2020 Sinica Open House Activity

The Story of the Stone, written in late eighteenth century, was one of the most well-known Chinese classic novels. It is a book not simply about romance. This masterpiece was structured on the basis of the imperial financial policies, systems, lists of items, as well as royal tastes. According to the Qing Archives, only Consorts were allowed to use gold utensils. As for those of lower statuses, only silver, bronze, tin, porcelain and lacquerware can be used. However, in chapter 105 of the book, banned objects uncovered from Jia family include the following: 123 pieces of jewelry, 12 sets of peals, 2 gold bowls, 2 gold plates, 40 gold spoons, 2 ivory chopsticks with golden inlay, 4 hand-held pots coated with gold sheets, and 3 pairs of fordable pot coated with gold sheets. By using the archives kept in Fu Ssu-nien Library and Guo Ting-yi Library, Professor Lai will guide us through Qing rules and regulations, and to figure out whether the descriptions are correct in the novel.