Jin Ping Mei is sometimes considered to be the fifth classical novel after the Four Great Classical Novels. It is the first full-length Chinese fictional work to depict sexuality in a graphically explicit manner, and as such has a notoriety in China akin to Fanny Hill or Lady Chatterley's Lover in English.

Jin Ping Mei takes its name from the three central female characters — Pan Jinlian (???, whose name means "Golden Lotus"); Li Ping'er (???, literally, "Little Vase"), a concubine of Ximen Qing; and Pang Chunmei (???, "Spring plum blossoms"), a young maid who rose to power within the family.