How Chinese classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber opened the eyes of Hong Kong Arts Festival executive director Flora Yu to a world she never knew existed
- Dream of the Red Chamber (1791), by Cao Xueqin, is widely loved for its psychological realism, intricate plotting and incredible wealth of historical detail
- Flora Yu, who read it as a child, says she interprets it differently every time she reads it, and it helped shape her as a person
One of the classic Chinese novels and one of the world’s great works of literature, “Dream of the Red Chamber” (1791), by Cao Xueqin, is an epic depicting the gradual fall of a prominent family, widely loved for its psychological realism, intricate plotting and incredible wealth of historical detail.
Flora Yu Kit-yee, executive director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, tells Richard Lord how it changed her life.
I remember it rather clearly: I was about eight or nine when I first read it – that’s a very young age to be reading Dream of the Red Chamber.
I loved reading; I spent a lot of time reading all sorts of stuff. I used to go to a community centre that had a tiny library near where I lived in Kowloon. I would go there often and grab whatever I saw on the shelves.
One day I saw they had organised some sort of book-report writing competition. I happened to have grabbed Dream of the Red Chamber, which I knew nothing about at that point, and thought I’d write about that.