For the Red Mansion, Redology scholars hold different opinions. What do you think of Zhou Ruchang and his views?
Mr. Zhou gave a lecture on Cao Xueqin, His Person and His Book. Although Mr. Zhou in the picture looks old, his spirit is quite healthy. What surprises me even more is that the 85-year-old man still has such a good memory. It is really admirable that the original Dream of Red Mansions, which he blurted out on the spot, or the poems written by Zhang Yiquan Duncheng and others about Cao Xueqin's family background or the notes written by the Qing Dynasty, are clear and accurate. Starting from hundred schools of thought in the pre-Qin period, there was a strong concept of "family" and "faction" in China's academic circles. Mencius talked about orthodoxy from Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, King Wen and Confucius. As for the later Confucian figures, their adherence to the famous teachings even reached the point where they dared not cross the line. Thought is academic, even poetry can be divided into Tang and Song Dynasties, while ci poetry can be divided into bold and graceful ones. What's more, Song Huizong's "Sect Map of Jiangxi Poetry Society" by Lv Benzhong directly lists the characters of this poetry school and its inheritance. In the study of redology for more than a hundred years, there are also various factions. As far as the New Dream of Red Mansions is concerned, there is a critical school initiated by Wang Guowei, and the Review of A Dream of Red Mansions is the first work of this school. There is also the Textual Research School initiated by Hu Shi, whose pioneering work is Textual Research on a Dream of Red Mansions. However, neither the criticism school nor the textual research school was described as "Wang School" or "Hu School". Even Hu Shi, who had a great influence on later generations, was only described as "Hu Shizhi Textual Research School", and textual research was the outstanding feature of this school. Therefore, the traditional schools of Redology are obviously divided into schools based on the differences in research methods, which is naturally different from the classification of China's view of "orthodoxy". However, this does not mean that there is no "orthodox" school in the study of redology, and "Zhou School" is an exception. Mr. Zhou's works on Dream of Red Mansions are voluminous and occupy a high position in various fields such as edition studies and Cao studies, and many of his arguments are of groundbreaking significance. Among these many viewpoints, there are two controversial ones: one is the negative attitude towards the last forty chapters; The second is the theory that "Shi Xiangyun is Zhi Yanzhai". Interestingly, these two views have been recognized by some experts who have made great achievements in redology, and there is also a lot of support among young redology lovers, such as "Zhou Pai" friends in our forum. Today, it seems that these two points have become the touchstone to judge whether it is the "Zhou School". In 1998, Huayi Publishing House published a set of "Zhou Ruchang Dream of Red Mansions", which naturally included the "New Certificate" as a revised edition. This edition is revised on the basis of the 1976 edition, and its content is basically the same as the second edition. At the beginning of the first edition, there is an article by Wang Er, "Some Understandings about A Dream of Red Mansions-Zhou Zhu: A New Certificate of A Dream of Red Mansions". After reading Wang Xu carefully, most of his opinions were mentioned by Mr. Zhou, and the tone of writing can also be found in the text of The New Certificate, which is rather confusing. Later, when I read the second edition of Introduction and Supplementary Notes, I realized that this preface was originally Mr. Zhou's "sending it to the editor to make it up at the end of the book, and as a result, it was added to the editor, and the department took its own name and put it at the head of the volume, becoming the form of' preface'". The introduction in this edition is divided into four sections: first, all kinds of distortions in the old society; Second, re-recognize a dream of red mansions; Third, the necessity of scientific research; Fourth, the precious and secret materials are evident. As early as when the Zhou brothers recorded the Jiaxu edition hidden by Hu Shi, they were indignant at Cheng Gao's tampering with A Dream of Red Mansions. In the introduction of New Certificate, Mr. Zhou even talked about this issue at the switch, and questioned Hu Shi's preface to Cheng Yiben, who proofread Wang Yuan. "Is this a praise for truth or a promotion of falsehood? Are we admiring Cao Xueqin or Gao E? For Cheng Ben, Mr. Zhou's attitude has remained basically unchanged for decades. In his view, "distinguishing authenticity" is the primary issue. However, since the dream manuscript appeared, I think Mr. Zhou's criticism of Gao E seems to be less severe. The 76 edition of the New Certificate cancelled Wang Er's generation sequence and incorporated it into the introduction. At the front of the book, Li Xifan and Lan Ling's Comments on the New Certificate of A Dream of Red Mansions were added. This article was originally published in the People's Daily on January 2th, 1955, and it is said to be an "ordered article". It's not clear who's life is served, but it's the life of "educating and helping Comrade Zhou Ruchang". It is said that Zhou Ruchang, after reading this article, "unexpectedly, sent a letter expressing gratitude and tears". It seems that Li and Lan really did a good thing, so that Mr. Zhou was grateful to tears. In the critical order of "Hu Shi-Yu Pingbo-Zhou Ruchang", it seems understandable for Mr. Zhou to shed tears gratefully when Hu Shi has been criticized and Yu Pingbo has been living in fear, although I think there is such a thing in the letter, which is just a polite expression. I don't know whether Mr. Zhou has failed to live up to the expectations of "everyone", but