The Dream of the Red Chamber provides a detailed, episodic record of life in the two branches of the wealthy, aristocratic Jia clan—the Rongguo House and the Ningguo House—who reside in two large, adjacent family compounds in the capital. Their ancestors were made Dukes and given imperial titles, and as the novel begins the two houses are among the most illustrious families in the city. One of the clan's offspring is made a Royal Consort, and a lush landscaped garden is built to receive her visit. In the novel's frame story, a sentient Stone, abandoned by the goddess Nüwa when she mended the heavens aeons ago, begs a Taoist priest and a Buddhist monk to take it with them to see the world.
Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the four Chinese classics. The novel is semi-autobiographical and it gives an incredibly detailed insight into 18th-century life in China, particularly that of the aristocracy.
Beloved by generations of Chinese readers, The Dream of the Red Chamber is China's touching equivalent of the Romeo & Juliet story.
This exquisite edition of A Dream of Red Mansions features a rare set of Qing Dynasty paintings by Sun Wen. This collector's edition features a complete set of Sun Wen's 230 paintings in splendid color, printed on fine paper.
The Dream of the Red Chamber
Song Yuan Ming Qing yanjiu luncong (Taipei: Dadong tushu gongsi yinxing, 1979), pp.123-214. 104 Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion (Mudanting), trans. Cyril Birch (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980), p.x. According to Wen Lin, ...
Reflections on Dream of the Red Chamber
I ask you; how much griefcan there be? As much as a spring river flowing east. Li Yu, Last Emperor of the Southern Tang, song lyric to the tune “The Beautiful Lady Yu." Xifeng arrives at the yamen nearly an hour later than PART FOUR ...
For this edition, Howard Goldblatt has thoroughly revised the text and updated it to Pinyin romanization. In a new introduction, Perry Link reflects on the book's significance in the post-Tiananmen era.
"Redology" is the field of study devoted exclusively to this work.The title has also been translated as Red Chamber Dream and A Dream of Red Mansions.
This celebrated Chinese classical novel is a masterpiece of realism written in the middle of the eighteen century during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty. It takes as its...