The Story of the Stone

Dream of the Red Chamber
紅樓夢

A scene from the novel, painted by Xu Baozhuan (1810–1873)
Author	Cao Xueqin
Country	China
Language	Chinese
Genre	Novel, Family saga
Publication date	18th century
Published in English	1868, 1892; 1973–1980 (1st complete English translation)
Media type	Scribal copies/Print

Dream of the Red Chamber
"Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng)" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	紅樓夢
Simplified Chinese	红楼梦
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hóng lóu mèng Gwoyeu Romatzyh Horng lou menq Wade–Giles Hung2 lou2 mêng4 IPA [xʊ̌ŋ lǒu mə̂ŋ] Wu Suzhounese Ghón léu môn Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hùhng làuh muhng Jyutping Hung4-lau4 mung6 Southern Min Tâi-lô Âng-lâu bāng
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	石頭記
Simplified Chinese	石头记
Literal meaning	"Records of the Stone"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shítóu jì Wade–Giles Shih2-t'ou2 chi4 IPA [ʂɨ̌tʰǒu tɕî] Wu Romanization Sah入 deu平 ji平 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Sehk-tàuh gei Jyutping Sek6 tau4 gei3 Southern Min Tâi-lô Tsio̍h-thâu kì

Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone, composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was written sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. Long considered a masterpiece of Chinese literature, the novel is generally acknowledged to be the pinnacle of Chinese fiction. "Redology" is the field of study devoted exclusively to this work.

The title has also been translated as Red Chamber Dream and A Dream of Red Mansions. The novel circulated in manuscript copies with various titles until its print publication, in 1791. While the first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin, Gao E, who prepared the first and second printed editions with his partner Cheng Weiyuan in 1791–2, added 40 additional chapters to complete the novel.

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 damsels 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.

The novel is composed in written vernacular (baihua) rather than Classical Chinese (wenyan). Cao Xueqin was well versed in Chinese poetry and in Classical Chinese, having written tracts in the semi-wenyan style, while the novel's dialogue is written in the Beijing Mandarin dialect, which was to become the basis of modern spoken Chinese. In the early 20th century, lexicographers used the text to establish the vocabulary of the new standardized language and reformers used the novel to promote the written vernacular.

In the opening chapter of the novel, a couplet is introduced: