Rereading the Stone

When you pass through a garden, something is going to happen. Snake-in-the-grass Jia Rui shows interest in his cousin Xifeng, who has plans of her own. In a special second part of this episode, Kevin previews a talk he gave, trying to understand how to understand color and color symbolism in Hong lou meng Dream of the Red Chamber, in the process giving our most-detailed explanation to-date for what it means to be wuxing 五行-pilled from a secular, scientific perspective!

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It’s Jia Jing’s birthday, and we are going to celebrate whether he's immortal or not! As the festivities proceed, an ailing Qin Keqing opens her heart to Xifeng. Baoyu drifts off in thought, the matching couplets on her bedroom wall again his point of focus. On the wuxing scale of 1 to 10, this episode measures black green. 

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Part 2 of 2 of Chapter 10 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢) takes us to the Ning Branch of the Jia clan, as Qin Keqing suffers from a mysterious and distressing illness. We learn all about the “niche ingredients” in the sundry medicines doctors have been prescribing Qin Keqing and ponder the wuxing 五行 correlative thinking underlying this thinking. 

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Chapter 10 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢) takes us once again to the Ning Branch of the Jia clan, as Qin Keqing suffers from a mysterious and distressing illness. Is it merely physical, or are unspeakable forms of guilt and confusion also contributing to her woe? Visions from Chapter 5 of Baoyu and Keqing’s dream-crossing the Ford of Error haunt this episode, just as Big Jiao’s cryptic condemnations from Chapter 7 continue to resonate. 

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The anarchic and unforgettable second half of chapter 9 of Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢)! We delve even more deeply into the question of the Rong private school, an institution entangled in sex, money, coercion, and homophobia. Tensions are rising, and soon no-holds-barred fighting (with weapons) engulfs the classroom!

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Chapter 9 is truly an eye-opening chapter of Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢)! We discuss Jia Zheng’s questionable ideas on education as Baoyu and Qin Zhong prepare entrance into the Rong private school, an institution entangled in sex, money, coercion, and homophobia.

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The second half of our discussion of a truly iconic chapter of the Qing classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢)! What is the secret behind the matching couplets inscribed on Baoyu’s jade and Baochai’s locket? Is Daiyu right to be angry at being excluded? How can someone be so artful even in jealousy? When it snows (xue 雪) at the Xue 薛 household, is this symbolic entrapment? And you gonna pull a C. T. Hsia and pretend this correspondence never happened? When all comes to naught, will Baoyu be able to rely on his calligraphy skills? 

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Another iconic chapter of the Qing classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng 紅樓夢)! In this dream within a dream, Baoyu navigates a series of physical and social obstructions on his way to visit the ailing Xue Baochai. Baoyu and Baochai prepare to compare jewels, Baoyu to show Baochai his precious jade, Baochai to show Baoyu her golden locket. What psychological and cosmic significance is represented in this fateful exchange? Is there any remedy to the wuxing 五行 pill Kevin has consumed? Are all systems of totalizing meaning a kind of madness? Is to dream and to record one's dreams a socially-accepted form of conspiracy mongering? 

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Whereas last week we pondered the representation of flowers, this week we dig into their social and symbolic roots. On what foundation does the Ning household rest? Why does Qin Zhong arouse such envy and desire in Baoyu? What sacrifices did Big Jiao make? What creative gestures, what procreative acts lie just below the surface? Of the dust and the ashes, what remains unseen and what ought remain unspoken?

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Chapter 7 is a beautiful chapter, a perfect microcosmic portrait of this novel, a self-enclosed small dream 小夢 from which to glimpse the greater whole. We follow Zhou Rui’s wife on a tour of the Rong compound delivering fake flowers to Jia-adjacent beauties. Kevin presents his new “every chapter is itself a dream” theory, explaining for the first time on the podcast the meaning of being “wuxing 五行-pilled” from a materialist, secular, social-scientific perspective, incorporating insights from Bataille’s famous short essay “The Language of Flowers.” How does one experience flowers, and how does a flower experience this experience? Are these matters elevated or base? Are they on the level of language, nature, or the spaces in-between? 

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