Talk:Redology

[Proposed redirect]
Suggest redirecting this page to the Dream of the Red Chamber page and adding "redology" as a category there.DavidCowhig 07:22, 2 January 2007 (UTC)


 * It appears that Redology is a very active (if obscure) field of research in Chinese literature. I am Chinese myself, and I am astounded as to the complexity of this field of research. No redirecting. This topic is too complex to be added onto the Red Chamber article. Arbiteroftruth 08:51, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[Article name]
"Redology" does not appear in any dictionary I find, and a Google search returns it only in Chinese-produced articles. Wouldn't erythrology be a better translation of "hongxue" than "redology"? For example, the OED gives erythro- as a prefix but not red. An alternative, but still English-appropriate translation might be "red studies" --WilliamDParker 18:49, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
 * That may be so, but do keep in mind wiki policy says "No original research". Redology seems to be the universally accepted english translation by both western & eastern academics alike. On the other hand "erythrology" turns up only three results in Google! Mrdini 21:16, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I guess my point is that "redology" is only used by non-native speakers of English (I have found one exceptionso far). I agree "erythrology" is, as far as I can tell, not extant.  However, "red studies" does appear to be consistently used by native speakers of English. WilliamDParker 20:32, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

I suggest changing the name of this page to "Hongxue." The neologism "Redology" is not widely used by specialists and is baffling to a general audience. It is an overly-literal translation of "Hongxue," which makes sense in Chinese because Chinese works that way, but English does not. One could further argue the demerits of this term on a number of counts, but the point here is that it is a bad title for a Wikipedia entry. Speaking in English, most scholars would simply say "Hongxue," or "The Study of Hongloumeng." I think that practice should be followed here, and the title should be "Hongxue," in pinyin--then, at least, uninitiated readers would not be misled into thinking that Redology (the study of the color red?) is a widely used term. A section on the neologism "Redology" could be included in the article's contents. Thanks, Majining (talk) 03:15, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Redology researchers
In my opinion, the researchers should at least include two more figures, Wang Guowei and Chen Duxiu. Some argued that it was a pity that modern Chinese Redology didn't follow Wang Guowei and Chen Duxiu, but instead Hu Shi. Those two's research seemed to be more focusing on literary aspects. I haven't read any works of these two, and someone should go and investigate it. As for literary aspects, there are many prominent scholars in modern China. For example, Cai Yijiang is an expert in poems of Dream of Red Chamber.

PS, I personally don't think Liu Xinwu is a professional researcher of Redology. He is a novelist in the first place. His research "papers" are more like novels, and his points of view could easily be challenged. History will prove his contribution may be as inferior as those of Cai Yuanpei. However, Liu did provide different thoughts, which itself is valuable in the scope of Red Studies. Ramtears (talk) 23:40, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Redology, the term
Does anyone know since when the term "redology", especially the Chinese term "hongxue", has been in use? Who came up with it and when? Thanks, Buglio (talk) 12:47, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Small expansion and changes
I expanded this section slightly to match the contents of the Chinese section. The Chinese section right now is a bit messed up. So more maintenance may be needed on this article after the Chinese section gets revised. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shaoquan (talk • contribs) 03:20, August 27, 2008 (UTC)

Lots of material out there - anybody got lots of rope to catch it with?
Really, a lot of material. But there are two problems. Much of the material to be referenced is 'scholarly' and locked away in books and journals, and by far the majority is in Chinese, or even Japanese!

Let me illustrate with a footnote out of someone's Masters thesis:
 * Redology has become a separate branch of scholarship comparable to Shakespeare Studies. The book's literary merits have sparked the interest of generations of Redologists. Levy observes that "The Dream of the Red Chamber is a recognized scholarly field, with its own history and specialist journals, like Dante or Shakespeare studies in the West' (4) As Liu states, "The study of The Dream of the Red Chamber, which continues to attract critical attention today in China and abroad, has acquired a designation of its own: Hung-hsueh, or Redology" (xiii).  Redology has become a separate branch of scholarship comparable to Shakespeare Studies.
 * Chao-chun Chuang 2003

Where the footnote references these two books:


 * Levy, Dore J. Ideal and Actual in The Story of the Stone. New York: Columbia, University Press, 1999.


 * Liu, Wu-chi. Foreword.  The Dream of Red Chamber: A Critical Study. By Jeanne Knoerle.  Bloomington & Landon: Indiana University Press, 1972.  xiii-xvi.

I've even seen references to a particular 20th c. scholar saying 'when' he popularized the term 'redology' to the West.

The information is out there, I just don't know how much effort to get suitable (and attainable) references into the article. Shenme (talk) 10:53, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Wow, can't get any more current than 'today'. An memorial in the Guardian for an author who translated Dream of the Red Chamber, by "Fu Ying is the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom". (He writes it as reddology, unfortunately) Obituary  mentioning "red-ology". Shenme (talk) 11:25, 24 September 2009 (UTC)