Quick Answer: What Is Raise the Red Lantern About?
*Raise the Red Lantern* is an English title for *Wives and Concubines* (妻妾成群, Qīqiè Chéngqún), Su Tong’s (苏童, Sū Tóng) 1989 novella. After her father dies, a former student called Songlian (颂莲, Sònglián) becomes the fourth woman in a wealthy man’s household. She enters a household where Chen’s attention determines who has influence and who can be ignored.[1][2]
- The main character: Michael S. Duke’s English translation calls Songlian Lotus.[2]
- In the novella: An old well becomes central as Songlian tries to understand the family’s secrets.[1]
- In the film: Director Zhang Yimou (张艺谋, Zhāng Yìmóu) uses the nightly lighting of lanterns to show who has the master’s favor.[3][4]
The English title may identify either the novella or the 1991 adaptation. They share the Chen household and Songlian’s story.[2][4]
If you’ve seen the film, look for the moments when Songlian has to guess what other people know. The novella keeps you close to her suspicions.
Who Lives in the Chen Household?
| 登場人物 | 役割 |
|---|---|
| Chen Zuoqian (陈佐千, Chén Zuǒqiān) | The head of the household. His favor can improve a woman’s standing. |
| Yuru (毓如, Yùrú) | The first wife, whose formal position predates Songlian’s arrival. |
| Zhuoyun (卓云, Zhuóyún) | The second woman in the household. She initially appears welcoming to Songlian, who has to learn how much confidence to place in her. |
| Meishan (梅珊, Méishān) | The third woman, who sings opera and comes to occupy a crucial place in Songlian’s story. |
Songlian’s education gives her a life to remember outside the compound. Inside, she needs to learn who can speak frankly and who might use what she says against her. She begins to compete for the same favor that makes the others rivals.[1][3]
Why the Well Matters in the Novella
Songlian repeatedly returns to the well in the garden. Stories about earlier deaths make a familiar part of the house frightening. As a reader, you mostly have the same incomplete access to the past that she does.[1]
**Ending spoiler.** Songlian sees Meishan taken to the well and killed. Her attempt to speak about it is treated as evidence of her madness. People in the house can dismiss the witness and leave the system of authority intact. The ending makes the right to tell the story part of what Songlian loses.[1]
What the Film Changes
Zhang’s adaptation gives a passing lantern reference a central place. Each night the servants light the lanterns for the woman Chen chooses to visit. The lamp light, the sound of foot massage and the symmetrical courtyards make the household’s order visible and audible.[3][4][5]
The film’s lantern ceremony works as a rule of the fictional Chen household. The novella supplies a different set of recurring images, including the well. The historic compound used for filming gives the ceremony a convincing setting. Treat the ceremony itself as a feature of Zhang’s adaptation.[1][3][4]
How to Read the Novella
Keep track of what Songlian learns directly and what she has to infer. An apparent kindness can mean one thing when she first sees it and another once she understands what someone stood to gain. Her position gives her reasons to notice these shifts, and it also limits what she can verify.
For another work about women and household wealth, read Eileen Chang’s The Golden Cangue. For a different Su Tong narrator trying to live with the consequences of a family secret, try The Boat to Redemption.
FAQs About Raise the Red Lantern
What English translation should I look for?
Look for Michael S. Duke’s translation in *Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas*. The University of British Columbia lists a 1993 edition. The title novella calls Songlian Lotus.[2]
Is the lantern ritual in the novella?
The prose mentions red lanterns briefly. The adaptation makes the nightly ceremony a central device for showing status and competition.[3][4]
出典
[1] Chen Sihe. From Wives and Concubines to Raise the Red Lantern
[2] University of British Columbia, Department of Asian Studies. Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas, translated by Michael S. Duke
[3] China Writers Network. Su Tong’s fiction and its film adaptations
[4] International Film Festival Rotterdam. Raise the Red Lantern
[5] Film Movement. Raise the Red Lantern, film notes