Dreaming across Languages and Cultures

DREAM of the Red Chamber， Cao Xueqin’s classicabout the rise and decline of a family that is alsoa portrayal of its contemporary Qing Dynasty（1644-1911）， continues to inspire and influencelong after it was published in the 18th century. PatriciaAmate Núñez is a current acolyte.

The Spanish student， whose interest in China beganwhen she was a child thanks to her father’s interest inkung-fu， has recently obtained her Ph.D. degree after finishinga research project on Dream of the Red Chamberunder a joint program of Beijing Normal University andUniversity of Almeria in Spain. She moved to Beijing inNovember 2022 to work on her dissertation under ProfessorZhao Wei of Beijing Normal University.

Her dissertation analyzes 982 dialogues by four primewomen characters in the novel. They are Grandmother Jia，the stately dowager who is the grandmother of Jia Baoyu，the protagonist of the novel and heir to the fortunes of"the Rongguo House; Xue Baochai， thebeautiful， talented wife of Baoyu who，however， is destined to be neglected byher husband as he mourns the death ofhis first love; Wang Xifeng， a strong charactermarried to Baoyu’s elder brotherwho turns out to be a sybaritic womanizer;and Granny Liu， a rustic distant relativewhose simplicity serves as a foil forthe complex and aristocratic Jia family.

Patricia analyzed the four women’sdialogues using the Dell Hymes SPEAKING model. Accodingto American sociolinguist Dell Hymes （1927-2009）， tounderstand what someone says， it is not simply enoughto consider the words. Attention should be paid to severalother aspects， including situation， participants， ends， acts，key， instrumentality， norms， and genres of communication– in short， SPEAKING.

Literature Transcends Borders

What made her choose a novel that is not exactly ahousehold name in Spain？ She says her interest in Dreamof the Red Chamber began at university， when a professorspoke about it in a class on classical Chinese literature.Once she started reading the book， she discovered thatwithin its pages lay all the knowledge about China thatshe was looking for. She regards it as the pinnacle of China’sliterary history， invaluable for research. “It is essentialreading to learn about the history and customs of imperialChina， and also to learn about China today. Many ofthe traditions the novel mentions are still alive in China，”she said.

Besides， under the initiative of renowned Spanishsinologist Pedro San Ginés， Dream of the Red Chamberwas translated into Spanish by Peking University professorZhao Zhenjiang， Spanish poet José Antonio GarcíaSánchez， and Alicia Relinque， director of the ConfuciusInstitute of University of Granada and translator of ThePeony Pavilion.

During the two years that Patricia spent researching inChina， she enjoyed seeing Dream of the Red Chamber invarious art forms， including the ballet， opera， and concert.Besides being fascinated by the love triangle in the story，Patricia admired Granny Liu’s kindness and simplicity， andfell in love with the tragic Xiangling， the young maid inthe novel who is kidnapped as a young girl and sold to theJia family， alternating between being abused and periods"of respite. “I found Granny Liu to be oneof the best communicative characters，”she said. “She is good at seeking help，practices the traditional Confucian virtues，and also takes care of the youngergeneration after the fall of the Jia family.”

When she returned to Spain to defendher dissertation， she passed with flyingcolors. For that she is especially gratefulto Professor Zhao who she said “gave methe courage to complete the voluminousresearch.” Also， the School of Sociology was like an “internationalfamily， where the professors， secretarial assistants，students， and staff gave me all the help I needed.”

Today， Patricia wears several hats. She is a member ofan innovative teaching project at the University of Almeria，“Theatron： Dramatization as a Teaching Resource inHigher Education.” Her wish is to work in a field related toknowledge about China and its culture. For that， she saysshe still has a lot to read as Chinese literature is so immense.Her favorites include The Peony Pavilion ， the 16thcentury tragicomedy by Tang Xianzu （1550-1616）， who hasbeen called China’s Shakespeare and the novel likened toRomeo and Juliet but with a happy ending. She regardsthe heroine Du Liniang as one of the first women charactersin Chinese literature who seeks to create her owndestiny in defiance of parental authority.

She also loves Shen Fu’s Six Records of a Floating Life ，an autobiography set in the Qing Dynasty unfolding sixparallel layers in a man’s life， loves， and career， because itdelves into marital relationships in ancient China. Patri-cia is particularly interested in Chinesewomen writers and literary work that tellswomen’s stories such as Suicide Diary byDing Ling， one of the most celebrated Chinesewomen authors of the 20th century，and San Mao’s Stories of the Sahara ， anamazing real-life account of her life andadventures in the Western Sahara in the1970s.

Embracing Other Cultures

Cultural exchanges have flourished between China andSpain， both through the efforts of individuals and theinitiatives of the state. In September 2024， Spanish PrimeMinister Pedro Sánchez paid a visit to China and on theoccasion， an Instituto Cervantes center was opened inShanghai， becoming Spain's second cultural center in China.Luis Garcia Montero， director of Instituto Cervantes，said the Shanghai center will take mutual understandingand cooperation to a new level.

In 2023， China and Spain celebrated the 50th anniversaryof their diplomatic relations and this year marks the20th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership，leading to anticipations of a higher level of bilateralrelations.

From her own experience， Patricia has seen how cultureopens the door to other civilizations. For example，she loves ballet. “I studied ballet for 15 years from the ageof three. It has become an essential part of me，” she said.In Beijing， she enjoyed the performance of Dream of the"Red Chamber by the National Ballet of China. The gracefulmovements of the dancers， the harmonious musicand singing and special effects unique to Chinese ballet，such as using the long sleeves of the costume to conveyspecial effects， helped her appreciate the Chinese form ofballet.

She was also delighted to be able to continue learningballet in Beijing and formed a little “ballet family” withher teachers and classmates. She also learned classicaldancing at the Beijing Dance Academy for a semester. “Ifound the way of moving the hands in Chinese dances especiallyexpressive， very beautiful and delicate. The balletand Chinese folk dances have a lot in common， both arean art of body language，” she said. “But there is no danceacademy in Spain that teaches Chinese dancing， so mostSpaniards cannot appreciate the beauty of this art. As aresult， few Chinese ballet troupes cometo Spain.”

She said it was the same with museumexhibitions， which did not tour Spanishcities regularly. The reading clubs in Spanishuniversities also rarely had Chineseliterature sessions. “I hope there are moreand more cultural exchanges between thetwo countries，” she said. “For example， highschools could have courses to teach youngpeople about Chinese culture， China’s developmentof science and technology， and the achievements inecological protection.”

According to her， there should be cross-cultural activitiesfor the elderly. Grandparents are usually retirees witha lot of time and may be curious about new things. Therefore，tai chi could be offered in the centers for senior citizens，which will not only strengthen the body， but also helppeople understand Chinese culture. It might also triggertheir interest in traveling to China to see first-hand whatthey have learned.

“There are so many places worth seeing in China，” shesaid. In 2015， to complete her master’s thesis on an ethniccommunity， she lived in Kunming， southwest China’s YunnanProvince， for 18 months. “The people there are kindand lovely， the climate is pleasant， and various ethnicgroups live together in harmony， making it a perfect place！”

She advocates cultural exchanges via language teaching，youth exchanges， and tourism， so that the people of thetwo countries have more communication and the tree ofbilateral friendship remains evergreen.