The Plum in the Golden Vase Or, Chin P'Ing Mei, Volume Three: The AphrodisiacThe third volume of a celebrated translation of the classic Chinese novel This is the third volume in David Roy's celebrated translation of one of the most famous and important novels in Chinese literature. The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei is an anonymous sixteenth century work that focuses on the domestic life of Hsi men Ch'ing, a corrupt, upwardly mobile merchant in a provincial town, who maintains a harem of six wives and concubines.