Dream of the Red Chamber

Partial book illustrations I made for 'Dream of the Red Chamber', one of the great Chinese classic fiction, composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. The intricate strands of its plot depict the rise and decline of a family much like Cao’s own and, by extension, of the dynasty itself. This edition is for 5th-grade students.

The story starts with a spiritual servant who watered this fairy plant with dew every day in the spiritual realm, they reincarnated as humans later to start an intertwined relationship. I did a lot of research on the plot as well as related art and pictures.