Gu Jiegang And Neo-Redology

Gu Jiegang has played a very important role in the development of 'Redology'. Since 1921, he has communicated with Hu Shi and Yu Pingbo regarding the masterwork of Dream of Red Mansions. During this period, he together with Hu Shi had collected and consulted extensive historical documents concerning this subject and discarded the false and retained the true. As a consequence of their endeavor, the important material of the family and life of the author Cao Xueqin are available at present. Moreover, his discussion with and enlightenment for Yu Pingbo about the verification of the latter forty chapters of Dream of Red Mansions eventually contributed to the formation of Yu Pingbo's primary philosophy about Dream of Red Mansions. Another contribution of his effort is as the catalyst of Research of Dream of Red Mansions by Hu Shi and Verification of Dream of Red Mansions by Yu Pingbo. At the same time, Gu Jiegang proposed the academic concept of 'Neo-Redology' and 'Traditional-Redology' and put forward the necessity of application of historical standpoint and scientific method for Dream of Red Mansions research. To conclude, Gu Jiegang has made an important contribution to the ultimate formation of 'Neo-Redology' and his work has far-reaching implications for the development of Redology and even Chinese Modern Academy.