This book is Hung Lou Meng, Dream of the Red Chamber, Book I. Book II can be found by ISBN-10: 1475101163. Hung Lou Meng, Dream of the Red Chamber composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is considered to be a masterpiece of Chinese vernacular literature and is generally ackwledged to be a 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 vel circulated in manuscript copies with various titles until print publication in 1791. The vel is also often kwn as Shitou ji, The Story of the Stone. 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 vel. Red Chamber is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the rise and decay 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 women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants. The vel is remarkable t 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 aristocracy.
Cao Xueqin (1715 or 1724 - 1763 or 1764) was a Qing Dynasty Chinese writer, best known as the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. His given name was Cao Zhan and his courtesy name is Mengruan; literally Dream about Ruan or Dream of Ruan ).