The Study Of Manchu Diet Etiquette Culture In "Dream Of Red Mansions"

As the most classic serial novel in the Chinese literary history,The Story of the Stone gives readers a comprehensive demonstration of the Qing dynasty.Cao Xueqin,as a Manchu writer,describes in the novel a society,which he is well familiar with,combined both the the culture of Han and Manchu.This bi-cultural literary crystal provides researchers with those historical materials,which are short of recordation.The description of the daily food and drink in the novel is a miniature of the Manchu diet culture.This essay focuses on the description of food and drink in the novel,aiming to discover the traditional diet culture of Manchu,showed in both daily diet and banquet party in The story of the Stone,and to reveal the cultural influence from both of the Shamanism and Confucianism.From the point of diet etiquette,the essay also deals with the characteristics of the Manchu culture by a comprehensive analysis of the transition of the diet culture.