness.

3.1.1 Jia Rui’s Chi revealed in his infatuation with Xifeng’s beauty

When Jia Rui meets Xifeng for the first time, he becomes a captive to her beauty. He is devouring her with his eyes as he speaks to her. He boldly uses the word fate, which clearly shows his frivolousness and infatuation. We even can surmise that maybe he has had a crush on Xifeng in secret for a long time (Jiang, 2011). Before he dies, the last words he utters that he wants to take the mirror with him has shown that his deep and superficial infatuation in the beauty of Xifeng.

3.1.2 Jia Rui’s Chi revealed in his foolishness

He suffered a lot when he is waiting for Xifeng but even then he has never suspected she is playing with him. The reason why he easily loses himself in Chi is that his grandfather Jia Dairu is too hard on him. In ancient times, at his age, Jia Rui should have got married. However, his grandfather Jia Dairu always forces him to study so that results in his tragic fate. Jia Rui's tragedy is a tragedy of society, of family and of education (Li, 2013).

Furthermore, Jia Rui’s status is trivial in the family and in love as well. Xifeng should have rejected Jia Rui sternly when she finds that he attempts to molest her instead of tempting him step by step to fall into the trap.

Jia Rui is foolish while Xifeng is clever. It is more intolerable for clever people to do something evil. And this reminds people whether or not to respect love, which is unaccepted in human nature (Jiang, 2011).

The novel attempts to reveal people’s nature. A whole man is not only enchanted with sex but also with feelings. Since the author has the thought of fraternity, he describes the character like Jia Rui as well as the character like Baoyu. Although one is rude and humble while the

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