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About Zhiyanzhai
Zhiyanzhai (Chinese: 脂硯齋/脂砚斋; literally: "Rouge Inkstone Studio", sometimes translated as Red Inkstone or Rouge Inkstone) was the pseudonym of an early and mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
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“By resorting to illusions, the supreme expression of love is attained. Nothing can compare to it.”
“[Cao Xueqin discharged] all his shame, resentment or regrets in life through the stone (生惭恨).”
“She composes her verses effortlessly. Different from others, her mindset and talents do not come from book-learning.”
“Only the mandarin-duck swords can kill the mandarin ducks; only people immersed in love can free themselves from the trap of love.”
“字字看來皆是血，十年辛苦不尋常 。
• Words on the paper mix with blood,
The extraordinary labor of ten years!”
• Words on the paper mix with blood,
The extraordinary labor of ten years!”
“自悟則自了，又何用人亦解哉？此正是猶未正覺大悟也。
• To be enlightened is to obliterate all self-consciousness [tzu-liao, lit., "finish off oneself"]. What need is there to make others understand? This shows precisely that he has not yet attained real awakening and final enlightenment.”
• To be enlightened is to obliterate all self-consciousness [tzu-liao, lit., "finish off oneself"]. What need is there to make others understand? This shows precisely that he has not yet attained real awakening and final enlightenment.”
“一部大書起是夢，寶玉情是夢，賈瑞淫又是夢，秦之家計長策又是夢……餘今批評亦在夢中……
• This grand book narrates a dream, Baoyu's affections are a dream, Jia Rui's lust is a dream, Qin Keqing's family calculations are a dream... What's more these criticisms are written in a dream...”
• This grand book narrates a dream, Baoyu's affections are a dream, Jia Rui's lust is a dream, Qin Keqing's family calculations are a dream... What's more these criticisms are written in a dream...”
“The entire Story of the Stone is plausible and reasonable, and each event or each word is judiciously put down, but this sort of absurd talk now and then appears too. Is the author being deliberately playful and whimsical? Here he is having his good laugh, unlike [authors of] other books in which "ghostly talk" [kuei-hua] is undertaken in all seriousness.”
“Persons whom I saw thirty years ago and with whom I was intimate now appear on the page, and this compels me to declare that The Story of the Stone is a book of the deepest feelings and the truest words. Unless, however, one has in fact experienced such events or been deluded by such feelings, reading it is like "chewing wax" absentmindedly, never understanding the miraculous wonders of what one has witnessed.”
“Later I came across the following in the "Final Listing [of the Characters' Feelings]": Baoyu is "feeling not-feeling," Daiyu is "feeling feeling." These epithets are naturally assessments of their perversity and obsessiveness. And these summary judgments too are illogical and paradoxical. Superb indeed!”
“若云雪芹披阅增删，然则开卷至此这一篇楔子又系谁撰？足见作者之笔狡猾之甚。后文如此者不少。这正是作者用画家烟云模糊处，观者万不可被作者瞒蔽了去，方是巨眼。
• It says that Xueqin worked on this book and revised it many times. In that case, who wrote all this preliminary section up to here? Evidently this is just the author playing a trick on us. He resorts to this sort of device in many other places besides this one. It's what painters call the "mist and cloud" technique. The reader, if he is wise, will be very careful not to be taken in by it.”
• It says that Xueqin worked on this book and revised it many times. In that case, who wrote all this preliminary section up to here? Evidently this is just the author playing a trick on us. He resorts to this sort of device in many other places besides this one. It's what painters call the "mist and cloud" technique. The reader, if he is wise, will be very careful not to be taken in by it.”
“又是一個有害無益者。作者一生為此所誤，批者一生亦為此所誤，於開卷凡見如此人，世人故為喜，余反抱恨，蓋四字誤人甚矣。被誤者深感此批。
• Yet another of these useless, pestilential little creatures! All his life the author has suffered from his susceptibility to this kind of female. The commentator has suffered all his life too from the same weakness. Other people derive pleasure from encountering such characters in their reading, but I, because of the harm they have done me in real life, derive only pain. The susceptible author is extremely grateful for the comment!”
• Yet another of these useless, pestilential little creatures! All his life the author has suffered from his susceptibility to this kind of female. The commentator has suffered all his life too from the same weakness. Other people derive pleasure from encountering such characters in their reading, but I, because of the harm they have done me in real life, derive only pain. The susceptible author is extremely grateful for the comment!”
“能解者方有辛酸之泪，哭成此書。壬午除夕，書未成，芹爲泪盡而逝。余常哭芹，泪亦待盡。每思覓青埂峰再問石兄，奈不遇癩頭和尚何！悵悵！今而後惟願造化主再出一芹一脂，是書何幸，余二人亦大快遂心於九泉矣。甲午八日泪筆。
• Only one who understood the message of this book could have the hot and bitter tears with which to finish it. Xueqin, having run out of tears, departed this life on New Year's Eve of the year ren-wu (12 February 1763) leaving this book unfinished. I have wept so much for Xueqin that I fear I too shall soon run out of tears. I often wish that I could find where that Greensickness Peak is so that I could ask Brother Stone about his story. What a pity there is no scabby-headed monk to take me there! If only the Creator would produce another Xueqin and another Red Inkstone to complete this book, how happy the two of us would be, down there together in the World of Shades!”
• Only one who understood the message of this book could have the hot and bitter tears with which to finish it. Xueqin, having run out of tears, departed this life on New Year's Eve of the year ren-wu (12 February 1763) leaving this book unfinished. I have wept so much for Xueqin that I fear I too shall soon run out of tears. I often wish that I could find where that Greensickness Peak is so that I could ask Brother Stone about his story. What a pity there is no scabby-headed monk to take me there! If only the Creator would produce another Xueqin and another Red Inkstone to complete this book, how happy the two of us would be, down there together in the World of Shades!”
What Zhiyanzhai Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Zhiyanzhai shared regarding contemporaries.
Zhiyanzhai on Cao Xueqin
“It says that Xueqin worked on this book and revised it many times. In that case, who wrote all this preliminary section up to here? Evidently this is just the author playing a trick on us. He resorts to this sort of device in many other places besides this one. It's what painters call the "mist and cloud" technique. The reader, if he is wise, will be very careful not to be taken in by it.”
Quotes About Zhiyanzhai
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Zhiyanzhai from others.
Louise P. Edwards on Zhiyanzhai
“[Hu Shi] argued that Zhiyanzhai was none other than the author, Cao Xueqin himself. He based this [...] theory on the notion that Honglou meng is Cao Xueqin's autobiography and Cao himself is represented by Baoyu. Baoyu liked to eat cosmetics [...] and the phrase Zhiyanzhai sounds very similar to the phrase 'eat rouge' (chi yanzhi).”
Anthony C. Yu on Zhiyanzhai
“Though the drift of Red Inkstone's remarks does not amount to a total disavowal of Honglou meng as a work of fiction, Red Inkstone certainly tends to single out certain parts of the novel for praise because 'there was really such a person' or 'this was what actually happened.' The commentary, valuable as it is, thus also serves to convert fiction to history, and the modern student should use it with discretion.”
About Zhiyanzhai
Zhiyanzhai (Chinese: 脂硯齋/脂砚斋; literally: "Rouge Inkstone Studio", sometimes translated as Red Inkstone or Rouge Inkstone) was the pseudonym of an early and mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.