Destiny is like frost

This book interprets "Dream of the Red Chamber" from the perspective of legal social history. Focusing on twelve female characters (or types of female characters), corresponding to twelve legal issues in the Qing Dynasty, it reveals the legal dilemmas faced by women in the Qing Dynasty and examines the interaction and evolution between gender, family, law, and politics in the Qing Dynasty.
Recommended by scholars Liang Zhiping, Lin Shaoyang, Qiu Pengsheng, and Yu Xiaohong! This book analyzes the institutional causes of women's plight in the Qing Dynasty from a legal perspective.
☆Highlights of this book
1. This new book by Professor Ke Lan, a scholar of legal culture and a veteran lecturer on the "Legal Lectures" program, interprets "Dream of the Red Chamber" from the perspective of legal social history. Recommended by scholars Liang Zhiping, Lin Shaoyang, Qiu Pengsheng, and Yu Xiaohong.
2. Focus on twelve (types of) female characters, corresponding to twelve legal issues in the Qing Dynasty.
This book consists of twelve chapters, each focusing on a typical female character from "Dream of the Red Chamber," such as Qin Keqing, Lin Daiyu, and the You sisters. The chapter analyzes how these women, owing to collective responsibility, trafficking, childbearing, and the division of family property, entangled them in legal dilemmas and ultimately led them to their doom. The harsh "crime of kinship" led Qin Keqing to commit suicide after being violated by her elders; the harsh legal restrictions on women's inheritance rights set in motion the tragic fates of Lin Daiyu and the two You sisters...
3. Based on real judicial cases, analyze the institutional reasons for the plight of women in the Qing Dynasty.
How did Qing Dynasty law institutionally determine the low status of women? How did these deep-seated institutional flaws become the root of Cao Xueqin's despair? By compiling Qing Dynasty judicial cases similar to those depicted in "Dream of the Red Chamber," this book reveals the underlying structures underlying the legal system of the time, such as the feudal hierarchy and the structural disempowerment of women. These social issues were not only the root cause of the novel's tragedy, but also the root cause of the plight of most people at the time.
4. Provide new ideas for Redology research from the research perspective of "law and literature".
As a legal scholar who has long studied Qing Dynasty law and society, Professor Ke Lan analyzes how the author and characters of "Dream of the Red Chamber" were restricted by the laws of the time and how they resisted and criticized them, thereby restoring the influence of the now-defunct laws on social life and artistic creation at that time, allowing us to have a richer and more real understanding of "Dream of the Red Chamber".
5. Analyze the legal and social issues of the Qing Dynasty from multiple perspectives and gain insights into social life in the Qing Dynasty.
This book interprets the legal dilemmas of the characters in "Dream of the Red Chamber". It not only lists legal clauses and cases, but also links the issues of the writing of "Dream of the Red Chamber" and the identity of the author. It also integrates research results in the fields of Qing Dynasty institutional history, economic history, demography, folklore, etc., and presents a three-dimensional and dynamic Qing Dynasty society.
6. Detailed historical materials and rigorous evidence. This book not only uses a large amount of materials from the "Da Qing Law Code", "Qing Hui Dian" and "Xing An Hui Lan", but also compiles relevant case records and discussions from Qing Dynasty documents such as memorials, daily records, notes, and local chronicles, and analyzes the laws and cases of the Han, Jin, Tang, and Song dynasties.
How did Qing Dynasty law institutionally determine the low status of women? How did these deep-seated institutional flaws become the root of Cao Xueqin's despair?
This book interprets "Dream of the Red Chamber" from the perspective of legal and social history, focusing on twelve (or similar) female characters corresponding to twelve legal issues in the Qing Dynasty. It compiles Qing Dynasty judicial cases similar to those in "Dream of the Red Chamber", analyzes the institutional causes of the plight of women in the Qing Dynasty, and examines the interaction and evolution of gender, family, law, and politics in the Qing Dynasty. The author integrates multiple perspectives, based on the research path of "law and literature", focusing on social issues such as human trafficking, childbirth, property distribution, and official assessment. The author analyzes how the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber" and the female characters in the book were restricted by the ethics and laws of the time, and how they resisted and criticized them, thus showcasing the legal and social landscape of the Qing Dynasty.
☆ Expert Recommendation: This book is an interdisciplinary study of literature, history, and law. Through the encyclopedic literary classic "Dream of the Red Chamber," the author reveals the legal and social landscape of the Qing Dynasty, while also providing us with a profound understanding of the actions and fates of the book's various characters, especially the women, grounded in institutions and culture. It is precisely because of this understanding that the author's sympathy and criticism are both inherent in history and transcendental.
—Liang Zhiping (Full-time and Adjunct Professor at the Chinese and Western Academy of the Institute for Advanced Humanities Studies, Zhejiang University and Guanghua Law School, and Chief Editor of the “Legal Culture Studies Series”)
How did Qing Dynasty law institutionally determine the low status of women? How did these deep-seated institutional flaws become the root of Cao Xueqin's despair? With deep sympathy, the author, a legal scholar, reveals a world of female destinies where "a thousand beauties weep together, and all beauties grieve together." This book showcases the author's delicate literary mind, profound historical insight, and deep concern. This interpretation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" from the perspective of legal and social history may be an echo and complement to the relevant works of predecessors such as Xiao Gongquan and Qu Tongzu. Combining the perspectives of legal history, social history, political history, and literature, this book rediscovers "Dream of the Red Chamber" as a deeply moving, sensible, and detailed historical work.
—Lin Shaoyang (Distinguished Professor of History, University of Macau, and Editor-in-Chief of Southern China Academic Journal)
A vast body of research on "Dream of the Red Chamber" already exists. Professor Ke Lan, drawing on the research approach of "law and literature," offers new insights and profound meanings to Redology. She cautions the legal community that legal "doctrinal" interpretations are insufficient for a deep understanding of ancient law, which can only be achieved through contemporary literature. She also calls on the literary and historical community to address ancient figures and social phenomena by "completely detaching from the constraints of contemporary politics and law" and interpreting them "from the perspective of the past"—those interpretations that are based on present-day interpretations—too easily become "pale, even absurd." As a legal scholar with extensive experience in Qing Dynasty law and society, Professor Ke Lan is eager to reveal how the author and characters of "Dream of the Red Chamber" were consciously or unconsciously constrained by the customs and laws of the time, and how they resisted and criticized these laws and social conventions. The author firmly believes that "only by understanding the laws and society of Cao Xueqin's time can a richer and more authentic understanding of "Dream of the Red Chamber" be achieved." Following Sa Mengwu's "Dream of the Red Chamber and the Old Chinese Family," this is another rare and outstanding work that deeply examines the organic interaction and complex evolution of gender, family, law, and politics in the Qing Dynasty.
—Qiu Pengsheng (Distinguished Professor of History at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Legal History at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei)
The Dharma Eye observes the Red Mansion and clarifies the cause of the mystery. Nothing is better than observing with a cold eye when the incense dust settles and seeing great compassion.
The law department talks about the rules of love and corrects outdated rules and witchcraft, but the flower soul has been wandering for a long time, and a small thunder can be heard in the ordinary talk.
——Yu Xiaohong (Professor of the School of Literature at Anhui Normal University, Vice President of the Chinese Redology Society)

2025-01-01

广西师范大学出版社

Great Knowledge

424

9787559873460