Dream of Red Mansions

A Dream of Red Mansions (Volume I) by Cao Xueqin, translated by Yang Hsien-Yi  and Gladys Yang, 599 pages

A Dream of Red Mansions, alternatively titled Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone, follows the lives of a group of young people growing up among the aristocracy of 18th century Peking.  At the center is Pao-yu, born with a piece of jade in his mouth which is, unbeknownst to him, a sentient stone from the heavenly realms and the key to his destiny.  Surrounding Pao-yu are dozens of cousins and servants, all living, loving, eating, drinking, working, studying, brawling, and generally amusing themselves in the luxurious shadow of the imperial court.

A Dream of Red Mansions is one of China's "Four Great Classical Novels".  In its entirety, it consists of 120 chapters, the first 80 of which were written by Cao Xueqin and the last 40 completed by others after his death.  The 1978 Foreign Languages Press edition conveniently divides it into three volumes of 40 chapters each, but burdens it with a barbaric Maoist introduction.  Casual readers are likely to be frustrated by the sheer number of characters and the lack of a strong, unified plot, unless they are enchanted by the rich setting, elegant characters, and natural interplay of the physical and spiritual.