Dream of the Red Chamber

Language

The novel is composed in written vernacular (baihua) rather than Classical Chinese (wenyan). Cao Xueqin was highly proficient in both Chinese poetry and Classical Chinese, having composed essays in a semi-wenyan style. The novel's dialogue, however, is rendered in the Beijing Mandarin dialect, which later became the foundation of modern spoken Chinese. In the early 20th century, lexicographers used the text to establish the vocabulary of the new standardised language and reformers used the novel to promote the written vernacular.

History

Textual history

Dream of the Red Chamber has a complicated textual history that scholars have long debated. It is known with certainty that Cao Xueqin began writing the novel in the 1740s. Cao was a member of a prominent Chinese family that had served the Manchu emperors of the Qing dynasty but whose fortunes had begun to decline. By the time of Cao's death in 1763 or 1764, hand-copied manuscripts of the novel's first 80 chapters had begun circulating, and he may have written drafts of the remaining chapters.

These hand-copied manuscripts circulated first among his personal friends and a growing circle of aficionados, then eventually on the open market where they sold for large sums of money.

The first printed version of Dream of the Red Chamber, published by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E in 1791, contains edits and revisions that Cao never authorized. It is possible that Cao destroyed the last chapters or that at least parts of Cao's original ending were incorporated into the 120 chapter Cheng-Gao versions, with Gao E's "careful emendations" of Cao's draft.

Up until 1791, the novel circulated in hand-copied manuscripts. Even amongst some 12 independent surviving manuscripts, small differences in some characters, rearrangements and possible rewritings cause the texts to vary a little. The earliest manuscripts end abruptly at the latest at the 80th chapter. The earlier versions contain comments and annotations in red or black ink from unknown commentators. These commentators' remarks reveal much about the author as a person, and it is now believed that some of them may even be members of Cao Xueqin's own family. The most prominent commentator is Zhiyanzhai, who revealed much of the interior structuring of the work and the original manuscript ending, now lost. These manuscripts, the most textually reliable versions, are known as "rouge versions" (脂本).

The early 80 chapters brim with prophecies and dramatic foreshadowings that give hints as to how the book would continue. For example, it is obvious that Lin Daiyu will eventually die in the course of the novel; that Baoyu and Baochai will marry; that Baoyu will become a monk. A branch of Redology, known as tanyi xue (探佚學), is focused on recovering the lost manuscript ending, based on the commentators' annotations in the Rouge versions, as well as the internal foreshadowings in the earlier 80 chapters.

Plot summary

In the novel's frame story, a sentient Stone, left over when the goddess Nüwa mended the heaven aeons ago, wants to enjoy the pleasures of the "red dust" (the mundane world). The Stone begs a Taoist priest and a Buddhist monk to take it with them to see the world. The Stone, along with a companion (in Cheng-Gao versions they are merged into the same character), is then given a chance to learn from human existence, and enters the mortal realm. In the Cheng-Gao versions, he is reborn as Jia Baoyu ("Precious Jade") – thus "The Story of the Stone".

The novel provides a detailed, episodic record of life in the two branches of the wealthy, aristocratic Jia (賈) clan—the Rongguo House (榮國府) and the Ningguo House (寧國府)—who reside in large, adjacent family compounds in the capital. The capital, however, is not named, and the first chapter insists that the dynasty is indeterminate. The ancestors of the two families were made Chinese nobility and given imperial titles, and as the novel begins the houses are two of the most illustrious families in the city. One of the Jia daughters is made a Royal Consort, and to suitably receive her, the family constructs the Daguanyuan, a lush landscaped garden, the setting for much of subsequent action. The novel describes the Jias' wealth and influence in great naturalistic detail, and charts the Jias' fall from the height of their prestige, following some thirty main characters and over four hundred minor ones.

As the carefree adolescent male heir of the family, Baoyu in this life has a special bond with his sickly and melancholic cousin Lin Daiyu, who shares his love of music and poetry. Baoyu, however, is predestined to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai, whose grace and intelligence exemplify an ideal woman, but with whom he lacks an emotional connection. The romantic rivalry and friendship among the three characters against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes form the central story.

Characters

Dream of the Red Chamber contains an extraordinarily large number of characters: nearly 40 major characters, and over 400 additional ones. The novel is known for complex portraits of its female characters. According to Lu Xun in the appendix to A Brief History of Chinese Fiction, Dream of the Red Chamber broke every conceivable thought and technique in traditional Chinese fiction; its realistic characterization presents thoroughly human characters who are neither "wholly good nor wholly bad", but who seem to inhabit part of the real world.

The names of the characters in particular present a challenge to translators, since many of them convey meaning. David Hawkes left the names of the masters, mistresses, and their family members in pinyin (Jia Zheng and Lady Wang, for instance), translated the meanings of the servants' names, (such as Aroma and Skybright), put the names of the Daoists and Buddhists into Latin (Sapientia), and those of actors and actresses into French.

Jia Baoyu and the Twelve Beauties of Jinling

Jia Baoyu (traditional Chinese: 賈寶玉; simplified Chinese: 贾宝玉; pinyin: Jiǎ Bǎoyù; Wade–Giles: Chia Pao-yu; lit. 'Precious Jade') The main protagonist is about 12 or 13 years old when introduced. The adolescent son of Jia Zheng and his wife, Lady Wang, and born with a piece of luminescent jade in his mouth (the Stone), Baoyu is the heir apparent to the Rongguo House. Frowned on by his strict Confucian father, Baoyu reads Zhuangzi and Romance of the Western Chamber on the sly rather than the Four Books of classic Chinese education. Baoyu is highly intelligent but dislikes the fawning bureaucrats who frequent his father's house. A sensitive and compassionate individual, he has a special relationship with many of the women in the house.

Lin Daiyu (林黛玉; Lín Dàiyù; Lin Tai-yu; 'Blueblack Jade') Jia Baoyu's younger first cousin and his true love. She is the daughter of Lin Ruhai (林如海), an official in the lucrative Yangzhou salt commission, and Lady Jia Min (賈敏), Baoyu's paternal aunt. She is an icon of spirituality and intelligence: beautiful, sentimental, sarcastic, self-assured, an accomplished poet, but subject to fits of jealousy. She suffers from a respiratory ailment. In the frame story, Baoyu, in his previous incarnation as the Deity Shenying, watered the Fairy Crimson Pearl, Daiyu's incarnation. The purpose of her mortal reincarnation is to repay Baoyu with tears. The novel proper starts in Chapter 3 with Daiyu's arrival at the Rongguo House shortly after the death of her mother.

Xue Baochai (薛寶釵; 薛宝钗; Xuē Bǎochāi; Hsueh Pao-chai; 'Precious Hairpin') Jia Baoyu's other first cousin. The only daughter of Aunt Xue (薛姨媽), sister to Baoyu's mother, Baochai is a foil to Daiyu. Where Daiyu is unconventional and sincere, Baochai is worldly-wise and very tactful: a model Chinese feudal maiden. The novel describes her as beautiful and ambitious. Baochai has a round face, fair skin, large eyes, and, some would say, a more voluptuous figure in contrast to Daiyu's slender willowy daintiness. Baochai carries a golden locket with her which contains words given to her in childhood by a Buddhist monk. Baochai's golden locket and Baoyu's jade contain inscriptions that appear to complement one another perfectly in the material world. Her marriage to Baoyu is seen in the book as predestined, but ultimately fails because Baoyu's love for Daiyu persists after her death.

Wang Xifeng (王熙鳳; 王熙凤; Wáng Xīfèng; Wang Hsi-feng; 'Splendid Phoenix'), alias Sister Feng. Baoyu's elder cousin-in-law, young wife to Jia Lian (who is Baoyu's paternal first cousin), niece to Lady Wang. Xifeng is hence related to Baoyu both by blood and marriage. A handsome woman, Xifeng is capable, clever, humorous, and, at times, vicious and cruel. Undeniably the most worldly woman in the novel, Xifeng is in charge of the daily running of the Rongguo household and wields economic as well as political power within the family. Xifeng keeps both Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia entertained with her jokes and chatter. By playing the role of the perfect filial daughter-in-law, she rules the household with an iron fist. Xifeng can be kind-hearted toward the poor and helpless or cruel enough to kill. She makes a fortune by investing in loan sharking rather than maintaining the family estate and brings about the downfall of the family. She dies soon after the family assets are seized by the government.

Other main characters

Grandmother Jia (賈母; 贾母; Jiǎmǔ), née Shi. Also called the Matriarch or the Dowager, the daughter of Marquis Shi of Jinling. Grandmother to both Baoyu and Daiyu, she is the highest living authority in the Rongguo house and the oldest and most respected of the entire clan, yet also a doting person. She has two sons, Jia She and Jia Zheng, and a daughter, Min, Daiyu's mother. Daiyu is brought to the house of the Jias at the insistence of Grandmother Jia, and she helps Daiyu and Baoyu bond as childhood playmates and, later, kindred spirits. She distributes her savings among her relatives after the seizure of their properties by the government shortly before her death.

Jia She (賈赦; 贾赦; Jiǎ Shè; Chia Sheh) The elder son of the Dowager. He is the father of Jia Lian and Jia Yingchun. He is a treacherous and greedy man, and a womanizer. He is jealous of his younger brother whom his mother favors. He is later stripped of his title and banished by the government.

Jia Zheng (賈政; 贾政; Jiǎ Zhèng; Chia Cheng) Baoyu's father, the younger son of the Dowager. He is a disciplinarian and Confucian scholar. Afraid his one surviving heir will turn bad, he imposes strict rules on his son, and uses occasional corporal punishment. He has a wife, Lady Wang, and one concubine: Zhao. He is a Confucian scholar who tries to live life as an upright and decent person, but out of touch with reality and a hands-off person at home and in court.

Jia Lian (賈璉; 贾琏; Jiǎ Liǎn; Chia Lien) Xifeng's husband and Baoyu's paternal elder cousin, a notorious womanizer whose numerous affairs cause much trouble with his jealous wife, including affairs with men that are not known by his wife. His pregnant concubine (Second Sister You) eventually dies by his wife's engineering. He and his wife are in charge of most hiring and monetary allocation decisions, and often fight over this power. He is a cad with a flawed character but still has a conscience.

Xiangling (香菱; Xiāng Líng; 'Fragrant Water caltrop'; Hawkes/Minford translation: Caltrop) – the Xues' maid, born Zhen Yinglian (甄英蓮, a homophone with "deserving pity"), the kidnapped and lost daughter of Zhen Shiyin (甄士隱, a homophone with "Hiding the truth"), the country gentleman in Chapter 1. Her name is changed to Qiuling (秋菱) by Xue Pan's spoiled wife, Xia Jingui (夏金桂) who is jealous of her and tries to poison her. Xue Pan makes her the lady of the house after Jingui's death. She soon dies while giving birth.

Notable minor characters

Qin Zhong (秦鐘, a homophone with "great lover") – His elder sister is Qin Keqing, Baoyu's nephew's wife, and so he is technically a generation younger than Baoyu. Both he and Qin Keqing are the adopted children of Qin Ye(秦業). The two boys enroll in the Jia clan's school together and he becomes Baoyu's best friend. The novel leaves open the possibility that things might have gone beyond innocent friendship. Qin Zhong and the novice Zhineng (智能, "Intelligent"; "Sapientia" in the Hawkes translation) fall in love but Qin Zhong dies soon after from a combination of his father's severe beating, sexual exhaustion, grief and remorse. One commentator writes that Qin Zhong is a pun for qingzhong (passion incarnate), and that his sister Qinshi initiates Baoyu into heterosexual relations in his dream and Qin Zhong initiates him into homosexual ones.

Jia Yucun (賈雨村) — The childhood tutor of Lin Daiyu. Originally a poor scholar, he became a prefect with the help of Zhen Shiyin before being fired for corruption. He later connected himself with his distant relatives in the Jia family through the Lin family and was reinstated as prefect.

Jia Lan (賈蘭) – Son of Baoyu's deceased older brother Jia Zhu and his virtuous wife Li Wan. Jia Lan is an appealing child throughout the book and at the end succeeds in the imperial examinations to the credit of the family.

Jia Zhen (賈珍) – Head of the Ningguo House, the elder branch of the Jia family. He has a wife, Lady You, a younger sister, Jia Xichun, and many concubines. He is extremely greedy and the unofficial head of the clan, since his father has retired. He has an adulterous affair with his daughter-in-law, Qin Keqing.

Lady You (尤氏) – Wife of Jia Zhen. She is the sole mistress of the Ningguo House.

Jia Rong (賈蓉) – Jia Zhen's son. He is the husband of Qin Keqing. An exact copy of his father, he is the Cavalier of the Imperial Guards.

Xue Baoqin (薛寶琴) – The paternal cousin of Xue Baochai. Depicted as extremely beautiful and talented. Grandmother Jia originally sought to betroth her to Jia Baoyu.

Themes

The opening chapter of the novel describes a great stone archway and on either side a couplet is inscribed:

This couplet is later reiterated, however this time as:

As one critic points out, the couplet signifies "not a hard and fast division between truth and falsity, reality and illusion, but the impossibility of making such distinctions in any world, fictional or actual." It also symbolizes the peculiar Taoist religious tradition prevalent in Northern China since the Yuan dynasty as practiced in Cao's time, as well as Taoism's alternate roles in society such as doctrines for philosophical and intellectual rather than religious guidance and one of the schools of thought Buddhist sects in China syncretized with their own. This theme is further reflected in the name of the main family, Jia (賈, pronounced jiǎ), which is a homophone with the character jiǎ 假, meaning false or fictitious; this is mirrored by the surname of the other main family, Zhen (甄, pronounced zhēn), a homophone for the word "real" (真). It is suggested that the novel is both a realistic reflection and a fictional or "dream" version of Cao's own family.

Early Chinese critics identified its two major themes as those of the nature of love, and of the transitoriness of earthly material values, as outlined in Buddhist and Taoist philosophies.

Later scholars echoed the philosophical aspects of love and its transcendent power as depicted in the novel. One remarked that the novel is a remarkable example of the "dialectic of dream and reality, art and life, passion and enlightenment, nostalgia and knowledge."

The novel also vividly depicts Chinese material culture, such as medicine, cuisine, tea culture, festivities, proverbs, mythology, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, filial piety, opera, music, architecture, funeral rites, painting, classic literature and the Four Books. Among these, the novel is particularly notable for its grand use of poetry.

Since the establishment of Cao Xueqin as the novel's author, its autobiographical aspects have come to the fore. Cao Xueqin's clan was similarly raided in real life, and suffered a steep decline. Marxist interpretation starting in the New Culture Movement saw the novel as exposing feudal society's corruption and emphasized the clashes between the classes. Since the 1980s, critics have embraced the novel's richness and aesthetics in a more multicultural context.

Feminist interpretations

Dream of the Red Chamber played a significant role in assisting modern researchers in studying the gender issues of feudal Chinese society. The metaphor of gender is mainly reflected in the portrayal of characters and the construction of the environment. Regarding the setting of the environment, some critics interpret that the novel constructs two symbolic gendered spaces: one is the "Prospect Garden", which is related to women and matriarchy; the other is the patriarchal world dominated by men.

Cao Xueqin's portrayal of female characters broke through the mainstream norms of the patriarchal society in the Qing dynasty, emphasizing their spiritual qualities and independent personalities. For instance, the detailed depiction of Lin Daiyu's emotions and the description of Wang Xifeng's bold and capable nature both reflect the concern for the multifaceted nature of women. Even Jia Baoyu expressed in the text the view that "the essence of human nature is concentrated in women, while men are merely the dross", and this stance can be regarded as a direct challenge to the gender paradigm in the social environment of that time. As some scholars have summarized, Dream of the Red Chamber can be regarded as an early case of proposing gender equality in the context of its era. By presenting characters with both "feminine" and "masculine" traits, it demonstrates the equal status of men and women in terms of spirit and emotion.

The literary talent, especially in poetry, is depicted as a disruptive gender reversal in Dream of the Red Chamber. Traditional society often emphasizes the notion that "a woman without talent is virtuous", but in Cao Xueqin's works, the poetic talents are almost exclusively concentrated among the female characters. The women in the Jiaoguan Garden, through poetry associations, not only demonstrated talents surpassing those of men, but also used writing as a way to confirm their self-worth and dignity. In contrast, the protagonist of the novel, Jia Baoyu, was only "barely qualified". Scholars such as Angelina Yee pointed out that this reversal made the creativity of women the source of subjectivity and was consolidated through the form of a literary community. At the same time, the novel symbolically equates "women's tears" with "the author's ink", suggesting that Cao Xueqin himself completed the process of self-expression and self-redemption through writing.

Jia Baoyu embodies the tension between masculinity and femininity. His character has been described as an example of where male characters in the text are endowed with some traditional female traits, creating a literary form of gender duality. This implies the negotiation between Confucian prescriptions of rigid gender norms and alternative Daoist yin–yang models of balance, which are mutually dependent and interpenetrate each other, providing a philosophical foundation for the ambiguity and transformation of gender. Baoyu frequently demonstrates behaviors coded as not traditionally masculine, such as his knowledge of cosmetics, his willingness to do domestic chores, and even eating rouge. Some scholars state that female companions reprimand him for these eccentricities, symbolizing what call "a symbolic explosion of gender boundaries", while others resist seeing Baoyu's traits as 'gender crossing' and instead emphasize cultural or aesthetic symbolism. Many Western scholars have also researched the ambiguity of Baoyu. Edwards compared this contradiction with the Western feminist theory of the French language, particularly the "metaphorical duality" concept proposed by Cixous and Kristeva, which suggests that the subject should simultaneously incorporate the traits of both men and women to break through the binary framework of patriarchy. In this contrast, Baoyu not only embodies the fluidity of yin and yang complementarity but is also suppressed by the Confucian system as an "uncompleted man", thus forming an ambiguous and complex gender identity.

Reception and influence in modern era

In the late 19th century, Hong Lou Meng's influence was so pervasive that the reformer Liang Qichao attacked it along with another classic novel, Water Margin, as "incitement to robbery and lust", and for smothering the introduction of Western style novels, which he regarded as more socially responsible. The eminent scholar Wang Guowei, however, achieved a new method of literary interpretation in an innovative and path-breaking 1904 essay which invoked the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Wang called the novel "the tragedy of tragedies", in contrast to the prosperous endings in most earlier drama and fiction. Wang further proclaims the novel as "worthy of being considered as the one great masterpiece in the realm of Chinese art."

In the early 20th century, although the New Culture Movement took a critical view of the Confucian classics, the scholar Hu Shih used the tools of textual criticism to put the novel in an entirely different light, as a foundation for national culture. Hu and his students, Gu Jiegang and Yu Pingbo, first established that Cao Xueqin was the work's author. Taking the question of authorship seriously reflected a new respect for fiction, since the lesser forms of literature had not been traditionally ascribed to particular individuals. Hu next built on Cai Yuanpei's investigations of the printing history of the early editions to prepare reliable reading texts. The final, and in some respects most important task, was to study the vocabulary and usage of Cao's Beijing dialect as a basis for Modern Mandarin.

In the 1920s, scholars and devoted readers developed Hongxue, or Redology into both a scholarly field and a popular avocation. Among the avid readers was the young Mao Zedong, who later claimed to have read the novel five times and praised it as one of China's greatest works of literature. The influence of the novel's themes and style are evident in many modern Chinese prose works. The early 1950s was a rich period for Redology with publication of major studies by Yu Pingbo. Zhou Ruchang, who as a young scholar had come to the attention of Hu Shih in the late 1940s, published his first study in 1953, which became a best seller. But in 1954 Mao personally criticized Yu Pingbo for his "bourgeois idealism" in failing to emphasize that the novel exposed the decadence of "feudal" society and the theme of class struggle. In the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Yu came under heavy criticism but the attacks were so extensive and full of quotations from his work that they spread Yu's ideas to many people who would not otherwise have known of their existence.

Translations and reception in the West

Cao utilizes many levels of colloquial and literary language and incorporates forms of classic poetry that are integral to the novel, making it a major challenge to translate. A 2014 study of fourteen translations of the novel concluded that the work is a "challenge even to the most resourceful of translators, and the process of rendering it into another language is bound to involve more translation problems, techniques, and principles than the process of rendering any other literary work." Accordingly, the aims and achievements of the translators differ widely.

The first recorded translation into English was in 1812 by the Protestant missionary and sinologist Robert Morrison (1782–1834), who translated part of Chapter 4 for the second volume of his unpublished 1812 book Horae Sinicae. In 1816, Morrison did publish a translation of a conversation from Chapter 31 in his Chinese language textbook Dialogues and Detached Sentences in the Chinese Language. In 1819, the British diplomat and sinologist John Francis Davis (1795–1890) published a short excerpt in the London Journal Quarterly Review. Davis also published a poem from Chapter 3 in the 1830 Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. In 1842, Karl Gützlaff's article, "Hung Lau Mung, or Dreams in the Red Chamber", in the sixth volume of the "Chinese Repository", included translation and criticism of some passages.

A literal translation of selected passages was published for foreigners learning Chinese by the Presbyterian Mission Press of Ningbo in 1846. Edward Charles Bowra of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs published a translation of the first eight chapters in 1868 and H. Bencraft Joly of the first fifty-six chapters in 1892. Alfred Lister in an 1873 review, wrote that the novel is "a work of art ... yet at a great disadvantage on account of its bulk. Its tremendous length, no less than twenty volumes; the vast number of persons involved in the story; and the complicatedly mysterious character of the introductory chapters, make it a book which perhaps the most heroic efforts of enthusiastic scholars will never succeed in introducing to the world of Western letters." The Reverend E.J. Eitel reviewed Joly's translation and condemned the novel, saying that Chinese read it "because of its wickedness." Herbert Giles, whom John Minford called "one of the more free-thinking British consular officers," took a more favorable view in a twenty-five page synopsis in 1885 that Minford calls still a "useful guide."

Sequels and continuations

Owing to its immense popularity, numerous sequels and continuations to the novel have been published, even during the Qing era. There are currently more than thirty recorded sequels or continuations to the novel, including modern ones. Modern (post-1949) continuations tend to follow after the eightieth chapter, and include those by Zhang Zhi, Zhou Yuqing, Hu Nan and Liu Xinwu.

Adaptations

At least fourteen cinematic adaptations of the Dream of the Red Chamber have been made, including a short film in 1924 starring Mei Lanfang, a lost 1927 version by Ren Pengnian and Yu Boyan, the 1944 film directed by Bu Wancang, the 1977 Shaw Brothers adaptation starring Sylvia Chang and Brigitte Lin, and the 1988 film directed by Xie Tieli (謝鐵驪) and Zhao Yuan (趙元). This last film took two years to prepare and three years to shoot, and remains, at 735 minutes, the longest Chinese film ever made.

In 1947, Cantonese opera playwright Fung Chi‑faan (馮志芬) and Chan Kwun Hing (陳冠卿) adapted Dream of the Red Chamber into the celebrated opera titled The Love Monk Steals into the Xiaoxiang Pavilion (情僧偷到瀟湘館, also known as The Romantic Monk), written for Ho Fei‑fan’s (何非凡) Fei Fan Heung Opera Troupe (非凡響劇團). With Ho Fei‑fan starring as Jia Baoyu, the production became a cultural phenomenon, achieving record‑breaking runs in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Its immense popularity established Ho Fei‑fan as the era’s famed "Romantic Monk" and secured the opera’s place as a cornerstone of Red Chamber‑inspired Cantonese opera.

In 1981, Jiangsu Song and Dance Ensemble premiered a dance drama version of Dream of the Red Chamber. A reworked version was performed in 1982 in Beijing by China Opera and Dance Drama Theatre featuring lead dancer Chen Ailian.

At least ten television adaptations have been produced (excluding numerous Chinese opera adaptations), and they include the renowned 1987 television series, which is regarded by many within China as being a near-definitive adaptation of the novel. It was initially somewhat controversial as few Redologists believed a television adaptation could do the novel full justice. Producer and director Wang Fulin's decision in employing non-professional young actors was vindicated as the television series gained enormous popularity in China. The series' success owes much to composer Wang Liping (王立平). He set many of the novel's classical verses to music, taking as long as four years to deliberate and complete his compositions. Other television versions include a 1996 Taiwanese series and a 2010 version directed by Fifth Generation director Li Shaohong.

Unlike the other great Chinese novels, particularly Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West, the Dream of the Red Chamber has received little attention in the gaming world, with only two Chinese language visual novels having been released as of 2017. Hong Lou Meng and Hong Lou Meng: Lin Daiyu yu Bei Jingwang (紅樓夢：林黛玉與北静王) were both released by Beijing Entertainment All Technology (北京娛樂通). The latter one was released on 8 January 2010, and it is an extended version of the first game, with the main heroines of the game fully voiced and additional CG+endings.