Dream of the Red Chamber, or The Story of the Stone, is the greatest masterpiece of Chinese classical novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties with the most profound influence on later generations. Jia Baoyu experienced the great changes from flourishing to decline of a noble family and thus gained unique perception of life and the mortal world. Revolving around Jia Baoyu and focusing on the tragic love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai, the novel portrays a tragedy in which love, youth and life are ruined as well as exposes and profoundly reflects the root of the tragedy - the feudal system and culture.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
Jia Yucun finds that poverty is not incompatible with romance
CHAPTER 2
The bottle-gourd girl meets an unfortunate young man
CHAPTER 3
Jia Baoyu conducts his first experiment in the Art of Love
CHAPTER 4
Jia Baoyu visits the Ningguo Mansion and has an agreeable meeting with Qinshi’s brother
CHAPTER 5
Jia Rui conceives an illicit passion for his attractive cousin
CHAPTER 6
Jia Baoyu is presented to the Prince of Beijing during a roadside halt
CHAPTER 7
Qin Zhong is summoned for a premature departure on the journey into Night
CHAPTER 8
Rongguo Mansion readies itself for an important visitor
CHAPTER 9
A very earnest young woman offers counsel by night
CHAPTER 10
Baoyu finds Zen enlightenment in an operatic aria
CHAPTER 11
The Quiet-voiced Girl provides fantastical material by losing her handkerchief
CHAPTER 12
A beauty perspires after some sport with butterflies by the Raindrop Pavilion
CHAPTER 13
Baoyu demonstrates confusion of mind by making his declaration to the wrong person
CHAPTER 14
A wordless message meets with silent understanding
CHAPTER 15
Baoyu tastes some superior tea at Green Bower Hermitage
CHAPTER 16
Xifeng’s jealousy is the cause of an unexpected provocation
CHAPTER 17
The One deluded in love turns his thoughts to trade and travel
CHAPTER 18
Ningguo Mansion makes sacrifice to their ancestors on New Year’s Eve
CHAPTER 19
Nightingale tests Jade Boy with a startling message
CHAPTER 20
Baoyu owns up to a crime he did not commit
CHAPTER 21
Jia Lian’s second marriage is celebrated in secret
CHAPTER 22
A scheming woman kills with a borrowed knife
CHAPTER 23
Midnight revelers are startled by a sound of evil omen
CHAPTER 24
Yingchun’s parents betroth her to a Zhongshan wolf
CHAPTER 25
Baoyu’s betrothal is discussed for the first time
CHAPTER 26
Pursuing lust, Moonbeam evolves an artful stratagem
CHAPTER 27
Lin Daiyu burns her poems to signal the end of her heart’s folly
CHAPTER 28
Jingui dies by her own hand, caught in a web of her own construction
CHAPTER 29
Ghostly weeping heard at the Naiad’s House provokes a fresh outburst of grief
CHAPTER 30
Human destinies are revealed in a fairy realm, and the Stone is restored to its rightful owner
CHAPTER 31
Baoyu becomes a Provincial Graduate and severs worldly ties
