Cao Xueqin, whose given name is Zhan, whose courtesy name is Mengruan, and whose nickname is Xueqin, is also known as Qinxi and Qinpu.

A famous litterateur and novelist in the Qing Dynasty.

Let me take you to learn about Cao Xueqin's life story! Character's life Born into a wealthy family In the first month of the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi's reign (1715), Cao Yong, who was then a weaver in Jiangning, died of illness while reporting on his work in Beijing.

According to Emperor Kangxi's decree, Cao Yong's cousin Cao Fu was adopted by Cao Yin and took over Jiangning Weaving.

On the seventh day of March that year, Cao Fu memorialized: "My sister-in-law, Mrs. Ma, is pregnant in the seventh month." The posthumous son was Cao Xueqin, who was born on April 26 (May 28, 1715).

In Jiangning Weaving House, Nanjing.

A few days after Cao Xueqin's full moon, on the third day of June, Cao Fu memorialized: "It has rained heavily for several days, and the fields are full." This is the opportunity for Cao Xueqin's name "Zhan". The weather, place, and people are both favorable.

The word "Zhan" is taken from "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Xinnanshan" "It is both excellent and rich, it is both rich and sufficient, and it will give me a hundred grains", which means "the world has benefited from the emperor's favor".

The word "Xueqin" comes from the third of Su Shi's "Eight Poems on Dongpo": "The mud celery has perennial roots, and an inch of it is alone; when the snow celery moves, the spring doves will move." Cao Xueqin's great-grandmother Sun was the Kangxi Emperor

Her nanny, her grandfather Cao Yin served as Emperor Kangxi's companion and imperial bodyguard, and later served as a weaver in Jiangning, and concurrently served as the censor of the salt inspection in Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers.

During the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, four people from three generations of the Cao family were in charge of Jiangning weaving for fifty-eight years. Their family was prominent, powerful and extremely wealthy. They became the most wealthy family in Nanjing at that time and were regarded as a famous family in the world.

Kangxi made six trips to the south of the Yangtze River, and Cao Yin picked him up four times.

However, Cao Xueqin was born a few years later and did not personally experience the grand event of Kangxi's southern tour.

The 16th chapter of "Dream of Red Mansions" can be used as evidence. The original work states that Sister Feng, who was older than Jia Baoyu, had to listen to the oral accounts of the elders such as Aunt Zhao to understand that period of history.

The Remnant Dream of Qinhuai Cao Xueqin relied on Tianen Zude (the kindness of Emperor Kangxi, the virtue of Cao Xi and Cao Yin) in his early years to live in a prosperous country (the prosperous age of Kangxi and Yongli), a prosperous place of flowers and willows (Nanjing), and a clan of poems, rituals and hairpins (Jiangning Zhizaofu)

), Gentle and Wealthy Township (Xiyuan), I enjoyed a period of life as a dandy, rich and romantic young man, and lived a contented life. "Every day I only spend time with my sisters and maids, reading, writing, playing piano, chess, painting and chanting."

The poems even describe Luan thorns and phoenixes, fighting with grass and hairpins, singing in a low voice, picking apart words and guessing pieces." "I just wander and lie in the garden, and I am willing to work for the maids, but I have to spend the sun and the moon very leisurely."

He had vivid memories of this happy life throughout his life. He affectionately called it "dream" in the first chapter of "A Dream of Red Mansions", "The Author Ziyun".

In her childhood, Cao Xueqin was very naughty. She hated eight-legged essays, did not like to read the Four Books and Five Classics, and disliked imperial examinations and official career economics.

Although Cao Fu strictly disciplined him, hired a tutor, and went to private school for a few days, his grandmother Li always protected little Cao Xueqin because of his doting grandmother.

Fortunately, the Cao family was well-educated, and his grandfather Cao Yinyou had a collection of poems and poems. In Yangzhou, he was in charge of the engraving of "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" and more than 20 kinds of hardcover books, and was also in charge of the Yangzhou Poetry Bureau.

The Cao family has a large collection of books, with 3,287 fine editions.

Cao Xueqin has lived in such a rich literary and art environment since she was a child. She received education from her father and brother, disciplines from teachers and friends, and is well-read. She especially loves to read poetry, dramas, novels and other literary books, such as opera, food, and health care.

Collect encyclopedia cultural knowledge and skills from all over the world, such as medicine, tea ceremony, weaving and so on.

Li Xu, a weaver in Suzhou, and Sun Wencheng, a weaver in Hangzhou, were both related to the Cao family. Li Xu also served as the salt administrator of Lianghuai (the government was in Yangzhou, and Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin also held this post during his lifetime).

When Cao Xueqin was a child, she traveled to Suzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Changzhou and other places many times when visiting relatives and friends. She was very fond of the mountains and rivers of the south of the Yangtze River, and her friends Duncheng and Dunmin called them "the residual dream of Qinhuai" and "the old dream of Yangzhou" in their poems.

Cao Xueqin's family was in trouble. In the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign (1727), when Cao Xueqin was thirteen years old, in December, her uncle (some say his father), who was a weaver in Jiangning at that time, harassed the inn and caused a deficit in weaving.

He was dismissed from his post and imprisoned for crimes such as transferring property and transferring property. His house (114 members of his family, including men, women and servants) was ransacked before the Lantern Festival in the first month of the following year.

Cao Xueqin moved back to Beijing with her family.

From then on, the Cao family failed to recover and gradually declined.

When I first returned to Beijing, there were still 17 and a half rooms in the old house at Suanshikou outside Chongwenmen, and three pairs of servants, who made a living.

However, in order to repay the money owed for the case of harassing the inn and make up for the family expenses, the land had to be temporarily sold for thousands of gold. A domestic slave took advantage of this and borrowed some of the Dongzhuang rent and taxes by name.

Later, the deficit became more severe day by day. It was inevitable that the house would be sold and the land would be sold, and thieves would break into the house. As a result, I didn't even have the money for daily needs, so I was forced to mortgage the house and land documents.

In the end, it was reduced to the point where its doors were withered and its population was dispersed. Over the years, it became more than rubble.

Cao Xueqin became more and more speechless because of the bad things at home. "Although I dare not say that I have experienced ups and downs, I have a little understanding of the world's human nature."

Making friends with celebrities At the end of the Yongzheng period, Cao Xueqin grew older every year and began to shoulder the burden of the family. Gradually, she was able to help Cao Fu with some housework.