Cao Xueqin

On February 12, 1763, Cao Xueqin, author of the Qing Dynasty masterpiece "Dream of the Red Chamber", died of illness at the age of 48.

character brief introduction

Cao Xueqin, the famous Zhan, the word Mengruan, the name Xueqin, also known as Celery Creek and Celery Pu, the author of the classic Chinese novel "Dream of Red Mansions", was born in Shenyang, born in Nanjing, and moved back to Beijing at the age of about fourteen. Cao Xueqin was born in Zhengbai Banner, the internal affairs capital of the Qing Dynasty. He was the grandson of Cao Yin, a weaver in Jiangning, and the son of Cao Lu.

Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather, Cao Xi, served as the nanny of Emperor Xuanye of Kangxi; his great-grandmother, Sun, served as the nanny of Emperor Xuanye of Kangxi; his grandfather, Cao Yin, served as the companion and imperial guard of Emperor Kangxi, and later served as Jiangning Weaving, concurrently serving as the salt patrol and imperial envoy of the two Huai Dynasties, and was very favored by Kangxi. Kangxi went to Jiangnan six times, and Cao Yin was in charge of driving four of them and lived in Cao's house. Cao Yin died of illness, and his sons, Cao Qian and Cao Qian, succeeded Jiangning Weaving successively. Their grandchildren and grandchildren held this position for 60 years. Cao Xueqin grew up in the "prosperous" life in this "Qinhuai Fengyue" land since childhood.

In the early years of Yongzheng, the Cao family suffered a series of blows due to the political struggle within the feudal ruling class. Cao Fu was dismissed on charges of "misconduct","harassment of the station" and "deficit", and his family property was confiscated. Cao Fu was imprisoned and punished for more than a year. At this time, Cao Xueqin moved back to Beijing with her family. From then on, the Cao family fell into decline and gradually declined.

After experiencing a major turning point in her life, Cao Xueqin felt deeply that the world was cold and had a clearer and deeper understanding of feudal society. He despised powerful people, stayed away from official circles, and lived a difficult life in poverty.

In his later years, Cao Xueqin moved to the western suburbs of Beijing. Life is even more poor,"the path is full of tarpaulin" and "the whole family eats porridge." With perseverance, he devoted himself to the writing and revision of "Dream of the Red Chamber". In 1762 (the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong), his youngest son died prematurely, and he fell into excessive sadness and grief and became bedridden. On New Year's Eve (February 12, 1763), he finally died due to poverty and lack of medical treatment. However, the book "Dream of the Red Chamber" was not completed.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" is the product of his "ten years of reading, five additions and deletions", "the words seem to be blood, and the ten years of hard work are unusual". Unfortunately, during his lifetime, the whole book was not completed. Today, there are 120 editions of "A Dream of Red Mansions", most of which are written by him in the first 80 editions, and the last 40 editions are continued by others. After 80 editions, he has written part of the first draft, but it has not been passed down for various reasons.

Cao Xueqin is also the author of "Abandoned Art Zhai Collection Drafts". It is divided into eight volumes, covering issues including engraving, weaving, gardens, kites, cooking, birth crafts, printing and dyeing.

Main achievements

Cao Xueqin's greatest contribution lies in literary creation. His "A Dream of Red Mansions" is grand in scale, rigorous in structure, complex in plot, vivid in description, and has created many artistic images with typical characters. It can be called the peak of ancient Chinese novels and occupies an important position in the history of world literature. Cao Xueqin left a precious cultural heritage and spiritual wealth for the Chinese nation and the people of the world. It not only had a profound impact on the creation of later writers, but also produced a large number of excellent derivative works in the fields of painting, film and television, animation, online games, etc. The research and discussion of the author, version, text, and ability of "A Dream of Red Mansions" in academia and society has even formed a special kind of knowledge - Red Studies.

Dream of Red Mansions

"A Dream of Red Mansions" is the first of the four famous Chinese classics. It is a chapter-style novel written by Cao Xueqin, a writer in the Qing Dynasty, also known as "Stone Records", "Golden and Jade Edge" and "Lipid Yanzhai Re-comments on Stone Records". This book has 120 editions of "Cheng Ben" and 80 editions of "Lipid Book". The first 80 editions of the new version are based on Lipid Book Exchange, and the last 40 editions are based on Cheng Ben Exchange. It is signed "By Cao Xueqin, continued by Anonymous, sorted by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E".

"A Dream of Red Mansions" is a work of human fiction with worldwide influence. It is widely recognized as the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels, the encyclopedia of Chinese feudal society, and the culmination of traditional culture. The novel takes the rise and fall of the four families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue as the background, takes the family trifles of Jia's mansion and the leisure of the boudoir as the context, and takes the love and marriage stories of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai as the main line. It depicts the human beauty and tragic beauty of the two lovers with good and evil as the center of Jia Baoyu and Jinling's twelve hairpins. Through the family tragedy, the daughter tragedy and the protagonist's life tragedy, it reveals the crisis of the feudal end times.