Hong Lou Meng (variously translated into English as A Dream of Red Mansions, The Story of the Stone, and Dream of the Red Chamber) by Cao Xueqin (d. 1763) is said to be an encyclopedia of 18th-century imperial China. It is a novel of complex design with multiple threads of the plot unraveling at the same time. Sun Qi has selected for this volume stories about 29 of the women in the novel, from Old Lady Jia to chambermaids and Granny Liu. Each of them, whether a lady or a maid, is a memorable individual with her own idiosyncrasies and fate.