This image is the cover for the book The Dream of the Red Chamber, Classics To Go

The Dream of the Red Chamber, Classics To Go

The Dream of the Red Chamber is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the rise and decline of author Cao Xueqin's own family and, by extension, of the Qing dynasty. As the author details in the first chapter, it is intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants. The novel is remarkable not only for its huge cast of characters and psychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social structures typical of 18th-century Chinese society. It contains within its pages a sampling of all of the major modes and genres of the Chinese literary tradition.

Ts’ao Hsüeh-ch’in

In the entire history of Chinese literature, Tsao Hsueh-chin (also called Tsao Shan) is recognized as being the country's greatest realistic novelist. He was born in 1715 to a Han family, some of whom served in the Manchu army. His grandfather Tsao Yin (1658-1712) was one of the most eminent and wealthy men of his time and was in charge of the Nanking Silk Bureau during the reign of Kang Hsi.

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