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Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I

Xueqin Cao

  • Novel
  • Book language: English
  • 554 pages

Dream of the Red Chamber is a classic Chinese novel by Cao Xueqin, presented here as Book I. It follows the fortunes of a large aristocratic family and explores love, family, and spiritual themes. This opening volume introduces its framing story and is worth listening to for its rich portrayal of Chinese society and human feeling.

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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.

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HUNG LOU MENG, BOOK I

OR, THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER, A CHINESE NOVEL IN TWO BOOKS

BY

CAO XUEQIN

Translated by H. BENCRAFT JOLY

BOOK I.

PREFACE.

This translation was suggested not by any pretensions to range myself among the ranks of the body of sinologues, but by the perplexities and difficulties experienced by me as a student in Peking, when, at the completion of the Tzu Erh Chi, I had to plunge in the maze of the Hung Lou Meng.

Shortcomings are, I feel sure, to be discovered, both in the prose, as well as among the doggerel and uncouth rhymes, in which the text has been more adhered to than rhythm; but I shall feel satisfied with the result, if I succeed, even in the least degree, in affording a helping hand to present and future students of the Chinese language.

H. BENCRAFT JOLY, H.B.M. Vice-Consulate, Macao, 1st September,

1891.

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Contents

  1. HUNG LOU MENG, BOOK I
  2. BOOK I. PREFACE.
  3. THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER.

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