Above all, A Dream of Red Mansions reflects the rottenness and decadence of the Ching Dynasty and the inevitability of the end of a long-established feudal system. The theme of the novel is embodied in this revolution. It is also true, of course, that the main thread of the novel contains the love story of Chin Pao-yu and Lin Tai-yu — a love story told so touchingly that almost all readers shed sympathetic tears at the tragic ending of the story. However, sensible readers should go further and analyze the reasons why such a tragedy could happen in that society. Their tragedy was not an isolated social phenomenon.
The tragic love story of Pao-yu and Tai-yu is closely related and interwoven with the rise and fall of the feudal families of that era — the Chin family, in particular. The lovers' tragedy lays bare the conflicts and struggles between two opposing political forces — those defending feudal social order on the one hand and those fighting against the feudal forces on the other. The author's description of the four major families, their prosperity and their decline, is actually a miniature version of the declining Ching Dynasty itself.
The four major families do have their heyday, but that is recalled only through the characters' reminiscences. The author of this novel focuses, for the most part, on the decline of the four families. The Hsueh family is still wealthy but has no political influence; the Wang family still has some power but no money; the Shib family has neither power nor money. Only the Chin family still enjoys some superficial prosperity and political influence. This situation is revealed by a curio-dealer's son, Leng Tzu-hsing, in Chapter 2:
"A centipede dies but never falls down, as the old saying goes. Although they are not as prosperous as before, they are still a cut above ordinary official families. Their households are increasing and their commitments are growing all the time, while masters and servants alike are so used to lording it in luxury that not one of them thinks ahead. They squander money every day and are quite incapable of economizing. Outwardly, they may look as grand as ever, but their purses are nearly empty. That's not their worst trouble, though. Who would've thought that each new generation of this noble and scholarly clan would be inferior to the last."
