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Rating: 
Summary: Skip this translation....
Review: ...and read "Story of the Stone". And this is about upper-class life, not "Exposing social evils, the book cries out denunciation against the feudal system."
Rating: 
Summary: nice if you actually read chinese
Review: i have not read a different translation of this book by a different translator. this is not a typical review but a comment about the method of translation, pinyin. and i, with difficulty, have not finished reading. here's why:
if you are an english speaking person, or english educated you will have difficulty in pronouncing chinese names of places and people romanized by the pinyin method.
the pinyin method is only immediately/"instinctively" useable for the chinese speaking/reading person tongued with foreknowledge.
to a non-chinese speaking/reading person pinyin is pinyin-hell. because you *never* know how to say it in 4 or 5 different ways.
even if you have heard how one pinyin name is correctly pronounced you are still guessing when you come across names spelt similarly.
then, for the uninitiated, there is hope to be found in a set of "pinyin rules" (over 30 - oh joy!) where by one can amuse oneself with, repetitively, before embarking on reading pinyin books.
these rules are quite "un-natural" or to put in kindly - foreign - to the english-speaking tongue.
here are a few taken from the web:
q Consonant "ch" as in cheek
u Vowels "oo" as in too
ue Diphthong as "i" in ship
ui Diphthong pronounced as wee
v Consonant used only to pronounce foreign words The Chinese have great difficulty pronouncing the V.
w Consonant as in want
x Consonants "sh" as in she
y Consonant as in yet
z Consonant as in zero
zh Consonant "j" as in jump
most pinyin-translations do not provide such a list of rules or coach readers in this matter, or explain how it is suppose to work.
again from the web:
Putonghua (mandrin) , the national dialect has four tones. The Cantonese dialect has the most, with nine. In the four tones of putonghua , the word "ma"
The first tone (flat) "ma" in means "mother."
The second tone (rising) "ma" can mean "numb" or "hemp."
The third tone "ma" the voice dips and then rises, means "horse."
The fourth tone "ma" starts high and falls abruptly, means "to scold."
did that clarify the rules or compounded the difficulty?
frustrations runs high and runs often. everytime a pinyin name comes up i cringe which is like every other sentence.
for the casual reader, how close or by what degree it agree with the original language is hardly the key to successful reading or its enjoyment. if you seriously want to learn all the subtle tones i suggest you take up mandrin reading and writing - and then find the original version and enjoy that!
Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece you must read!!
Review: If you want to know the history of Qing dynasty of China, read it;
If you want to learn decent Chinese, you must read it;
If you want to enjoy the great Chinese culture, you defenitely must read it;The translation is also the best one I have ever seen. But if you try to read the original Chinese edition,maybe you will be more agreed on what I recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest book of Chinese classical literature
Review: If you want to know the true Chinese culture and society, you must read it!! The greatest book I have ever read. Although Cao Xueqin is not so famous as Shakespear or Charls Dickens in the western world, but I would say his masterpiece-A dream of red mansions-is among the greatest works of the world. Try to read the original Chinese edition, but if you can't, so this book is great for you to improve your Chinese to a very high,very decent level-although this maybe takes you a long long time and much much effort, but believe in yourselves!
Rating:
Summary: A Chinese Classic Novel, must read!
Review: One of the four classic Chinese novels. The best one to understand traditional Chinese family.
Rating:
Summary: Great translation of a Chinese Classic
Review: One of the great classics of world literature. Having read both this translation and the David Hawkes' five volume translation of this novel, I personally prefer this one. Although the David Hawkes translation is smoother and more literary for the English speaking reader, I find that the Yang translation better conveys the atmosphere of 17th and 18th century China and the complex relationships between the various members of the upper class Chia household and their omnipresent bevy of slaves and servants. I even greatly enjoyed, from a tongue-in-cheek perspective, the "sayings of Chairman Mao" inspired introduction to this translation. I'm now ready to embark on my fourth reading of this book in about as many years.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Novel Ruined by a Poor Translation
Review: The Yangs' translation of <i>A Dream of Red Mansions</i> is extremely accurate. That's about the best thing I can say about it.
Unlike David Hawkes and John Minford's masterful translation, which can stand on its own as a work of literature, this edition reads like...well, like a translation. The prose is flat, the puns of the original are translated literally, rather than being approximated as in the Hawkes-Minford version, and on the whole, the flavour of the original Chinese text is missing.
A person trying to read the original Chinese text of <i>A Dream of Red Mansions</i> might find this translation useful to keep at hand for a side-by-side comparison. The translators of this edition take fewer liberties with jokes, puns, and poems than Hawkes and Minford. (I should stress that when Hawkes and Minford deviate from the original text, it is only in minor and inconsequential ways, and is always in service of the text.) The Yangs failed to realise, apparently, that being faithful to the precise words of a book isn't necessarily the same as being faithful to the spirit.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Novel Ruined by a Poor Translation
Review: The Yangs' translation of A Dream of Red Mansions is extremely accurate. That's about the best thing I can say about it.
Unlike David Hawkes and John Minford's masterful translation, which can stand on its own as a work of literature, this edition reads like...well, like a translation. The prose is flat, the puns of the original are translated literally, rather than being approximated as in the Hawkes-Minford version, and on the whole, the flavour of the original Chinese text is missing.
A person trying to read the original Chinese text of A Dream of Red Mansions might find this translation useful to keep at hand for a side-by-side comparison. The translators of this edition take fewer liberties with jokes, puns, and poems than Hawkes and Minford. (I should stress that when Hawkes and Minford deviate from the original text, it is only in minor and inconsequential ways, and is always in service of the text.) The Yangs failed to realise, apparently, that being faithful to the precise words of a book isn't necessarily the same as being faithful to the spirit.
Rating:
Summary: The Chinese "Anna Karenina"
Review: This book is like Anna Karenina in the following ways: Both are masterpieces of epic proportions. Both are considered contenders for being the greatest works of fiction in their respective languages. Both deal with large, upper class families and the lifestyle and intrigue involved. Both are works of realism and paint a complete picture of a society. A Dream of Red Mansions focuses on the love between Baoyu, an unusual child in his early teens who is temperamental and spends most of his time with the girls in the family mansion and Daiyu, a delicate, sensitive and yet witty and extremely clever girl. The two grow up as children and live in the same mansion but the family does not hurry to marry them off as they have other plans for Baoyu. This is the main thread that runs through the novel's amazing 120 chapters. The other sublots are very numerous - there are hundreds - but none of them are sustained for the whole book. The main part of the book is the set of characters. Again there are hundreds but a few main ones which become the most interesting in this drama. There's the conniving Xifeng, Baoyu's strict father, Baoyu's assertive "other love" Baochai and the like. Unlike Anna Karenina, this book is full of humour, jokes and poems (which was where I think the translation failed the most as Chinese poetry rendered into English seems to lose the plot!). It contains moments of great sadness but also wit and quirkiness. There's been controversy with the amazon reviews of this particular translation. I don't speak Chinese so can't judge it but reading the text, it seemed fine. I guess if I saw another or the original it would change my mind but this one isn't too bad. The novel deals with so many topics that you really get an overview of what life in 18th century upper class urban China was about. It is VERY long but it's amazing how in relating heaps and heaps of seemingly trivial incidents you grow to love many of the characters. It's like most novels are like meeting someone and hence only seeing what they want to show while this novel is like living with them. And trivialities aside, it's very moving. A must for all interested in Chinese society or who don't mind persevering through 1200 pages to read a one of the world's unusual and amazing dynasty chronicles and love stories.
Rating:
Summary: Great Chinese Classic Novel, Fantastic Translation
Review: This is the best edition you will ever read and great translation you can get in the market. The translators-Yang Xianyi and His British-born wife-Gladys Yang, both educated in Oxford University, keep the original flavor of the Chinese verison through their beautiful translation work. Must-read and
highly-recommended.
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