After Bailiff Wu rends the long list of levies, Chin Chen is dissatisfied and says to Wu, "I count on your bringing at least five thousand taels. We've only eight or nine manors left now; already two of them claim to have suffered from flood or drought; how are we to get through the New Year I'd like to know?" This statement clearly shows that the cruel exploitation by the landlord is due to his insatiable greed. His extravagant way of living relies mainly on his ruthless exploitation of the peasants' labor; his parasitic life is fed by the peasants' sweat and toil.
In addition to the exorbitant land taxes and levies, the peasants also have to suffer from the exploitation of commercial capital and high-interest loans. Recall that Hsueh Ko's fiancée, Hsiu-yen, pawns her padded clothes in a pawnshop, which turns out to be a pawnshop run by the Hsueh family. This shows that the Hsueh family earns a lot of money from the pawnshops in the city. Even Lin Tai-yu dislikes their way of exploiting the poor. She comments, "How clever people are at making money!" and asks whether other pawnshops make money in the same way. Her naiveté reveals the ruthlessness of the commercial world and its cruel exploitation of poor people.
In Grand View Garden, in order to gain more money or force maids to have sex with their masters, a lot of servants—especially girl servants—have been killed or have been driven to commit suicide. Tsao Hsueh-chin describes these events and tragedies with sympathy. There are more than four hundred characters described in the novel, but most of them are oppressed slaves. The ruling members number less than fifty. However, with all the power in their hands, this handful of people can keep the slaves under their control because the slaves can be criticized, beaten, or driven out of the family if they "violate" the rules of the Chia family. The cruelty of these aristocratic landlords and the courage of their slaves are vividly contrasted throughout the novel in order to condemn the evils of the feudal society and to eulogize the praiseworthy qualities of the peasants' longing for a happy life, as well as their heroic spirit of rebellion.
Another social struggle described in great detail concerns the budding democratic ideology, represented by Chia Pao-yu, and the old feudalistic ideology, represented by Chia Chen. Almost all the characters in the novel are part of this main thread of the story, and their attitudes towards this struggle are revealed in one way or another, directly or indirectly, in their actions or words.
Chia Pao-yu, the hero of the novel, is the young master of the Chia family and a favorite of Lady Dowager. All the future hopes of the feudal Chia family are pinned on him. Chia Pao-yu's behavior, however, runs counter to the volition of the Chin authorities.
First, Chia Pao-yu looks down on official ranks and riches and honors; second, he opposes the traditional attitude which holds women in contempt; third, he reveres people's individuality; fourth, he opposes the feudal ethical code, in general, and, in particular, he fights for the freedom to love Lin Tai-yu. All of these new ideas are obviously antithetical to feudal ethics and feudal morality.
Many oppressed servants and slaves in Grand View Garden express their sympathy for the young lovers and support their struggle in every possible (if limited) way. All of the new and brilliant ideas of Chia Pao-yu represent the characteristics of the rising capitalistic and democratic spirit of the time. Therefore, Chin Pao-yu's struggle against his father, Chia Chen, symbolically represents the larger struggle between anti-feudal ideology and conventional feudal ideology.
Tsao Hsueh-chin interweaves all these opposing, contradictory social forces, presenting ever more clearly the declining social reality of the feudal society. His narration is remarkably realistic and compelling.
