Because Chia Lien fails to acquire the fans for his father, Chia Sheh beats him so severely that his face is torn in two places. This is a potent example of Chia Sheh's excessive anger and greed. He wants to obtain everything that catches his eye. After failing to get Yuan-yang for his concubine, he wants to get the Stone Idiot's antique fans. Again he fails. In contrasting Stone Idiot with Chia Sheh, we see that however weak and insignificant Stone Idiot is, he is strong in his determination and courageous in his fight against the powerful and influential landlord Chia Sheh. True, Stone Idiot finally succumbs to "government orders," but his rebellious spirit against evil forces has won generations of readers' support and sympathy. Similarly, the author's sympathetic attitude in his descriptions once again proves him to be a progressive writer of his time.
In Chapter 49, a group of people, both young and old, suddenly arrive for a temporary stay. They are: Lady Hsing's brother and sister-in-law and their daughter Hsiu-yen, Hsi-feng 's brother Wang Jen, Li Wan's widowed aunt and her daughters Li Wen and Li Chi, Hsueh Pan's cousin Hsueh Ko and his sister Pao-chin. The group also includes Hsiang-yun, who will be staying with Lady Dowager because her father will be going to a new provincial government post.
Altogether, there are now thirteen people living in Grand View Garden. They are: Ying-chun, Tan-chun, Hsi-chun, Pao-chai, Tai-yu, Hsiang-yun, Li Wan, Li Wen, Li Chi, Pao-chin, Hsiu-yen, Hsi-feng , and Pao-yu. The new members add much more fun and excitement to Garden life, and soon, amidst the fresh white snow and the bright red plum blossoms, a poetry club meeting is held, and all the newcomers are invited. Pao-yu and Hsiang-yun grill fresh venison (provided by Hsi-feng ), and when it is sampled, it is judged to be superb and delicious. Thus, everybody is eager to have a bite and gain special inspiration for writing poems.
This chapter uses the relatives from the Hsueh family, the Hsiang family, the Wang family, and the Shih family—all coming to stay with the Chia family—in order to show us further evidence of the economic and social decline of these families. They have come to ask for the auspices of the Chia family. The gathering of the young aristocratic ladies and gentlemen is only seemingly prosperous; there are all sorts of contradictions hidden behind it. The current happiness of the twelve beauties in the Garden also serves as a foil to their tragic ending later in the novel.
After Hsi-feng composes the first line, "The north wind blew hard all night," all of the girls and Pao-yu struggle for good lines in order to compose a joint, collective poem in couplets. All of the girls do a good job, but Pao-yu is better at composing a poem on his own. Therefore, he is "punished": He has to go to Miao-yu's and bring back a spray of red plum blossoms.
Pao-chin's contribution outshines all the others, and soon Lady Dowager comes to join in their fun. She asks the girls to make up some lantern riddles for them to enjoy after the New Year. Again Pao-chin displays a dazzling creativity. This causes the old lady to think about arranging a match between Pao-chin and Pao-yu, but knowing that Pao-chin is already engaged to the son of Academician Mei, she doesn't bring the matter up. However, the old lady now knows that Pao-chin is a girl who has already seen a lot of the world and has traveled to all sorts of beautiful places with her parents. Interestingly, since her father owns many shops in many cities, Pao-chin has actually visited half of the country and has seen a lot of foreign products in her home.
This information reveals to us that China's economy, with the development of foreign trade, had reached the stage of rising capitalism at that time. This development helped prepare the way for the development of democratic ideology, and thus readers can find some explanations and references for Pao-yu's and Tai-yu's rebellious natures.
