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J	Book 2	Cb
o ft	Cao Xueqin	cB §
O	The Dream of the Red Chamber is considered the greatest of the Four Great	o
	Classical Novels of China. Almost 40 main characters and some 500 minor
i — .	characters tell the fortunes of the Chia family; the book details mainly the life of	cb
"o	Chia Pao-yu, the heir apparent, who is described as very intelligent, but also as	go 3L
c§	carefree and self-indulging. The wealthy Chia family rises to new heights when
Pao-yu's elder sister becomes an imperial consort. On her first visit home, a lush
	garden is built, where much of the rest of the story takes place. The intrigues	9
	surrounding Pao-yu and his cousins, especially Lin Tai-yu who he loves, and Hsueh	3
s	Pao-ch'ai who he is finally tricked into marrying, make up a large part of the story.	ST
0 -C	The decline of the Chia family begins with the death of the imperial consort, and
u	when they fall into disfavour with the emperor, their mansions and the garden are	S’
	eventually destroyed.
ct:	The whole book has 120 chapters, only 80 of which were written by Cao Xueqin	o
cd	before his death in 1764. Henry Bencraft Joly translated part of the book written by	* — 1
vs*». o	Cao. Book II contains chapter 25 - 56. A Book III was never published.	o
S s	Total running time 29:2 1:43
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