The young son of the head of the Chinese Traders' Association is burdened with responsibility for his powerful family upon his father's sudden death. A latter-day Baoyu, but with stronger sexual impulses, the son learns to tame his own libido and conduct himself prudently in Guangzhou society. This is the story of a comparatively little-knownand little-studied novel called Shenlou zhi, which is translated here for the first time. This strikingly original work develops the culture of adolescence that was first described in Honglou meng and also relishes the romantic conventions of Shuihu zhuan.