Prof. Plaks has been involved in research in the field of Chinese and Japanese classical literature for more than 40 years. His publications on Chinese Literature focus on two major topics: 1. the classic Chinese novel of the Ming and Qing periods, and 2. ancient Chinese thought, particularly canonic Confucian texts and their commentaries, in the light of comparative study with respect to major texts in other traditional cultures, including the Greek, Indian, and Jewish traditions. At present he is occupied with two large-scale projects in connection with these topics: 1. translation of the classic Chinese novel of the 18th century "Dream of the Red Chamber" into Hebrew, in collaboration with Amira KatzGoehr, and 2. translation of selected discourses from the Babylonian Talmud into Chinese, under the auspices of the Steinzaltz Center in Jerusalem and in collaboration with the Jewish Studies program of Shandong University