Author Description

A dream of Red Mansions is a masterpiece of classical Chinese literature written by Cao Xueqin in the mid-18th century. A tragedy about love and marriage among Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai, the story is set against a vast background of a feudal society interwoven with the lives of hundreds of men and women. While boldly revealing the conflicts between aristocrats and their corrupt lives, it bitterly condemns the doomed feudal system that had initiated the love tragedy. True to the original style, this abridged version is about 100,000 characters. Each chapter is followed by a list of words in pinyin and English. Difficult language terms are also annotated in English.