Parting Bone and Blood

The text of this Parting Bone and Blood was derived from the famous Qing dynasty novel Dream of The Red Chamber, written by Cao Xueqin. As an important classic of Chinese literature, this novel is known for its psychological scope and observation of social relations in 18th-century China. The intricate plot of this novel simultaneously depicts the rise and fall of the aristocratic Jia family and the decline of the Qing dynasty empire.

This is a lament from one of the main characters, Jia Tanchun. As the daughter of a concubine, she was not respected as much as the daughter of a wife. At the downfall of the Jia family, she was forced to part with her parents and married far away. In addition to expressing Tanchun’s agony of leaving, these texts also allude to the unstable social and political situation at the end of the dynasty.

–Shih-Hui Chen