Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦)
Alternative Names (異名):
紅樓夢, 红楼梦, Hónglóu mèng, Hung Lou Meng, Hong Lou Meng, Dream of the Red Chamber, Dream of Red Mansions, Red Chamber Dreams, 石頭, 石头记, Shítóu jì, The Story of the Stone
A Dream of Red Mansions, commonly The Red Chamber Dreams or Dream of the Red Chamber (Traditional Chinese: 紅樓夢; Simplified Chinese: 红楼梦; pinyin: Hónglóu mèng), also known as The Story of the Stone (Traditional Chinese: 石頭記; Simplified Chinese: 石头记; pinyin: Shítóu jì) is one of the masterpieces of Chinese fiction. It was composed sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. The novel's authorship is attributed to Cáo Xuěqín (Cao Zhan).
The novel is usually grouped with three other pre-modern Chinese works of fiction, collectively known as the Four Great Classical Novels. Of these, Dream of the Red Chamber is often acknowledged to be the zenith of Chinese classical fiction by scholars.
Plot summary
The novel is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the fortunes of Cao Xueqin's own family. As the author details in the first chapter, it was intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants. However, the time mark of the story itself is blurred, with characters' costume style shifting between various dynasties, and the reference of home location keeps changing.
The novel itself is a detailed, episodic record of the lives of the extended Jia Clan, made up of two branches, the Ning-guo and Rong-guo Houses, which occupies two large adjacent family compounds in the capital. Their ancestors were made Dukes, and at the novel's start the two houses were still one of the most illustrious families in the capital. Originally extremely wealthy and influential, with a female member made an Imperial Concubine, the Clan eventually fell into disfavour with the Emperor, and had their mansions raided and confiscated. The novel is a charting of the Jias' fall from the height of their prestige (which is described in great naturalistic detail), centering on some 30 main characters and over 400 minor ones.
The story is prefaced with supernatural Taoist and Buddhist overtones. A sentient Stone, abandoned by the Goddess Nüwa when she mended the heavens aeons ago, enters the mortal realm after begging a Taoist priest and Buddhist monk to bring it to see the world.
The main character, Jia Baoyu, is the adolescent heir of the family, apparently the reincarnation of the Stone (the most reliable Jiaxu manuscript however has the Stone and Jia Baoyu as two separate, though related, entities). In that previous life he had a relationship with a flower, who is incarnated now as Baoyu's sickly cousin, the emotional Lin Daiyu. However, he is predestined in this life, despite his love for Daiyu, to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai. This love triangle against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes forms the most well-known plot line among the others in the novel.
The novel is remarkable not only in its huge cast of characters — over 400 in all, most of whom are female — and its psychological scope, but also in its precise and detailed observations of the life and social structures that are typical in the 18th-century China.
Themes
Fiction or reality?
The name of the main family, "賈" has the same pronunciation in most Northern Chinese dialect including Mandarin as "假", which means false, fake, fictitious, deceitful or sham. Thus Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹) suggests that the novel's family is both a reflection of his own family, and simultaneously fictional - or a "dream"-version of his family that is a mixture of real and fake story telling. (Baoyu(寶玉) occasionally dreams of another Baoyu, whose surname is "甄", which puns on "眞"(real, true).)
Title Meanings and Issues
The novel is normally called Hung Lou Meng or Hong Lou Meng (紅樓夢) - literally "Red Mansion Dream". "Red Mansion" was an idiom for the sheltered chambers where the daughters of wealthy families lived. It can also be understood as referring to a dream that Baoyu has - in a "Red Mansion" - at Chapter 5 of the novel, where the fates of many of the female characters are foreshadowed. "Red" also suggests the Buddhist idea that the whole world is "red dust" (紅塵) - merely illusory and to be shunned. The common title is Dream of the Red Chamber, but actually this is a mistranslation. The Chinese character "樓" literally means the building which has more than one floor.
Language and Characters
The novel, written in Vernacular Chinese and not Classical Chinese, is one of the works that established the legitimacy of the vernacular idiom. Its author is well versed in Classical Chinese – with tracts written in erudite semi-wenyan – and in Chinese poetry. The novel's conversations were written in a vivid Beijing Mandarin dialect which was to become the basis of modern spoken Chinese, with influences from Nanjing Mandarin (where Cao's family lived in the early 1700s).
The novel contains nearly 30 characters which could be considered major, and hundreds of minor ones. Cao centers the novel on Jia Baoyu, the male protagonist, and the female relations around him, at one point intending to call the book The Twelve Beauties of Jinling. Females in this novel take centerstage and are frequently shown to be more capable than their male counterparts. They are also very learned literarily, unlike most Qing maidens of their time.
The Masters and Mistresses
Jia Baoyu (賈寶玉) - the main protagonist. He is the adolescent son of Jia Zheng (賈政) and his wife, Lady Wang (王夫人). Born with a piece of luminescent jade in his mouth, Baoyu is the heir apparent to the fortunes and official honors of the Rongguo line (榮國府). Much to his strict Confucian father's displeasure, however, Baoyu prefers reading novels and other types of casual literature to the philosophical Four Books that were considered staples of a classical Chinese education. Although highly intelligent, Baoyu hates the company of the fawning bureaucrats that frequent his father's house and shuns the company of most men, whom he considers morally and spiritually inferior to women. Sensitive and compassionate, Baoyu famously holds the view that "girls are in essence pure as water, and men are in essence muddled as mud". Handsome and talented, Baoyu nevertheless spends his time and energy attending to the needs of the women in the extended family, lamenting their helpless fate as pawns in the hands of a strict feudal society and harboring many friendships among his female cousins and his sisters, all of whom he deems more gifted and deserving than men. Baoyu's sincere distaste for worldly affairs and his frustrated but insistent love for his cousin Daiyu (黛玉) later caused him to become a Buddhist monk and renounce all worldly ties.
Lin Daiyu (林黛玉) - Jia Baoyu's first cousin and his love interest. She is the daughter of a Yangchow scholar-official, Lin Ruhai (林如海), and Lady Jia Min (賈敏), the sister of Baoyu's father, Minister Jia Zheng (賈政). The novel proper starts in Chapter 3 with Daiyu's arrival at the Rongguo house (榮國府), where Baoyu and his family live, shortly after the death of her mother. Beautiful but emotionally fragile and prone to fits of jealousy, Daiyu is nevertheless an extremely accomplished poet, writer and musician. The novel designates her as one of the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling," describing her as a lonely, proud and ultimately tragic figure. According to the novel, Daiyu is the reincarnation of Crimson Pearl, and the very purpose of her mortal birth is to repay her divine nurturer, reborn as Baoyu, her "debt of tears".
Xue Baochai (薛寶釵) - Jia Baoyu's other first cousin from his mother's side. The only daughter of Aunt Xue(薛姨媽), sister to Baoyu's mother, Baochai is a foil to Daiyu in many ways. While Daiyu is unconventional and hypersensitive, Baochai is sensible, tactful and a favorite of the Jia household, a model Chinese feudal maiden. The author describes her as a beautiful and intelligent girl, but also very reserved. Although reluctant to show the extent of her knowledge, Baochai seems to be quite learned about everything, from Buddhist teachings to how not to make a paint plate crack. Also one of the "Twelve Beauties in Jinling," Baochai has a round face, fair skin and some would say a voluptuous figure, in contrast to Daiyu's willowy daintiness. Baochai carries a golden locket with her; the locket contains words given to her by a Buddhist monk in her childhood, and was meant to bring her closer to her future husband. Baochai's golden locket and Baoyu's jade contain inscriptions that appear to complement one another perfectly; for this reason, their match is seen in the book as predestined.
Jia Yuanchun (賈元春) - Baoyu's elder sister by the same parents and Baoyu's senior by about a decade. Originally one of the ladies-in-waiting in the imperial palace (the daughters of illustrious officials were often selected for such honorary posts), Yuanchun later becomes an Imperial Consort because she impressed the Emperor with her virtue and learning. Her illustrious position as a favorite of the Emperor marked the height of the Jia family's powers before its eventual wane. In spite of her prestigious position, however, Yuanchun appears remarkably unhappy and felt imprisoned within the four walls of the imperial palace, as splendid a cage as it was. The novel portrays her as a lonely, tragic figure who preferred a quiet life at home but who was sent by her parents and her family to help maintain the family fortunes. Toward the end of the novel, Yuanchun's sudden death precipitated the fall of the Jia family; some say Yuanchun died of palace intrigue, the result of political forces moving against the Jia family. She is included in Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
Jia Tanchun (賈探春) - Baoyu's younger half-sister, by Concubine Zhao, second wife to Jia Zheng. Brash and extremely outspoken, she is described to be almost as capable as Wang Xifeng, once temporarily taking over the family's day-to-day financial affairs when the latter was ill after miscarriage. Wang Xifeng herself compliments her privately, but laments she was "born in the wrong womb" – concubines' offsprings are not treated with as much respect as those by first wives. Tanchun has a nickname of "Rose", which is to describe her beauty and also her sharp, prickly personality. Tanchun eventually was married off to a faraway land. Some versions of the novel say that she was bound in a political marriage to the ruler of a foreign country as a result of a post-war treaty; either way, the original version of the novel described her marriage as ultimately unhappy as she missed her relatives far away. She is also one of Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
Shi Xiangyun (史湘雲) - Jia Baoyu's second cousin by Grandmother Jia. She is Grandmother Jia's grand-niece. Orphaned since infancy, she grew up under her rather wealthy maternal uncle and aunt who use her unkindly and make her do embroidery and needlework for the family late into the night. In spite of her misfortunes, however, Xiangyun is opened-hearted and cheerful. A comparatively androgynous beauty, Xiangyun looks good in men's clothes, loves to drink and eat meat (considered male traits) and is forthright without tact. But her opened-heartedness and willingness not to bear grudges make some of her casual if truthful remarks easily forgiven by most. She is extremely learned and seemed to be as talented a poet as Daiyu or Baochai. She is also one of Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
Miaoyu (妙玉) - a young nun from Buddhist cloisters of the Rongguo house. Beautiful, very learned but a little arrogant and disdainful. She is one of the four women who plays a very important role in Jia Baoyu's whole life. (The other three women are Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai and Shi Xiangyun.) At the end of the novel, she is kidnapped by foriegn robers during the Dowager's funeral. It was her abduction that made Jia Xichun become a nun.
Grandmother Jia (賈母), née Shi - also called the Matriarch or the Dowager. She is the daughter of Marquis Shi of Jinling. Both Baoyu's and Daiyu's grandmother, she is the highest living authority in the Rongguo house (and the oldest and most respected of the entire Clan) and a doting figure. She has two sons, Jia She and Jia Zheng, and a daughter, Min, Daiyu's mother. It is at the insistence of Grandmother Jia that Daiyu is brought to the house of the Jias, and it is with her help that Daiyu and Baoyu form their inseparable bond as childhood playmates and later, kindred spirits.
Jia Yingchun (賈迎春) - Second female in the generation of the Jia household after Yuanchun, Yingchun is the daughter of Jia She, Baoyu's uncle and therefore his eldest female cousin. A kind-hearted, weak-willed, devout Taoist, Yingchun is said to have a "wooden" personality and seems rather apathetic toward all worldly affairs. Although very pretty and well-read, she does not compare in intelligence and wit to any of her cousins. Yingchun's most famous trait, it seems, is her unwillingness to meddle in the affairs of her family; she would rather read a book than command her servants or quarrel with others. Eventually Yingchun marries a new favorite of the imperial court, her marriage merely one her father's desperate attempts to raise the declining fortunes of the Jia family. About 2/3 of the way through the novel, the newly married Yingchun becomes a victim of domestic abuse and constant violence at the hands of her cruel, abusive husband. Yingchun dies within a year of marriage. She is one of Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
Jia Xichun (賈惜春) - Baoyu's younger second cousin from the Ningguo House, but brought up in the Rongguo Mansion. A gifted painter, she is also a devout Buddhist. She is also the sister of Jia Zhen, head of the Ningguo House. At the end of the novel, after the fall of the house of Jia, she gives up her worldly concerns and becomes a Buddhist nun. She is the second youngest of Jin Ling City's Twelve Beauties, described as a pre-teen in most part of the novel.
Wang Xifeng (王熙鳳), alias Sister Feng (鳳姐) - Baoyu's elder Cousin-in-law, young wife to Jia Lian (who is Baoyu's paternal first cousin), niece to Lady Wang. Xifeng is related to Baoyu both by blood and marriage. An extremely handsome woman, Xifeng is capable, clever, amusing and at times, vicious and cruel. Undeniably the most worldly of the women in the novel, Xifeng is in charge of the daily running of the Rongguo household and wields remarkable economic as well as political power within the family. Being a favorite niece of Lady Wang, Xifeng keeps both Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia entertained with her constant jokes and amusing chatter, plays the role of the perfect filial daughter-in-law, and by pleasing Grandmother Jia, rules the entire household with an iron fist. One of the most remarkable multi-faceted personalities in the novel, Xifeng can be kind-hearted toward the poor and helpless--her charitable contributions to the family of Granny Liu remains gratefully acknowledged by the latter, and she seems to feel genuine affection for Baoyu and his sisters. On the other hand, however, Xifeng can be cruel enough to kill; she affects her husband's concubine to such a degree that the young woman commits suicide, orders the death of a man just to prevent him from revealing her secret machinations, and causes the death of a man who fell in love with her by torturing his mind and body. Her feisty personality, her loud laugh and her great beauty formed refreshing contrasts to the many frail, weak-willed beauties that plagued the literature of 18th-century China. Xifeng's name translates to "the Phoenix" - a mythical bird of authority. She is also one of Jinling City's Twelve Beauties.
Jia Zheng (賈政) - Baoyu's father, a stern disciplinarian and Confucian scholar. Afraid his one surviving son would turn bad, he imposed strict rules and occasional corporal punishment for his son. He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines.
Lady Wang (王夫人) - Baoyu's mother, a Buddhist, primary wife of Jia Zheng. Because of her purported ill-health, she hands over the running of the household to her niece, Xifeng, as soon as the latter marries into the Jia household, although she retains overall control over Xifeng's affairs so that the latter always has to report to her regarding important financial and family affairs. Although Lady Wang appears to be a kind mistress and a doting mother, she can be in fact cruel and ruthless when her authority is challenged.
Jia Qiaojie (賈巧姐) - Wang Xifeng's and Jia Lian's daughter. The youngest of the Twelve Beauties of Jin Ling, she was a child through much of the novel. After the fall of the house of Jia, she married the son of Granny Liu's landowner neighbour and lead an uneventful life in the countryside.
Li Wan (李紈) - Baoyu's elder sister-in-law, widow of Baoyu's deceased elder brother, Zhu. Her primary task is to bring up her son Lan and watch over her female cousins. The novel portrays Li Wan, a young widow in her late twenties, as a mild-mannered woman with no wants or desires, the perfect Confucian ideal of a proper mourning widow. She eventually attains high social status due to the success of her son, but the novel sees her as a tragic figure because she wasted her youth upholding the strict standards of behavior a Confucian society imposes on its young women, and in the end is never happy in spite of her family fortunes. She is also one of Jin Ling City's Twelve Beauties.
Qin Keqing (秦可卿) - daughter-in-law to Jia Zhen. She is one of the Twelve Beauties. Of all the characters in the novel the circumstances of her life and early death are amongst the most mysterious; different editions of the novel are dramatically different. The author has clearly edited the present edition due to clear discrepancies in chapter titles. Apparently a very beautiful and flirtatious woman, she carried on an affair with her father-in-law and died before the second quarter of the novel. The present text hint at death by suicide, although some scholars speculate that she may have been connected politically and was murdered/ordered to be put to death, and that the political circumstances that surround her death later played a part in precipitating the fall of the house of Jia.
Jia Lian (賈璉) - Xifeng's husband and Baoyu's paternal elder cousin, a notorious womanizer whose numerous affairs cause much trouble with his jealous wife. His pregnant concubines eventually died by his wife's engineering. Along with Xifeng, he manages the Jia household inside and out. He and his wife are in charge of most hiring and monetary allocation decision, and often fight over this power.
Aunt Xue (薛姨媽), née Wang - Baoyu's maternal aunt, mother to Pan and Baochai, sister to Lady Wang. She is kindly and affable for the most part, but finds it hard to control her unruly son.
Xue Pan (薛蟠) - Baochai's older brother, a dissolute, idling rake who was a local bully in Jinling. Not particularly well studied, he once killed a man over a servant-girl and had the manslaughter case done over with money.
Granny Liu (劉姥姥) - a country rustic and distant relation to the Wang family, who provides a comic contrast to the ladies of the Rongguo House during two visits. She took Qiaojie away to hide in her village when her maternal uncle wanted to sell her.
The maids and bondservants
Xiangling (香菱, Lotus; Fragrant Calthrop) - the Xues' maid, born Zhen Yinglian (甄英蓮, a pun with "Really should be pitied"), the kidnapped and lost daughter to Zhen Shiyin (甄士隱), the country gentleman in Chapter 1. She was the cause of a manslaughter case involving Xue Pan. Her name is changed to Qiuling by Xue Pan's spoiled wife, Xia Jin'gui(Cassia). After the death of Cassia, Xiangling becomes Xue Pan's much abused wife.
Ping'er (平兒) - Xifeng's chief maid and personal confidante; also concubine to Xifeng's husband, Jia Lian. The consensus among the novel's characters seem to be that Ping'er is beautiful enough to rival the mistresses in the house. Originally Xifeng's maid in the Wang household, she follows Xifeng as part of her "dowry" when Xifeng marries into the Jia household. Ping'er leads a hard life being torn between the jealous Xifeng and the womanizing Jia Lian. She handles her troubles with grace and appears to have the respect of most of the household servants. She is also one of the very few people who can get close to Xifeng. She wields considerable power in the house as Xifeng's most trusted assistant, but uses her power sparingly and justly.
Xiren (襲人, "Invading Fragrance", Aroma) - Baoyu's principle maid and his unofficial concubine (at that period in Chinese history, a man often has sexual relations with his maids and these maids are only honored with the title of a second wife (concubine) after the man marries his principal wife from a proper matching family). Originally the maid of the Dowager, Xiren was given to Baoyu because of her extreme loyalty toward the master she serves. Considerate and forever worrisome over Baoyu, she is his first adolescent sexual encounter during the early chapters of the novel.
Qingwen (晴雯, Skybright) - Baoyu's other handmaiden. Brash, haughty and the most beautiful maid in the household, Qingwen is said to resemble Daiyu very strongly. Of all of Baoyu's maids, she is the only one who dares to argue with Baoyu when reprimanded, but is also extremely devoted to him. She never had a sexual affair with Baoyu and was disdainful of Xiren's attempt to use her sexual relation with Baoyu to raise her status in the family. Lady Wang later suspected her of having an affair with Baoyu and publicly dismissed her on that account; angry at the unfair treatment she received and of the indignities and slanders that attended her as a result, Qingwen died shortly of an illness after leaving the Jia household.
Zijuan (紫鵑, Purple Nightingale) - Daiyu's chief maid, ceded by the Dowager to her granddaughter. She is a very faithful companion to Dai-yu. At the end of the novel, Zijuan joins Xichun when she becomes a nun.
Yuanyang (鴛鴦, Mandarin Duck) - the Dowager's chief maid. She rejected a marriage proposal (as concubine) to the lecherous Jia She, Grandmother Jia's eldest son. After Grandmother Jia's death during the clan's declining days, she possibly commits suicide.
Mingyan (茗煙, Tealeaf Smoke) - Baoyu's young, male servant-attendant. Knows his master like the back of his hand.
Xueyan(雪雁, Snow Duck) - Daiyu's other main maid. She came with Daiyu from Yangchow. She is a young but sweet girl.
Notable Minor Characters
Qin Zhong-Qin Keqing's younger brother. He is a good friend and classmate to Baoyu.
Jia She-elder son of the Dowager. He is the father of Jia Lian and Jia Yingchun. He is a treacherous and greedy man.
Lady Hsing-Jia She's wife. She is Jia Lian's mother.
Concubine Zhao-concubine of Jia Zheng. She is the mother of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan. She longs to be the mother of the head of the household, which she fails to do. She plots to murder Baoyu with black magic, and it is believed that her plot cost her her life. She dies while mourning for the Dowager in a temple.
Jia Huan-son of Concubine Zhao.
Sister Silly- a maid who does rough work for the Dowager. She is guileless but amusing and caring. She unintentionally informs Daiyu of Baoyu's secret marrage plans.
Second Sister Yu-concubine to Jia Lian. She is a beautiful and modest young lady. She was the concubine who Wang Xifeng affected so badly that she commited suicide by swallowing gold. She is the younger sister of Lady Yu.
Lady Yu-wife of Jia Zhen. She is the sole mistress of the Ningguo House, and a loving, caring woman.
Jia Zhen-head of the Ningguo House. He has a wife, Lady Yu, a younger sister, Jia Xichun, and many concubines. Like Jia She, he is very greedy and is an extreme womanizer.
Jia Rong-Jia Zhen's son. He is the husband of Qin Keqing. He is an exact copy of his father. He is the Cavaliar of the Imperial Guards.
Qiuteng(Autumn)-Jia Lian's other concubine. Originally a maid of Jia She, she was given to Jia Lian as a concubine. She is a very proud and arrogant woman.
Sheyue(Musk Moon)-Baoyu's main maid after Xiren and Qingwen. She is very beautiful and caring, a perfect complement to Xiren.
Textual Problems
The textual problems of the novel are extremely complex and have been the subject of much critical scrutiny, debate and conjecture in modern times. Cao did not live to publish his novel, and only hand-copied manuscripts survived after his death until 1791, when the first printed version was published. This printed version, known as the Chenggao edition, contains edits and revisions not authorised by the author.
Early manuscript versions
The novel, published up till the 20th century, was anonymous. Since the twentieth century, after Hu Shi's analyses, it is generally agreed Cao Xueqin wrote the first 80 chapters of the novel.
Up until 1791, the novel circulated merely in scribal transcripts. These early hand-copied versions end abruptly at the latest at the 80th chapter. The earlier ones furthermore contain transcribed comments and annotations from unknown commentators in red ink. These commentators' remarks reveal much about the author in person, and it is now believed some may even be members of Cao Xueqin's own family. The most prominent commentator is Red Inkstone (脂砚斋), who revealed much of the interior structuring of the work and the original MS ending, now lost. These MS are the most textually reliable versions, known amongst scholars as "Rouge versions" (脂本). Even amongst the some 11 independent surviving manuscripts, small differences in some characters used, rearrangements and possible rewritings made the texts vary a little from another.
According to novel's first chapter, Cao Xueqin revised his novel five times and died before he had finished the fifth version. To compound this problem, parts of the latter chapters of the book were lost, so we only have 80 chapters that are definitively written by the author.
The early 80 chapters brim with prophecies and dramatic foreshadowings which also give hints as to how the book would continue. For example, it is obvious that Lin Daiyu will eventually die in the course of the novel; that Baoyu and Baochai will marry; that Baoyu will become a monk; various characters will suffer in the snow; and that the whole estate will finally be consumed by flames.
Most modern critical editions have the first 80 chapters based on the Rouge versions.
The 120-chapter version
In 1791, Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E brought together the novel's first movable type edition. This was also the first "complete" edition of The Story of the Stone, which they printed as Dream of the Red Chamber. While the original Rouge manuscripts have up till 80 chapters, ending roughly three-quarters into the plot and clearly incomplete, the 1791 movable type edition completed the novel in 120 chapters. These first 80 chapters were edited from the Rouge versions, but the next 40 were newly published.
In 1792, Chen and Gao published a second edition correcting many "typographical and editorial" errors of the 1791 version with a now-famous preface. In the 1792 preface, the two editors claimed to have put together an ending based on the author's working manuscripts, which they bought from a street vendor.
The debate over the last 40 chapters and the 1792 preface still rages. Most modern scholars believe these chapters were a later addition, with inferior plotting and prose quality to the earlier 80 chapters. Hu Shih argued that the ending was simply forged by Gao E; he cited as support the various foreshadowings of the chief characters' fates in Chapter 5, which does not coincide with the ending of the 1791 Chenggao version.
Other critics suggest Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan may have been duped into taking someone else's forgery as an original work. A few scholars believe that the last 40 chapters contain Cao's work; this is the minority view however.
The book, though, is still normally published and read in Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E's 120-chapter complete version. Some modern critical editions now move these last 40 chapters to an appendix to indicate they were by another's hand.
See also
Redology (红学)
Links
Paintings of characters in Dream of the Red Chamber, by An Ho:
http://museum.oglethorpe.edu/RedChamber.htm
Illustrations for Dreams of Red Chamber by Manhua:
http://www.china-on-site.com/pages/comic/comiccatalog4.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber (in Chinese)
Dream of the Red Chamber characters | Chinese classic novels | 1791 novels
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