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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if poems and conversation lead you into a world where pleasure and loss sit side by side?
In Yu Da’s Dream of the Green Bower, Jin Yixiang enters the pleasure quarters of southern China. A young scholar of talent and sincere feeling, he befriends gifted courtesans. Their meetings bring poems, conversation, friendship, and love into a world where educated men and talented women find one another.
First printed in 1878, this late Qing novel unfolds at a leisurely, episodic pace. Its title points to the houses where courtesans live and work, while its dreams suggest how brief worldly joy can be. The story invites you to linger over each encounter, with pleasure and the possibility of loss close together.
What you’ll discover
- A scholar among courtesans Follow Jin Yixiang as his sincere feelings draw him toward gifted women and friendship.
- Poems that bring people together Discover a world where exchanging verse forms part of meeting, talking, and falling in love.
- The southern pleasure quarters Step into the houses that give the green bower its name and the novel its setting.
- Joy with loss beside it Explore the dreamlike nature of pleasure through a gentle story of desire and passing joy.
- Room to linger Settle into leisurely episodes that make space for friendship, conversation, and the pleasures of poetry.
Who will love it
Readers who love poetry parties, witty banter, drinking games, and bighearted heroes will enjoy this book. It also suits those drawn to courtesan culture in old Suzhou, scholarly friendships, and Chinese novels that blend romance, humor, and dreams.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A mirror makes life a dream
- Respect guides Yixiang toward gifted women
- A shared dream unsettles free choice
- Shared talents turn outings into friendship
- Illness brings care and a warning
- Kindness matters more than fine appearances
- Love asks Yixiang to change direction
- Tenderness cannot keep every friend near
- Dreams give pleasure a quieter meaning
Who’s who
- Jin YixiangA gentle, romantic scholar of Suzhou who seeks gifted women of true feeling and treats every one of them with warm respect.
- Zou BailinYixiang's closest friend, a witty scholar and tireless go-between who shares his dreams, his jokes, and his devotion to beauty.
- Ye ZhongyingAn old family friend of Yixiang who first scorns courtesans, then falls quickly for Xie Huiqiong.
- Niu AiqingA refined courtesan of keen mind and poetic skill who wants to leave her life and give her promise to Yixiang.
- Zhu YuesuA poet and Yixiang's closest early companion, who hosts gatherings at the Fragrant Pavilion and nurses him through illness.
- Lin WanqingA slender, witty beauty and gifted poet whose teasing and affection make her one of Yixiang's dearest friends.
- Wu QiulanA young woman whom Yixiang once saved from bandits and who later saves him from a temple prison.
- Yao MengxianA strong, cheerful friend who stands by Yixiang, helps in his courtship, and enjoys games and wine.
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Dream of the Green Bower
by Yu Da · 1878
In Suzhou, a scholar searches for talented women with deep feelings as fate shapes his romantic life.
Challenging10–20 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Why would a young man spend his days in the pleasure houses of Suzhou and call it a search for true love? Jin Yixiang does exactly that.
Dream of the Green Bower at a glance
- Reading time
- About 12 h 20 min9 h 45 min fast, 14 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 176,200 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1878by Yu Da
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dream inside a mirror frames the book
The book begins with a narrator who calls himself the recluse Mu Zhen. He says he is foolishly devoted to love. One day a white-haired Daoist hands him an ancient bronze mirror and says his whole life is inside it. Then the man vanishes.
Mu Zhen looks into the mirror and his spirit slips in. He sees thirty-six flowering trees, each with a fairy beneath it. The Daoists announce that the flowers must go down into the mortal world, and Mu Zhen is ordered to be born into the Jin family of Wu. He grows up as Yixiang, wins the highest degree, and lives more than twenty years. Then he wakes drenched in sweat, with the mirror gone, and decides to write down what he saw.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1878
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2 h 25 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Yu, Da. Dream of the Green Bower. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/dream-of-the-green-bower.
Yu, D. (2026). Dream of the Green Bower. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dream-of-the-green-bower (Original work published 1878)
Yu, Da. Dream of the Green Bower. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dream-of-the-green-bower.
@book{yu2026dream,
author = {Yu, Da},
title = {Dream of the Green Bower},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/dream-of-the-green-bower},
note = {First published 1878}
}
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What is Dream of the Green Bower about?
It follows Jin Yixiang, a gifted young scholar in Suzhou who seeks out talented courtesans, shares poems and games with them, and eventually marries one of them. The story begins and ends in dreams and immortal realms.
Who wrote Dream of the Green Bower and when?
It was written by Yu Da, a Qing-dynasty novelist of the nineteenth century. It has sixty-four chapters, is a work of fiction, and draws on the earlier novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
What is the register of flowers in the book?
It is a book of flower names seen in the opening dream. Each flower stands for a woman, and the register shows that the thirty-six beauties are fairies who came to earth and will return.
The author
Yu Da
Chinese Qing dynasty novelist
Yu Da (1834–1884) was a Chinese writer from Suzhou, in Jiangsu province. He lived during the Qing dynasty. He wrote the novel Dream of the Green Bower, known in Chinese as Qinglou meng. The novel was published in 1878. His name is also written as Yu Ta.
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