200 Yuan Dreams of Red Mansion

Part of a multi-year commemorative series issued by the People's Bank of China honoring the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, this coin corresponds to Dream of the Red Chamber — the 18th-century Qing dynasty novel by Cao Xueqin, left unfinished at his death around 1763 and completed posthumously by Gao E. The novel's publication history was itself tangled: early manuscript copies circulated privately for decades before woodblock printed editions appeared, meaning the text had an underground readership long before it was a sanctioned classic.