About the Monk (文秒真人)

The monk opens the opera by speaking the phrase “Welcome to my dream.” 

Throughout the opera, the monk provides context and connections. And at the end of the opera, the viewer realizes that Baoyu and the monk are one and the same; Baoyu is the monk as he had been in his younger days.

In chapter 1 of the novel, a Taoist named Vanitas finds a large stone at Greensickness Peak in the Incredible Crags of the Great Fable Mountains. An inscription on the stone tells Vanitas the story of the stone and its venturing into the human world.  This is what gives the novel one of its titles, and the title of the English translation: The Story of the Stone, also known as Dream of the Red Chamber.

About this Portrait

Chinese watercolor, on rice paper. Dream of the Red Chamber (1975-85)
Painted by Xiang Li

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