Dream of the Red Chamber is the story of Jia Baoyu, a free-spirited heir to the wealthy Jia clan in Quing China. Jia's struggle to connect with his betrothed forms the central narrative of a story concerned primarily with the declining fortunes of the Jia family and with the rapid collapse of the family's individual members into psychosis and despair. This decline is used to highlight the collapse of the Quing Dynasty itself.
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