My name is Andrea Du, and I am a sophomore at North Central College majoring in Elementary Education and Chinese. At North Central, I am involved with Ed Rising, Chinese Club, Junior Senior Scholars, and College Scholars Program. In addition, I have done a study abroad in China and Japan to take cross cultural comparison and language courses.
I have been studying Chinese on and off for the past six years. During my Chinese studies, I took on an independent study, that required me to read chapters of The Story of the Stone in Chinese and translate them into English. After that process, I proceeded to summarize my understanding of the translation using more simplified Chinese vocabulary. This process has given me translation experience and an appreciation towards the translation process.
As an education major, I am interested in best teaching practices to optimize student learning. While reading The Story of the Stone I want to pay attention to the way that our research cohort conducts the novel study, and compare this experience with research on how the Chinese have taught the novel over the past 30 years. I understand that in the United States, learning has taken more of a open inquiry approach to teaching in comparison to their previous lecture style. I want to understand the shifts in Chinese pedagogy of classic literature and the reasoning behind these shifts.
While reading Chapters 3-5, I had the following questions:
- In Chapter 4, Feng Yuan’s encounter with Yinglian is described to be a “retribution for his entanglements in a former life”(73). I inferred they were saying that in relation to Feng Yuan’s homosexual relationships. I am wondering how is homosexuality viewed through the lens of this novel and this period in China?
- In Chapter 5, we see Disenchantment introduce Baoyu to sex. What was the objective in doing so? What were the attitudes towards different sexuality in the time period?
- While reading the novel up to Chapter 5, the writing content feels similar to that of Shakespeare. There is a strong presence of mythological world with human world, poetry, coming of age, and long extended familial ties. I wondered if other people had taken notice to similar themes, and how can we comprehend the reasons behind similar ideas between the Eastern and Western literature?
The Story of the Stone 