Cao Xueqin

"One of the great novels of world literature…to the Chinese as Proust is to the French or Karamazov to the Russians." —Anthony West, literary criticDream of the Red Chamber (also known as The Story of the Stone) is renowned for its epic scope, rich psychological characterizations and telling observations on family life and the role of women in Chinese society. One of the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese literature, along with Journey to the West, The Water Margin, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms; Dream of the Red Chamber is widely regarded as the greatest Chinese classical novel, and one of the greatest works of world literature ever written. The "red chamber" refers to a sheltered area in wealthy households where daughters were confined until married—a veritable prison where dreams of true love wither. This sweeping tale tells of the rise and fall of rival branches of the wealthy Jia family, who live in lavish adjacent compounds surrounded by a lush, private garden. The story opens with the birth of Jia Baoyu, heir apparent and darling of the women in the Jia household. A free-thinker and idealist, Baoyu soon rebels against his stern father, who refuses to allow his son to pursue a romantic affair with Lin Daiyu—a headstrong and intelligent woman who shares his love of music and poetry. Baoyu is forced instead to marry Xue Baochai, an equally talented and beautiful woman but someone with whom he has no emotional connection. The fates of the star-crossed lovers and their families slowly unravel as this tragic story unfolds. Dream of the Red Chamber, although written by a man, is said to be one of the first great works of women's literature. The author, Cao Xueqin, is thought to have written the novel as a memorial to the inspiring women he knew in his youth.

The Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the "Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature." It is renowned for its huge scope, large cast of characters, and telling observations about the life and social structures of 18th century China. Many consider it to be the pinnacle of the classical Chinese novel. The "Red Chamber" is a term used to describe the sheltered area where the daughters of wealthy Chinese families lived. The Dream of the Red Chamber is believed to be based on the author's own life and intended as a memorial to the women that he knew in his youth. As Edwin Lowe writes in his introduction, "Henry Bencraft Joly's attention to detail and the faithfulness in his translation of Hong Lou Meng makes this revised edition of The Dream of the Red Chamber an excellent book for the student of modern Chinese." Whether you're studying Chinese or simply interested in literature, this rich, multilayered story will offer you key insights into Chinese culture.

The Dream of the Red Chamber - Part II - Chapter 48 - 89 is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1792. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

The Dream of the Red Chamber - Part III - Chapter 90 - 120 is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1792. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

The Dream of the Red Chamber - Part I - Chapter 1 - 47 is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1792. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

For generations, the Jia family is held in high esteem but when they lose favor with the emperor, their luxury lifestyle comes to an end. The Story of the Stone focuses on internal and external conflicts that arise as they adjust to their unexpected plight. Jia Baoyu is heir to a prestigious family, that’s held multiple imperial titles throughout the years. Despite their history and social standing, they are targeted by the emperor who strips them of their land and personal fortune. As the family’s wealth wanes, the young Jia struggles with his affection for his cousin Lin Daiyu, as he’s already engaged to Xue Baochai. It’s a compelling romance drama set against the family’s economic decline. Revered for centuries, The Story of the Stone is one of the Four Classic Novels in Chinese literature. It’s a depiction of pre-modern times that is both bleak and illuminating. Cao Xueqin delivers a piercing commentary on the duplicity of the social and political structure. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Story of the Stone is both modern and readable.

This book is a result of an effort made by us towards making a contribution to the preservation and repair of original classic literature. In an attempt to preserve, improve and recreate the original content, we have worked towards: 1. Type-setting & Reformatting: The complete work has been re-designed via professional layout, formatting and type-setting tools to re-create the same edition with rich typography, graphics, high quality images, and table elements, giving our readers the feel of holding a 'fresh and newly' reprinted and/or revised edition, as opposed to other scanned & printed (Optical Character Recognition - OCR) reproductions. 2. Correction of imperfections: As the work was re-created from the scratch, therefore, it was vetted to rectify certain conventional norms with regard to typographical mistakes, hyphenations, punctuations, blurred images, missing content/pages, and/or other related subject matters, upon our consideration. Every attempt was made to rectify the imperfections related to omitted constructs in the original edition via other references. However, a few of such imperfections which could not be rectified due to intentional\unintentional omission of content in the original edition, were inherited and preserved from the original work to maintain the authenticity and construct, relevant to the work. We believe that this work holds historical, cultural and/or intellectual importance in the literary works community, therefore despite the oddities, we accounted the work for print as a part of our continuing effort towards preservation of literary work and our contribution towards the development of the society as a whole, driven by our beliefs. We are grateful to our readers for putting their faith in us and accepting our imperfections with regard to preservation of the historical content. HAPPY READING

Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone, composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was written sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. Long considered a masterpiece of Chinese literature, the novel is generally acknowledged to be the pinnacle of Chinese fiction. "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. The novel circulated in manuscript copies with various titles until its print publication, in 1791. While the first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin, Gao E, who prepared the first and second printed editions with his partner Cheng Weiyuan in 1791