About Dream of the Red Chamber
Dream of the Red Chamber (also The Red Chamber Dream or A Dream of Red Mansions) (hóng lóu mèng 红楼梦), also known as The Story of the Stone (shí tóu jì 石头记)is one of the masterpieces of Chinese fiction and one of the Chinese Four Great Classical Novels. It was composed sometime in the middle of the 18th century during the Qing Dynasty. It is attributed to Cao Xueqin (cáo xuě qín 曹雪芹).

The novel is believed to be semi-autobiographical, mirroring the fortunes of Cao's own family. As the author details in the first chapter, it is intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants.


The novel is remarkable not only for its huge cast of characters (most of them female) and psychological scope, but also for its precise and detailed observation of the life and social structures typical of 18th-century Chinese aristocracy.

The novel provides a detailed, episodic record of the two branches of the Jia Clan, the Ning-guo and Rong-guo Houses, who reside in two large adjacent family compounds in the capital. Their ancestors were made Dukes, and as the novel begins the two houses remain among the most illustrious families in the capital. The novel describes the Jias' wealth and influence in great naturalistic detail, and charts the Jias' fall from the height of their prestige, following some thirty main characters and over four hundred minor ones. Eventually the Jia Clan falls into disfavor with the Emperor, and their mansions are raided and confiscated.

The story's preface has supernatural Taoist and Buddhist overtones. A sentient Stone, abandoned by the Goddess Nüwa when she mended the heavens aeons ago, begs a Taoist priest and Buddhist monk to bring it to see the world, falls in love with a Crimson Pearl Flower, and then enters the mortal realm.

The main character, Jia Baoyu, is the adolescent heir of the family, possibly a reincarnation of the Stone (although in the most reliable Jiaxu manuscript the Stone and Jia Baoyu are separate while related). The Crimson Pearl Flower is incarnated now as Baoyu's sickly cousin, the emotional Lin Daiyu. Baoyu is predestined in this life to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai. This love triangle against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes forms the most well-known plot line in the novel
About The Grand View Garden
The Grand View Garden is a large garden in the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber. It is the setting of much of the story.

Built in chapters 16 and 17 of the novel, it was the sight of Jia Yuanchun's first visit home as an Imperial Concubine. At that time, music and lights decorated the place so it was fit for Imperial patronage. After Yuanchun leaves, the Garden is made at her own request the home of her brother, half-sister, sister-in-law, and cousins. Being very beautiful and peaceful, it is a perfect home for Baoyu and the girls. Granny Liu also pays a visit to Grandview Garden in chapters 40 and 41. She is very impressed at the vegetation , water, layout, and life in the Garden. As a gift, the Dowager commissions Xichun to make a painting of the Garden for Granny Liu to take back home. It is here that the nun Miaoyu is met by many, and where she is also kidnapped. Eventually, the young girls drift away from the Garden. Yingchun is married off to her death. Tanchun is also married, but to the frontier. Shi Xiangyun marries and is widowed, while Baochai marries Baoyu and is abandoned. Lin Daiyu dies of grief and Li Wan moves into the inner apartments of the Ronnguo Mansion.

When the Jia family estates are confiscated, the Garden is ransacked. Being farther from the inner apartments, it is also destroyed by the Imperial Guards.


Address: 12, Nan Caiyuan Road (nén cài yuán lù 南菜园路), Xuanwu District (xuān wǔ qǖ 宣武区), Beijing, 100054
Tel: 010-63544993, 63544994
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Routes: Bus 59、819、717、122、721、806、93 route、816 and get off at Da Guan Yuan (dà guān yuán 大观园) Station
Tickects：
Admission is 40 rmb
Tickets of 20 rmb are available for elementary, middle school and university students with student identity card or certified letter from the school (including students from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, excluding graduate and adult education students).
Opening Hours: March - Oct. 8:00—17:00
                         Nov. - Feb. 8:00—16:30