Abstract
This is the introductory volume of author's ten volume project (2012-2021) of the complete fully annotated Czech translation of the novel, the founding work of the classic modern Chinese novel. The text under translation is a critical Taiwanese photoprint of the oldest printed edition Jin Ping Mei cihua dated (signated) 1617, newly discovered in Peking at the beginning of thirties of the 20th Century.
Translator's Afterword is an analytical interpretation of the original, its literariness and of the dramatic history (commentaries, censorships, adaptations, translations) of the text.