The Other Side of the Mirror: The First Pacific Rim Dream of the Red Chamber Conference in Australia
For the first time in history, Canberra’s golden autumn played host to something entirely new: an international gathering of the world’s most devoted Dream of the Red Chamber scholars, right here at the Australian National University.
On 8–9 April 2026, the Australian Centre on China in the World became a meeting point for minds from across the Pacific Rim. Scholars travelled from Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Korea, the United States, and Sydney—not to mention our own local experts. They came not for politics or economics, but for a novel. A novel written in 18th-century Beijing. A novel about memory, desire, family, impermanence, and the fragile beauty of human connection. A novel that, two and a half centuries later, still refuses to let go of its readers.
This was the Second Pacific Rim International Conference on the Studies of Hongloumeng—but more importantly for us, it was the first time such a gathering had ever been held in Australia.
Why Canberra? Why ANU?
Professor Helen Sullivan, Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific, put it best in her opening address: “The great texts of one culture often become the common inheritance of many.” She reminded the room that Hongloumeng is not merely a Chinese masterpiece. It is a Pacific Rim masterpiece. Its world of gardens and poetry, silk and tears, has travelled from Beijing to Boston, from Tokyo to Taipei, from Seoul to Sydney. “Here at ANU,” she said, “we are proud to be a bridge between Asia and the Pacific.”
And so, the bridge was crossed.
Over two days, the conference unfolded like the novel itself—layered, surprising, and full of unexpected connections. Professor Rania Huntington from the University of Wisconsin-Madison spoke of how late Qing readers read the novel alone and together, finding both solitude and community in its pages. Associate Professor Andrew Schonebaum from the University of Maryland examined the “trifling” knowledge in the novel—the medicine, the horticulture, the household management—and argued that this seemingly minor knowledge deserves serious philosophical attention.
Associate Professor Josh Stenberg from the University of Sydney traced the novel’s journey onto the kunqu stage, from late Qing experiments to contemporary productions that rediscover intimacy and slowness. Associate Professor Fan Shengyu from ANU revealed how translator David Hawkes wove Shakespearean language into his English version, creating a bridge between two literary universes.
Professor Zhang Hui from Peking University asked a daring question: What if the novel had no first chapter? Chapter I provides a frame of reference that completely transcends the horizon of family life. It is a “mirror” that stands apart from reality yet is uniquely capable of reflecting the world and reality itself. Professor Zhu Guohua from East China Normal University offered a fresh reading of Jia Baoyu’s famous “loving without attachment” as a pure aesthetic experience rooted in Chinese soil. Professor Luo Shuhua from Fudan University challenged nearly a century of received wisdom about the novel’s two major textual traditions, proposing a radical new genealogy. And from the Catholic University of Korea, Professor Han Hyegyeong explored the novel’s Chan Buddhist dialogues, reminding everyone that this story speaks across languages. Scholars from Hongloumeng societies in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and beyond joined the dialogue, weaving a global tapestry of insight.
The conference was not just about papers and panels. Between sessions, over tea, scholars debated, laughed, and discovered shared passions. One participant described it as a rare experience of “academic community”—that warm, electric feeling when minds truly meet.
On the first day, something historic happened. The assembled scholars unanimously agreed to establish the Australian Hongloumeng Society, dedicated to furthering collaborative research and regional engagement. For the first time, Australia will have its own formal organisation dedicated to the novel—based right here at ANU, with Dr Fan Shengyu playing a leading role.
The conference closed with a sense of beginning. Dr Fan and Professor Chu Chia-wen from Dong Hwa University expressed hopes for more such exchanges. Afterward, Dr Fan led a small tour of the CIW grounds, pointing out Chinese calligraphy, garden design, and other cultural symbols embedded in the landscape.
But the story does not end there.
Throughout Dr Fan's career, the community around ANU has experienced its own encounters with the Dream. Despite the disruptions of COVID, a student-led concert co-organised with the Canberra community in 2021 brought together young musicians from different traditions for a cross-cultural evening that might have made the author Cao Xueqin smile. The year 2025 also witnessed a student art exhibition—entirely put together by his students in CHST3212 Reading Chinese Literature—featuring works inspired by the novel's twelve beauties, alongside literary keepsakes like bookmarks, stamps, figurines,posters and various editions collected over the years by Dr Fan himself. Looking to the future, Dr Fan and his colleagues are planning a Hongloumeng poetry and music concert, continuing the tradition of bringing the Dream to life in new and beautiful ways.
For the first time, the Pacific Rim had met in Canberra to talk about a book that has travelled further than anyone ever expected. And now, Australia has joined the journey.
The Dream, it seems, has found a new home.
