The history of redology research is very long, so I will probably tell the landlord about the redologists I have seen:

1. The Suoyin school, the representative Cai Yuanpei, etc. Their main point is that the story of A Dream of Red Mansions has two layers, that is to say, the story on the surface is to imply and allude to other things, such as the current politics of the Qing Dynasty and the privacy of the court. What they do is to try to put A Dream of Red Mansions. There are many hypotheses, such as "Nalan's theory of family affairs", "sai-jo's theory of becoming a monk" and so on. However, this research method is very unreliable, mainly relying on guessing, and most of them are unfounded guesses, which can be imagined as deviating from the original work. Later, Hu Shi said that Cai Yuanpei was "guessing a stupid riddle", but I think what he said was more pertinent.

2. Textual research school, represented by Hu Shi and Yu Pingbo. Hu Shi was the first to research the origin and family background of Cao Xueqin. He proposed that A Dream of Red Mansions should be a family history, rather than alluding to state affairs and the court, which can be said to be the first to create a generation of ethos. However, many of Hu Shi's views are also wrong. For example, he said that the book with fat batch appeared after the book without fat batch, which seems naive today. Yu Pingbo was the first person to suggest that the last forty chapters are sequels. His book A Dream of Red Mansions is one of my favorite monographs.

3. Zhou Ruchang. Strictly speaking, Zhou Ruchang is also a textual research school. In his early years, he wrote a new certificate of A Dream of Red Mansions, and he made great efforts (in order to find the memorials that Kangxi gave Cao Cao's reply, he found them in the Forbidden City), which contains many precious historical materials, and can almost be regarded as a dictionary for amateur study of A Dream of Red Mansions. But I deeply feel that the children's shoes upstairs don't need to lift Zhou Ruchang to such a high position. His textual research is ok, but many academic opinions are unreliable. For example, he has to say that Zhi Yanzhai is Shi Xiangyun, and Shi Xiangyun is the first heroine of The Red Chamber, completely ignoring the original work, and sometimes I can't wait to beat him up.

4. Liu Xinwu. To tell you the truth, I think Redology also started in Liu Xinwu, and his "Qin Xue" made a lot of noise at that time. Up to now, I also agree with some of his views. For example, Lin Daiyu died more like a sinking pond, and Miaoyu should end up as a "beautiful woman who had to be unyielding and dead", rather than being reduced to dust, but he insisted on associating Qin Keqing with the waste prince. Cao Xueqin made it very clear at the beginning of the book that a dream of red mansions has no dynasty background, and any literary work has its general and universal significance. In other words, in literary works, If a novel is written only as a "family history" as Liu Xinwu said, it is more like a genealogy and has no literary value. Liu Xinwu's mistake is that he put A Dream of Red Mansions into reality, which is a family history. He insisted on matching all the characters in the book with the reality, and it is conceivable that he went astray. Mr. Liu writes novels himself. How can he not even know the simplest truth that novels must have fictional elements and cannot be completely realistic? Besides, even if A Dream of Red Mansions is really a family history, Cao Xueqin is not necessarily the Cao family. Hu Shi just put forward a guess at that time, but most of us have adopted this guess today. Lu Xun named himself Lu Xun. Is it true that he is surnamed Lu?

5. Zhang ailing. The Nightmare in the Red Chamber written by Zhang Ailing is not strictly a dream of red mansions book, but more like a very talented reading note of A Dream of Red Mansions. However, it is still well written and brilliant, and it is worth reading. It's just a personal opinion, so don't believe it.

6. The Huo brothers and sisters. They are the most frightening Redology researchers I have ever seen. It was proved that Lin Daiyu was the queen of Xiangyu, and the queen of Xiangyu had committed adultery with Cao Xueqin, and was finally separated by Yongzheng, which made me sweat. In fact, they have already embarked on the old path of Suoyin School, and they are still in a daze ...

7. Feng Qiyong and Cai Yijiang. They represent the official views of the current Red Mansion, which are more pertinent and conservative, but I think this is not bad, at least much better than those who are unconventional and finally fantasize.

Generally speaking, different people have different opinions on the study of Dream of Red Mansions. Don't be superstitious about one person's words, and you will be wise when you listen to them. However, I think the most basic thing in the study of a dream of red mansions is to read the text well, at least to respect the author's original intention. A Dream of Red Mansions is first of all a novel and a literary work, and we should study it in the way of studying literature. It is not a "little girl who can be dressed up at will". Nowadays, the study of Dream of Red Mansions is too gaudy, but it doesn't fall into practice and can't put forward really valuable opinions. By the way, I suggest the landlord read "Gossip in the Red Chamber" written by Aquilaria sinensis, which summarizes the history of redology research from the beginning and is mentioned by almost all influential schools and redologists.