Red Chamber Dreams (Vol. 1 & 2)

Author: Cao Xueqin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1996-01-01
Features: This book is a great work with high ideological and artistic value. From the ideological trends it reflects, the author demonstrates preliminary democratic thoughts. He conducts a profound critique of the darkness of the real society, including the court and officialdom, the decay of the feudal aristocratic class and their families, the feudal imperial examination system, marriage system, servitude system, and hierarchical system. He also critiques the corresponding social ruling ideology, such as Confucianism, Mencianism, Neo-Confucianism, and social moral concepts, and proposes faint but preliminary democratic ideals and suggestions. These ideals and suggestions are a reflection of the budding factors of capitalist economic development at that time.