Episode 34 Rereading Hong lou meng 紅樓夢, Chapter 17 part 3/4

The garden gives and gives, and the tension between Baoyu and Jia Zheng is heightening! As one penetrates art and artifice ever more deeply, fiction becomes reality, and reality becomes hyperreality. The mock village here tucked away would have pulled at Marie Antoinette’s heartstrings, so is it any surprise that Jia Zheng likes it? Baoyu goes off and unleashes an extended critique, and is met with verbal abuse. What is the meaning of nature and the natural (tianran 天然), and how does it relate to art and meaning? Also the fragrance of gardens is foregrounded in this episode; gardens aren’t just for the eyes!Support the show