胡雪岩是中国封建社会商界的一个传奇。他以贫贱的钱庄学徒出身，在短时间内事业崛起，创造了近代中国金融事业中的一个奇迹，后世称其为红顶商圣。本书既是传记，又有小说风格，又像研究胡雪岩的专著，读来朗朗上口，不觉枯燥而且发人深省。全书分为三个部分，第一部分综述胡雪岩的一生和他所处时代的特点和他对后人的影响。第二部分描述胡雪岩成就事业的详细过程，从他当小伙计开始，到他鼎盛时期赏黄马褂、一品红顶子，再到因与曾国藩发生矛盾而遭失败。最后一篇夹叙夹议地把胡雪岩经商成功的原因一一分析。整部书的结构、写法十分新鲜，很有特点。(Hu Xueyan is a legend of business circle in feudal society of China. He starts as a poor apprentice of money shop and achieves great success on career during short time, creating a miracle in finance career of Modern China, and he is called as Red Top Giant of Business by later generations. The book is biography and has style of novel. It is like a monograph to study Hu Xueyan, which is catchy. You will not feel bored but thought-provoking. The book is divided into three parts. The first part generally describes life of Hu Xueyan and features of his generation and his influence on later generations. The second part depicts detailed process where Hu Xueyan achieves success. It starts when he is a little boy to his period of great prosperity when he gains yellow jacket and poinsettia top to his failure due to the conflict with Zeng Guofan. The last part analyzes reasons of success of Hu Xueyan in business with narration interspersed with comments. Structure and style of writing of the whole are very novel and have many features.)