Chapter 1:
In the first chapter, the author first writes about the origin of the stone. Then it comes to the very end of the story and writes a conversation between the stone and the Taoist called Vanitas. Next, it starts to talk about the story which first starts with the decline of Shi-yin Zhen`s family. When reading the origin of the stone, I find the description of the stone provides me with a great sense of mystery, which keeps me reading forward. Maybe it is because the stone is of magic power which makes it unreal from the reality. However, the story happens in the real world. As a result, it forces me to read and explore what will happen if the unreal meets with the real.
Then it continues to write about the conversation between the stone and Taoist after “countless aeons”. The conversation suggests a lot of clues about the whole book. According to the self description of the stone, the story`s main theme is love, and purpose of this story is to record the real events and make those who indulge in the eroticism aware of their wrongdoing. Although it gives some clues to the story, but it never gives the detail to readers. Thus, it is just like it gives you soul of the book, but it never gives the appearance or skin of the book, which makes the reader know something about the book but not everything about it. Consequently, as one of the readers, there is no doubt that I want to get to know more about the book.
It is very surprising that the whole story starts with the tragedy of Shi-yin Zhen`s family. Personally, I myself very compassionate him. Before I read the book, I thought the book should be very light and happy since it was a book about love among young boys and girls. It is widely acknowledged that the first impression about one thing will keep affecting your view for a long time. Maybe the author wants to suggest something about the later story, so he writes such a tragedy and makes the atmosphere sad and dark. Shi-yin is a good man