A saga of ruthless ambition, murder, and lust, this classic noveladmired in its own time for its literary qualities and biting indictment of the immorality and cruelty of its agelays bare the rivalries within a wealthy family while chronicling its rise and fall. This edition features a new introduction by Robert Hegel of Washington University, and contains the complete text as translated by Clement Egerton with the assistance of Shu Qingchun, who as Lao She became one of the most prominent Chinese writers of the twentieth century.