Redology (Chinese: 紅學) is a field of research that examines the classic Chinese novel "Dream of the Red Chamber". Although there are many researchers in this field, they can be divided into four general groups. The first group is the commentators, such as Zhou Chun, Xu Fengyi, Chen Yupi, and others. The second group is the index group, which mainly includes Wang Mengruan and Cai Yuanpei. The third group is the textual critics, including Hu Shi and Yu Pingbo. The final group is the literary thought group. There are quite a few researchers in this group, most notably Zhou Ruchang.
Foundational research and later research edit
Professor Liang Guizhi, a redology expert, believes that redology research can be divided into two parts: foundational research and later research. The first is research on the ways in which ancient pragmatic novels are an outstanding representation of Dream of the Red Chamber and the background of its writing.
Foundational research has four branches:
- Cao Studies, research on the family history and life story of author Cao Xueqin, and their relationship to the novel.
- Edition Studies, which is mainly divided into critics of various alternate editions of the novel (there are now over thirteen different alternate editions in existance) and the Cheng Gao edition, finished after Cao Xueqin's death. Edition research mainly focuses on transcribed editions, as transcribed editions more closely reflect the original manuscript.
- Zhi Criticism Research. Since Master Zhi was certainly a very close relative to Cao Xueqin, we can find a lot of details about the author through the criticisms, and uncover the real circumstances of Cao Xueqin's life.
Redology (Chinese: 紅學) is a cultural and critical research on the Chinese classic fiction "Dream of the Red Chamber".