| Chapter : | Section 1 (Written Between 1995 AND 2004) |
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The German poet Holderlin once argued that humankind should live on earth in a poetic manner. A great Chinese writer and a great German poet had dreams with similar content. Both dreams are exceedingly romantic and poetic.
The purest feelings of humankind are preserved in music and literature. We might also say that they are preserved in dreams. Just as the most innocent fantasies and joys in the childhood of humankind are preserved in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dream of the Red Chamber preserves the Chinese nation’s purest love and its most poetic lament over humanity.
16.
Dream of the Red Chamber has a Christ-like character on his way to enlightenment—Jia Baoyu. Jia Baoyu loves everyone and forgives everyone. He even forgives Jia Huan, who always intends to harm him, and befriends Xue Pan, an embodiment of desire. He treats all people, from dukes all the way to actors and maidservants, as his bosom friends. Impervious to all forms of evil, he does not care about attacks from others, mundane vicissitudes, disputes, or extravagances. For him, to endure suffering is not self-sacrifice but part of his nature, since he is not afraid of the burning fires in hell. He is sensitive to the sufferings and the strengths of others and the true feelings in the human world. At the same time, he is rather blind to other people’s weaknesses and the glories of the mundane world. If we can call Jesus Christ a savior for the poor and Sakyamuni a savior for the rich, we might call Jia Baoyu a savior for intellectuals. He is, at least, my savior, saving me from the route of worldly successes, from the heavy burden of pedantry, and from the entanglement of mundane relationships and competitions.
17.
Jia Baoyu has a lovely personality and a lovely soul. In a country where desires raged rampantly and in a mansion lacking in youthful innocence, his appearance gives people a pure, refreshing, and dazzling impression as it reminds people of the first baby born in the morning after Pangu separated heaven from earth.