Book Description

This book is the first volume of Dream of the Red Chamber translated from original text (traditional Chinese) into Simplified Chinese with Pinyin and comes with free audio files and English definition for all the words used in this book. The link and password to download the audio files are on the last page of the book. The Word List is in Volume 3. Dream of the Red Chamber (simplified Chinese: 红楼梦; traditional Chinese: 紅樓夢; pinyin: Hónglóumèng), composed by Cao Xueqin, is one of China's Four Great Classical Novels. It was written some time in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing dynasty. Long considered a masterpiece of Chinese literature, the novel is generally acknowledged to be one of the pinnacles of Chinese fiction. The main character of the novel is the carefree adolescent male heir of the family, Jia Baoyu. He was born with a magical piece of "jade" in his mouth. In this life he has a special bond with his sickly cousin Lin Daiyu, who shares his love of music and poetry. Baoyu, however, is predestined to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai, whose grace and intelligence exemplify an ideal woman, but with whom he lacks an emotional connection. The romantic rivalry and friendship among the three characters against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes form the main story in the novel. We have compiled the entire text into 3 volumes: Volume 1 – Chapters 1 to 52 Volume 2 – Chapters 53 to 101 Volume 3 – Chapters 102 to 120 and Word List For more information, please visit www.allmusing.net