Anyone know the different Editions of Story of the Stone?

[Dojo]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm writing my thesis topic on Story of the Stone (Honglou Meng) and I'm having a difficult time figuring out all the different editions. I found a physical copy dated 1979 which I believe is called the "zhongliu chubanshe" although though writers rarely provide the Chinese characters, so I don't know what that means. I've also used Chinese Text project (https://ctext.org/hongloumeng) but the website also doesn't tell me which version it is and it doesn't exactly match my physical copy.

 

Finally, when I read the David Hawkes translation it doesn't seem to match either my physical copy or the online edition, and I can't figure out which edition Hawkes was using either. I'm pretty confused. Anyone with greater Chinese knowledge know how to figure these things out?

 

thanks.

[Tomsima]

If I am correct, you are looking for a list of every Chinese edition of the book. If this is the case, you are going to find the task difficult to complete. The answer you are looking for is here:

 

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzI1MzAxNDQ5Mg==&mid=2658753267&idx=1&sn=9a30f6827e4b2e7ffc6e9f76ca6ec8a5&chksm=f2570240c5208b561cc976ce1198167e74d213521b7ae5850423f6b8cf6f5118d3957b7902fb&scene=27

 

However, I'm afraid if you don't know zhongliu chubanshe is 中流出版社, processing the list is going to be pretty difficult and I'm not sure how many of us here have the time to help you out with such a project. 

[Jim]

Doesn't Hawkes (and/or Minford) tell you what texts he used in his introduction? Seem to recall he/they did.

[Lu]

On 1/21/2025 at 3:31 AM, Jim said:

Doesn't Hawkes (and/or Minford) tell you what texts he used in his introduction? Seem to recall he/they did.

I think he studied different editions and basically compiled his own edition for the purpose of his translation, and he did this so well that 'his' edition was later published in Chinese as well, to acclaim. But yes, I think he explained at least some of this in his foreword(s). (Am too lazy to check at the moment.)