Also called "The story of the Stone (Shitouji
石头记)",this novel
written by Cao Xueqin
曹雪芹 (d.1763) is said to be the greatest
masterpiece of Chinese fiction.A wide branched scholarship does not
consent about the main theme of this novel,should it be a novel of
sentiment,of Daoist-Buddhist enlightenment,of social observation,of the
decay of an aristocratic familiy,or even a veiled attack on Manchu
rule.The frame of the novel is the contest of a Buddhist and a Daoist
priest who make be born a young noble boy called Jia Baoyu
贾宝玉 and his
girl cousin Lin Daiyu
林黛玉.With a loving detail describing the life of
the two cousins in a huge noble mansion,between gardens and palaces,the
red thread is the triangular love between Baoyu,Daiyu and a second girl
cousin called Xue Baochai
薛宝钗 that is of more plumper character than the
ever sick Daiyu.Switching between their life,the divine world and
dreams,Baoyu becomes deranged after the disappearance of a stone (the
origin of the second title) he had in his mouth when he was born.Not
knowing,his love Daiyu died,he is tricked to marrying Baochai.Becoming
aware of being tricked,Baoyu leaves the world of the "red dust" and
becomes a monk.With hundreds of persons and their stories,paralleling
the life and feelings of servants to the life of the main persons,the
story is very complex and full of symbolisms,but very interesting and
convincing for its encyclopedic character,depicting the life of a noble
familiy in the 18th century Qing China 清.