Dream of the Red Chamber (Volume One)
Cao Xueqin / Bu Naifu (pen name Wu Mingshi) / Cheng Weiyuan / Gao EPeople's Literature Publishing House1996
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- 1.1M words
- Series
- Dream of the Red Chamber
- ISBN
- 9787020002207
Tags
Literature Classical LiteratureClassic Works Feudal SocietyArtistic StyleFiscal CrisisPersonal RelationsFate and SorrowCharacter and DestinyClassic NovelMultiple NarrativesPoetry GatheringsSummary
Dream of the Red Chamber is the pinnacle of the classical Chinese novel, complete in one hundred and twenty chapters. Set against the rise and fall of the four great families—Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue—and centered on the emotional entanglements among Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai, the novel unfolds a vast panorama of eighteenth-century feudal Chinese society: from the sumptuous feasts and elegant poetry gatherings of the Ning and Rong mansions, to the internal strife, corruption, and financial straits of the clan, and on to the joys and sorrows of numerous women—together forming an encyclopedic canvas of worldly life. This is Volume One, comprising the opening chapters of the full text (the exact chapters depend on the edition purchased), roughly extending through the unfolding of the story and the gradual opening of life in the Grand View Garden, where the relationships among the residents of the Ning and Rong mansions, the structure of the clan, and the personalities and fates of the principal characters are established. The book abounds in poems, riddles, drinking games, medical prescriptions, garden design, costume, food, and ritual detail; together with dense, understated description and multi-stranded narration, these create an art of subtle depth and buried foreshadowing. This edition, in the People's Literature Publishing House's Chinese Classical Literature Readers series, takes the Gengchen manuscript of Zhiyanzhai's Reappraisal of The Stone as the base text for the first eighty chapters, collated against the Jiaxu, Jimao, Mongol Princely Mansion, Qi preface, Cheng-A, and Cheng-B editions and others. Edited and annotated by the Dream of the Red Chamber Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts, it includes collation notes and annotations and is one of the standard reading texts recognized by scholars and general readers alike. This volume should be read together with Volume Two to complete all one hundred and twenty chapters.Editor's review
想读《红楼梦》，最省心的入门选择之一就是人民文学出版社这个校注本。它由红楼梦研究所花费多年校订，前八十回以庚辰本为底本，同时参校十余种脂本与程高本，重要异文出校记，读者既能读到一个文从字顺的通行本，也能窥见版本之间的差异。注释详尽，对官制、礼俗、服饰、医药、诗词典故均有说明，初读者不必被清代名物挡住去路。 本册为两册装的上册，排版疏朗、字号适中，适合长时间阅读与批注。无论是学生完成课标经典阅读，还是成年读者第一次系统通读，这个本子都能提供可靠的文本基础。读《红楼梦》忌讳被“名著”二字吓住，从第一回慢慢读下去，把它当作一个家族的日常故事来看，反而最容易进入。Who it's for
A good fit for
- 第一次完整通读《红楼梦》的普通读者
- 需要可靠校注本做课标名著阅读的中学生
- 对清代社会、礼俗、诗词有兴趣的文史爱好者
- 需要引文与版本依据的教师、研究者作为基础读本
Not a good fit for
- 只想要轻松言情故事、不耐慢节奏叙事的读者
- 希望一次购齐全本者（本册仅为上册，需另配下册）
- 专门研究特定脂本原貌、要求影印本或汇校本的学者
Reading tips
- 先略过判词、诗词的深意，从故事与人物关系入手，读到第五回后可回看一遍。
- 随读随记人物关系表，宁荣二府人名众多，前二十回理清辈分与房支会轻松很多。
- 遇到注释不要跳过，名物、礼俗与官职的注解正是理解情节动机的关键。
- 上册读完不必急着评价人物，先读完下册，再回看开头“草蛇灰线”的伏笔。
About the publisher
People's Literature Publishing House China · Founded in 1951People's Literature Publishing House publishes across classical literature, foreign literature, documentary writing and folk literature, with 492 titles in its catalogue. Representative books range from the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Lao She's Teahouse and Longxu Ditch in the Selected Works of Lao She, as well as translated foreign literature such as Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Dante's Divine Comedy and Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels, alongside documentary and fictional works including Primo Levi's If This Is a Man and João Guimarães Rosa's The Devil to Pay in the Backlands. Its authors include Chinese writers such as Lao She, translators such as Shen Emeri and Li Wenjun, and foreign authors such as James Wood. Overall, the house has a strong record in editing classic works and translating foreign literature, with a publishing character that bridges Chinese and foreign writing and values textual quality.
FAQ
这本书是完整的一百二十回吗？
不是。这是两册装的上册，只包含全书的一部分回目，读完需再配下册。购买或借阅时请确认是否为“全二册”套装。作者为什么写“曹雪芹著、无名氏续”？
此版前八十回署曹雪芹著；后四十回作者旧题高鹗续，学界考证后认为续作者难以确指，故新版改为“无名氏续，程伟元、高鹗整理”，是更审慎的表述。这个本子和程乙本、脂评本有什么区别？
此本前八十回以庚辰本为底本，参校多种脂本与程高本，并出校记；程乙本是程伟元、高鹗整理的一百二十回印本，文字经过较多改动。两者可对照阅读。零基础读得进去吗？
可以。此本注释详尽，建议先读故事主线，不纠缠诗词与判词；读到第三十回左右人物关系自然熟悉，节奏会明显加快。为什么各平台标注的出版年不一样？
该书1982年初版，1996年第二版，2008年第三版，2022年第四版，各印次仍在重印，故书目数据常出现多个年份，内容主体一致。This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Cao Xueqin Author · Chinese · 1715–1763Cao Xueqin (1715–1763) was a Qing dynasty novelist. His given name was Zhan, and he styled himself Mengruan, with the sobriquets Xueqin, Qinxi, and Qinpu. His ancestral home was Liaoyang, and he was born in Nanjing into a family belonging to the Plain White Banner of the Imperial Household. After the family property was confiscated, he moved to the western suburbs of Beijing, where, in poverty and illness, he devoted ten years to writing the first eighty chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber, raising the art of the classical Chinese novel to its peak. The work depicts the rise and fall of a great family and the fate of its characters with delicate detail, exquisite language, and a vast structure, exerting a profound influence on later literature. This site contains sixty-nine related works, including various editions and illustrated versions.
Bu Naifu (pen name Wu Mingshi) Author · China · 1917–2002Wu Mingshi (1917–2002) was the pen name of Bu Baonan, later renamed Bu Naifu and also known as Bu Ning. His ancestral home was Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and he was born in Nanjing. In 1943 he published "Northern Lights" and "The Woman in the Tower" under his pen name, creating a sensation in literary circles. Over the next three decades he completed the six-volume novel "The Book of No Name," the most substantial work of his career. He moved to Taiwan in the 1980s and died in Taipei in 2002. His works span classical literature, literary appreciation, and culture. About thirty titles are held in the collection, including an illustrated full-color edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber," Feng Qiyong's annotated "Dream of the Red Chamber," and illustrated editions of the Japanese classics "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" and "The Tales of Ise," as well as writings on medicine. Public information is limited and biographical details remain largely unknown, yet his works have had a certain influence in popularizing classical literature and promoting cross-cultural reading.
Cheng Weiyuan AuthorCheng Weiyuan is a Chinese author about whom very little is publicly known: his dates of birth and death, native place, and nationality cannot be confirmed from available sources. What can be established is that eight works are attributed to him, all centered on Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou Meng) and its various editions, including multiple printed versions in upper and lower volumes. This suggests that his work was closely tied to the collation and publication of this classical novel. In common cataloging, these works fall under literature, classical literature, ancient Chinese literature, and classic works, indicating that they are intended for readers of traditional vernacular fiction. In terms of style and influence, Cheng Weiyuan's name is known mainly through the transmission history of Dream of the Red Chamber, and his contribution lies more in preserving and circulating the text than in independent literary creation. Given the limited public information, his personal experience, scholarly background, and editorial principles should not be speculated upon; readers are best advised to understand his value through the works themselves.
Gao E Author · Chinese · 1738–1815Gao E (c. 1738–c. 1815), courtesy name Lanshu, was a Hanjun Bordered Yellow Banner man of the Qing dynasty whose ancestral home was Tieling. He passed the provincial examination in 1788 and the metropolitan examination in 1795, and rose to the post of supervising censor in the Ministry of Justice, combining literary talent with an official career. He is best known for collating and publishing the 120-chapter edition of Dream of the Red Chamber with Cheng Weiyuan in 1791 and for supplementing its final forty chapters, thereby allowing this classical masterpiece to circulate in complete form and exerting a profound influence on later reading and scholarship. He also wrote Lanshu Poetry Collection and Yanxiang Ci, and the extant catalogues contain many editions of Dream of the Red Chamber. Public information on his life is limited, and his main contribution lies in the collation and continuation of Dream of the Red Chamber.