A Popular Introduction to Chinese Classical Literature: The Dream of the Red Chamber, Volumes 1 and 2

Author: Cao Xueqin ([Qing Dynasty]), Gao E ([Qing Dynasty]) wrote, annotated by Rong Xianbin, Sun Ailin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-03-01
Features: Cao Xueqin is one of the greatest and most complex writers in Chinese literary history, and Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the greatest and most complex works in Chinese literary history. Dream of the Red Chamber depicts the tragic love and marriage between the feudal aristocratic youth Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai, and revolves around this central plot to portray the rise and fall of the four great families of Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue, with the Jia family as the focus. It exposes the darkness and crimes of the late feudal society, as well as its irreconcilable internal contradictions, delivering a strong critique of the decadent feudal ruling class and the crumbling feudal system, leaving readers with a sense of its inevitable downfall.
This book is a great work of both high ideological depth and high artistic quality. From the ideological tendencies it reflects, the author demonstrates preliminary democratic ideals. He critically examines the darkness of the contemporary society, including the courts and officialdom, the corruption of the feudal aristocracy and their families, the feudal imperial examination system, marriage system, slavery system, and hierarchical system, as well as the ruling ideology that corresponds to these structures—Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism, social morality, and so on. He also proposes faint yet nascent ideals and with preliminary democratic characteristics. These ideals and are a twisted reflection of the burgeoning factors of capitalist economic in the era.