Applying asymmetry of contextual information between the speaker and the hearer under the four conditions for illocutionary acts and intentions in meaning, this paper aims to understand Madame Cui’s promise in the Romance of the Western Bower in order to find out what role the context plays in Madame Cui’s breaking her promise and how other people are able to negotiate with Madame Cui to make her fulfill her promise. The process of how Madame Cui makes the promise, breaks the promise, and fulfills the promise will be analyzed. The analysis can illustrate that context or contextual information plays a significant role in the making and understanding of a promise, and that meaning understanding is a process of construction by both the speaker and the hearer.
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