Editor's Note

Yang Xianyi believed anything could be translated if the translator understood the original text and worked to the utmost of his abilities to present a readable rendering for target readers.

Having such a belief in mind, Yang, who was widely regarded as number one in contemporary China in the area of Chinese-to-English translation, produced a remarkable number of quality translations in collaboration with his wife, Gladys Yang, including A Dream of the Red Mansions, one of China's Four Great Classical Novels.

Yang availed himself of his deep knowledge of both Western and Chinese cultures to overcome language barriers and make China's classical masterpieces accessible to a larger Western audience while maintaining their original flavor.

*Note: The background music Loch Lomond was one of Yang's favorite songs.