A Dream of Red Mansions is a monumental work, the peak of ancient Chinese fiction ． The first 80 chapters of the book were written by Cao Xueqin and the last 40 were added by Gao E after Cao's death. The book was once known as The Story of the Stone. The Treasured Mirror of Romantic Affairs. The 12 Beauties of Jinling, and The Anecdotes of the Romantic Bronze. With the love tragedy of Baoyu and Daiyu as its central thread, the book describes the rise and prosperity as well as the decline and downfall of the feudal lord familial system represented by the Jia Family; it brings to light the darkness and corruption that permeates the last stage of the feudal society and indicates the unavoidable historical doom of it. At the same time the book also expounds on the fact that life tragedies are in fact caused by the tragedies of the age, pointing out that all forms of high position and great wealth are nothing but an illusory dream which is bound to end up in a “vast expanse of empty and desolate wilderness”. None of the ingenious beauties in the “Grand View Garden” is able to escape from her tearful and tragic fate in the end. It indicates a historical awareness that prolonged glory is bound to be followed by ruination and protracted prosperity by decline. In the book, the author also expresses his desolate life experiences coming from his insightful understanding of life. Running through the book are not only a strong sense of fate and destiny but also a clear concept of “vanity” and “void”. It is therefore permeated with an intense tragic implication. The moving and soul stirring artistic appeal of A Dream of Red Mansions is exhibited in its consummate ingenuity in terms of plot structuring. By arranging its plots in a network of two storylines with multithreads, the book combines lifelike and minute familial life with surging and undulating social events to make its theme conspicuous in the great complexity of its plots. Its appeal is also manifested in its characterization of various personages. Using adeptly the techniques of contrast and foiling, and focusing on the depiction of the settings and the mentalities of its characters, the book focuses ， more than any other previous novels, on the portrayal of the individualities of its character. The language of the book is succinct and sincere, vivid and visual. Through his popularization of the classical Chinese into the vernacular and his adaptation of common sayings to literary applications, the writer skillfully shapes the book into a coherent and organic whole to suit both refined and popular tastes. A Dream of Red Mansions is a great realistic magnum opus. Ever since its publication, numerous people have devoted themselves to an extensive and in-depth study of it, and “Studies of A Dream of Red Mansions” (Red-ology) has become a popular branch of academic discipline in the world.