The 26th Literature Week held jointly by the five departments in the College of Liberal Arts kicks off today in the Exhibition Hall of the Business Administration Building. This year’s program features around themes relating to one of the best known Chinese classical novel, Dream of the Red Chamber.

The event will be opened by Dr. Kao Pao-yuan, the Vice President for Administrative Affairs, amid poetry reading by members of Ching Sheng Poetry Club. Unlike previous events which had no apparent themes, this year’s activities presented in the Literature Week will all deal with the plot, food, clothes or the characters that constitute this famous novel. This unique idea was conjured up by the event’s organizer, Chinese Department, who has encouraged creativity from participants to pick a particular aspect of the novel to turn it into an interesting show or exhibition.

As a result, the Department of Mass Communication will introduce Jia Bao Yu and the Twelve Beauties of Jin Tsai in the form of a radio show, against the background music that was inspired by the novel. At the stand of the Department, there will be a Horoscope reading and psycho-analysis on your personality to see which character in the book you’re linked to. On another stand, presented by the Department of Information and Library Science, the story of the novel will be told against some props that resemble the Rongguo House, Baoyu’s home, so as to bring the atmosphere of the story to life.

The Department of History, on the other hand, features food and drink relating to the novel. They invited Professor Tsui Cheng-tsong from the Chinese Department to write a poem inspired by the drinking game doggerels created on Jia Baoyu’s birthday in the book on a 3 meter long, 70 centimeter wide scroll, which will be on display during the Literature Week. The Department will also display different liquor to highlight the Chinese drinking habits and culture described in the novel. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )