Zhiyanzhai (脂硯齋/脂砚斋;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: Zhī Yànzhāi, ''literally'': "Rouge Inkstone Studio", sometimes translated as Red Inkstone or Rouge Inkstone) was the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of an early and mysterious commentator of the 18th-century

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

novel ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known fo ...

''. This person was a contemporary of the author

Cao Xueqin Cáo Xuěqín ( ; ); (4 April 1710 — 10 June 1765)Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four G ...

who knew the author intimately enough to be regarded as the chief commentator of his work while it was still unpublished. Most early hand-copied

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

s of the novel contain red or black-inked commentaries by a few unknown commentators, considered authoritative enough to be transcribed by scribes into subsequent generations of copies. Zhiyanzhai was the most prominent of these commentators. Early copies of ''Dream'' were known as 脂硯齋重評石頭記 ("Zhiyanzhai's Re-Annotations to The Story of the Stone"). These versions are known as 脂本, or "Rouge Versions", in Chinese. They are the manuscripts with the highest textual reliability. Zhiyanzhai had clearly finished reading Cao's completed draft to reveal details which would otherwise be lost to later generations. It was mostly through Zhiyanzhai's comments that scholars learn (even if fragmentarily) about some passages and incidents in the now missing original ending. Zhiyanzhai also conclusively identified the work as Cao Xueqin's. Orthodox Redologists rely extensively on Zhiyanzhai's notes for research and scholarly conjectures, although the identity of Zhiyanzhai remains a mystery.

Redology Redology () is the academic study of Cao Xueqin's ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of China. There are numerous researchers in this field; most can be divided into four general groups. The first group are th ...

scholar

Zhou Ruchang Zhou Ruchang (; April 14, 1918 – May 31, 2012), was a Chinese writer noted for his study of the novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' by Cao Xueqin. He is regarded as among the most renowned and influential redologists of the 20th century. In a ...

speculated that Zhiyanzhai was a woman, the second wife and cousin of Cao Xueqin and the person on whom the character

Shi Xiangyun Shi Xiangyun () is a major fictional character in the classic 18th century Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the characters known as the Twelve Beauties. She is Jia Baoyu's younger second cousin by the Dowager, Grandmother Jia. X ...

was based. This hypothesis has not been universally accepted and Zhiyanzhai's identity continues to be shrouded in mystery. Wu Shichang dismissed Zhou's theory and the possibility of Zhiyanzhai's being a woman based on internal evidence in the commentary and argued that he was a younger brother of Cao's father; British Sinologist David Hawkes speculated Zhiyanzhai was Cao's "kinsman-collaborator". Maram Epstein hypothesizes the name "Zhiyanzhai" may be merely a "compilation of voices".Epstein, Maram (2001). ''Competing discourses: orthodoxy, authenticity, and engendered meanings in Late Imperial Chinese Fiction''. Harvard University Asia Center, p. 185.

Famous comment by Zhiyanzhai

*"If Xueqin was merely the work's editor as stated in the novel, who might be the author of this preface thus far? You see how extremely cunning this author could be." (若云雪芹披閱增刪，然則開卷至此這一篇楔子又係誰撰？足見作者之筆狡猾之甚。) **The single comment (transcribed in the Jiaxu manuscript) which established Cao Xueqin as the book's author.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhiyanzhai 18th-century pseudonymous writers Dream of the Red Chamber Qing dynasty writers

Famous comment by Zhiyanzhai

See also

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