This book reviews research achievements and its progress of American sinologists on Honglou Meng from 1960 to 2000.W ith these efforts，this book attempts to offer amirror to Chinese redology and some fundamental works for international redology.Beyond the academ ic history，this book deals with some significant questions and academic outlook of redology by examining the American redology.Firstly，this book summarizes the methodologies，achievements and influences of American redology，and examines the academic value and indispensable role of the American redology in spreading Honglou Meng in the history.Secondly，this book presents the outline of studying Honglou Meng，and discusses some special characteristics of the spreading procedure and the structure of the scholars in the Uited States.Thirdly，this book explores American redology’s specialties，meanings，and communications with Chinese redology.Finally，this book summarizes contributions and enlightenments of American redology.

This book consists of five chapters.Chapter I can be divided into two sections，with each corresponding to one time period.Section I discusses the studies of American Redology before 60s.Its’“superficialness”attributed to the beginning and nonprofessional stage.Chinese and non-Chinese scholars separately developed and echoed to Dr.Hu Shi’s theory.The experiences and lessons that learned from“oversea redology”were the driving force for the First International Honglou Meng Study Meeting.Section II discusses the studies of American redology from 60s to 70s.In the early 1960s，researchers paid great attention on introducing the psychology and sociology into redology and explored philosophical，sociological，and psychological meaning of Honglou Meng.Jonathan D.Spence’s creative motive，creative contents，and methods could attribute to the“Study of Cao”.The story-telling method he applied actually reflected the spirit ofm icro-history.Although influenced by the sociology，he preferred pursuing the introspective control and academic contribution，which was different from Chinese political-orient redology at that time.Hsia C.T.argued that the true meaning of Honglou Meng is to forgive love and mercy，with which to surpass the idea ofWang Guowei，praised the value of the late forty chapters，and insisted Baochai overtakes Daiyu.

Chapter II discusses the studies of American redology from 70s to 80s.Researchers began to discuss the implied messages containing in the Honglou Meng due to the impact of anthropology and narratology.Yu Ying-shih extensively absorbed the ideas of Dr.Hu Shi，Yu Pingbo，Wang Guowei，Song Qi，and Hsia C.T.He pointed out redology exists in the history world and artworld While Honglou Meng exists in the ideal world and real world inside and outside Daguan Yuan.His influences have been lasted in China，America，Taiwai，and Hong Kong till now.Andrew Henry Plaks named archetype of Yin and Yang in Honglou Meng with Complementary Bipolarity and thought that the Allegory of Daguan Yuan is harmony，change，and reciprocity.He adopted the hedgehog research method，that is，to push some key questions as far as possible within a big theory structure.

Chapter III discusses the studies of American redology from 80s to 90s.This decade witness the emergence of a fashion of using computer，statistics，and textual criticism to analyze Honglou Meng.The hot topics were fem inist，theme，skill，and relationship.The First International Honglou Meng Study Meeting in 1980 accelerated the international cooperation among the academy and beyond.Chow Tse-tsung’s research underwent three stages of studying the theory of Dr.Hu Shi.He proved that Cao Xueqin was a thin person，and affirmed Gao E edited rather than supplied the late forty chapters.His method melted textual criticism，sinology，and Chinese Study.He also encouraged the research community to publish special books and journals，and hold regular Meetings，which represented another way of paragon.Wang C.Y.explored the comments of Zhiyan and became the precursor of form researchers.Li Wai-yee and Mary Elizabeth Scott separately analyzed language and drama in Honglou Meng and believed that different authors wrote the former eighty chapters and the later forty chapters.

Chapter IV discusses the studies of American redology from 90s to the early 21st century.Feminism took some advantages in this decade，thus，naturally research on“feminist reading”，“Feminist image”and “feministwriting”became the center of American redology.Yi Jinsheng re-interpreted the allegory of Honglou Meng and considered it as amore persuasive formula to explain the world through a series of dreams.Keith McMahon Durham discussed masculine and fem inize phenomena in Honglou Meng from a gender point of view，and interpreted“Yiyin”through pursuing the structure by Cao Xueqin.Yu Anthony reviewed nearly all the existing ideas.He opposed Dr.Hu Shi’s autobiography theory and focused on literary meanings of Honglou Meng.He established delicacy research structure and affirmed literary value of the late forty chapters and insisted the idea that Daiyu was superior to Baochai，which challenged Wang Guowei，C.T.Hsia，and Edwards.Because of his great contribution，Anthony Yu has been viewed as a leading scholar in American redology during the 90s.Martin W.Huang bridged Baoyu and Cao Xueqin using the concept of“Growing up”and“Reluctance to grow up”to evaluate Honglou Meng.He denied“autobiography theory”although he admitted some autobiography factors in Honglou Meng.He borrowed some concepts from feminist theory to re-interpret Honglou Meng rather than taking fem inist views without any introspection.

Chapter V discusses the advantage and disadvantage of American redology compared its counterpart in China.Specifically，this chapter describes the research institutes，teachingmode，main characteristics， research experience，scholars and interflowing of ideas.American redology does not emphasize“study of Cao”nor version comparison，and keeps a distance from“indexing”and“theory of class struggle”.Being influenced by the Sino-US relationship，policies，sinology，and studies of China，American redology develops specialty in study of comparative literature aspect.It follows scientific development and new theories，constantly injects new views and methodology into redology.Scholars comments and communicates with each other in journals and holds international conferences with aperiodicity.All these represent the consistence to the academic standard in the West.Some researchers are well-experienced in writing and translating.However，the weak points are incomplete and narrow scope.Some researches exits forethought owe to following current theories and comments and losing their continuities owe to emphasizing too much on new idea sometimes.The research procedure can be divided into two periods.First，early 20^th century to 1960s，it got multi-dimensional support corresponding to a period of translation and introduction about Honglou Meng.Second，after 1960s，it got one-dimensional support corresponding to a period of professional research.Universities act as main forces in research and forms special schools.Researchers consist of Chinese and non-Chinese.Peking University became a bridge between American redology and Chinese redology.

The conclusion summarizes the contributions and enlightenments of American redology.American redology bypasses Chinese redology in the fields of theory explanation and comparative literature.It speeds up the process ofmarketing Honglou Meng as a world classic novel.Exam ining Honglou Meng by the view of“otherness”and different cultural backgrounds provides new perspectives and questions.Therefore，Chinese and American redology should cooperate to create a new brilliant future.

Key Words：American redology，Honglou Meng，Sinology