ASIANetwork
Understanding China Through the Classic Chinese Novel "Dream of the Red Chamber"
About Us
A unique collaboration between the Chinese and Shimer Great Books programs resulted in a $46,000 grant for an interdisciplinary cultural study and travel in China. North Central was one of seven colleges in the country to receive funding from the ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows program. The unique project brought together many facets: a study of the historic novel “The Story of the Stone,” a major literary work that is central to Chinese culture; meetings with professional translators; development of student research projects that relate their studies to their career fields; attendance at two conferences; and a three-week, fully funded trip to China for students and faculty to meet with scholars about the novel and understand its significance. They project was directed by Dr. Stuart Patterson, visiting associate professor in the Shimer Great Books School, and Dr. Jinai Sun, assistant professor of Chinese.
Beijing
Nanjing
Suzhou
Our Team, Lectures and Presentations
(Spring, 2019)
Dr. Jinai Sun
Associate Professor
Chinese Program
Department of Modern and Classic Languages
North Central College
Dr. Stuart Patterson
Visiting Professor
Chair of Shimer Great Books School
North Central College
Dr. Brian Hoffert Associate Professo
Religious Studies and History
North Central College
Dr. Charles Egan
Professor
Department of Modern Languages and Literature
San Francisco State University
Charles Stubin
M.A. East Asian Studies
Indiana University
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Dr. Licheng Gu
Professor
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Northwestern University
Dr. Tina Lu
Professor
Department of East Asian Languages and Literature
Yale University
Dr. Peimin Ni
Professor
Philosophy
Grand Valley State University
Our Trip to China
(Summer, 2019)
Beijing
We visit the gardens, temples, and palaces - as well as the side streets, alleys and woodland studios - that shaped the novel’s dream-like setting. We tour the village and park where Cao Xueqin conceived and wrote his masterwork, and trade views with his youngest readers, their parents and the caretakers of his last home and life’s work.
Nanjing
We explore Cao Xueqin’s birthplace, joining with students and scholars of Chinese literature in a symposium on the novel and its vast legacy. They lead us on a tour of the Cao family’s rise in the “Jiangning” silk industry and we steep ourselves in the culture of scholarship and service built across centuries through the Imperial examination system.
Suzhou
We linger, finally, along the canals and in the gardens where Cao Xueqin sojourned in “the Venice of China,” home of heroine Lin Daiyu and cosmopolitan center of the new China. The new Suzhou Museum designed by I.M. Pei is adjacent to the Humble Administrator’s Garden
Post-Program Activities, Presentations and Research
(Fall 2019-Spring 2021)
