《红楼梦》由曹雪芹和高鹗所著。小说以贾氏家族为故事核心，描述了贾家从一个富裕、有权有势的家族沦落为破落家庭的过程。小说成功塑造了100多个经典人物，他们分属于清朝的不同阶层。《红楼梦》对中国的封建社会有深刻的描绘,如果要了解中国人复杂的价值观,最好先能读懂《红楼梦》。 毛主席评价道：“《红楼梦》不仅是爱情故事，也是历史故事，因为它描述了封建时代的兴败。”

　　【精彩译文】A Dream of Red Mansions is attributed to Cao Xueqin and Gao-E. The author chose Jia Clan as the focus, depicting how an affluent and influential family with prestige lost its favor and descended to crash. In the novel, about 100 classic characters are successfully portrayed. These characters concern people of all ranks in the Qing Dynasty. A Dream of Red Mansions is a remarkable story about Chinese feudal society. To understand Chinese values in all its complexity, one can do no better than to read A Dream of Red Mansions. “It is not only a love story, but also a history story, because it describes the success and failure of the feudal period,” said Chairman Mao.