Cao Xueqin 
Accessible Reading Edition of China’s Four Great Classic Novels 
A Dream in Red Mansions

A Dream in Red Mansions, the first of the four classical Chinese Masterpieces, is a chapter novel written by Cao Xueqin, a writer of the Qing Dynasty. It is also known as The Story of Stone and Jinyuyuan. A Dream in Red Mansions is a world-renowned human novel. It is recognized as the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels, the Encyclopedia of Chinese feudal society, and the integrator of traditional culture. The novel takes the rise and fall of the four families of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue as the background, takes the family trifles and boudoir leisure of Jia family as the context, takes the love and marriage stories of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai as the main line, and depicts the beauty of human nature and tragedy of the two lovers, the good and evil, centered on Jia Baoyu and the twelve girls in Jinling. Through the family tragedy, the daughter tragedy and the hero’s life tragedy, it reveals the crisis of the end of feudalism.