Here I show that the Dream of the Red Chamber is based on a quite sophisticated naming system: apart from their literal meaning, the names of characters and places have a number of connotations. The interplay of meanings of names sheds light on the novel’s theme, plot and characters, and also reveals the author’s own thoughts on a number of specific issues. For instance, the Taoist theme of yin/yang opposition-and-harmony and Buddhist vision of the world as illusion are subtly expressed through names whose “original” meanings are ironically subverted by the opposite connotations of their homonyms.

naming, homonym, literal, theme, connotation, illusory, opposition, subversion, irony, vision