Cao Xueqin (about 1724~about 1764), a novelist in the Qing Dynasty.

Wrapped with the Manchu Zhengbai flag, the name is Zhan (zhān), the courtesy name is Mengruan, and the names are Xueqin, Qinpu and Qinxi.

Novelist of Qing Dynasty.

He was born in Jiangning (today's Nanjing, Jiangsu Province) on the 26th of leap April in the second year of Yongzheng's reign. His ancestral home was Liaoyang (later moved to Shenyang).

Author of "A Dream of Red Mansions".

According to research, Cao Xueqin was born in Jiangning Zhifu in Nanjing.

Jiangning Zhizao Mansion is located in the Daxinggong area in the center of Nanjing today. Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty visited Jiangnan six times and stayed in Jiangning Zhizao Mansion four times.

The place name here, Daxing Palace, was named after two emperors, Kangxi and Qianlong, lived here.

In the first year of Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty (1618), Nurhaci led his troops to attack the Ming Dynasty and captured Shenyang and Liaoyang. Cao Yi's ancestors were captured by the Manchu army and surrendered to the Eight Banners Zhengbai Banner "Baoyi". His ancestors Cao Shiyuan and great ancestor Cao Zhenyan were originally Han nationality and became

He is Dorgon's domestic slave.

Cao Zhenyan was highly appreciated by Dorgon and was named an assistant leader. He participated in quelling Jiang Xiang's uprising.

After entering the customs, he became a civil servant and successively held three official positions, including the magistrate of Jizhou, Shanxi, the magistrate of Datong Prefecture, and the salt envoy of the two Zhejiang provinces.

Liaoyang Cao Xueqin Memorial Hall Cao Xueqin's standard portrait is Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Xi, who was weaved in Jiangning.

Great-grandmother Sun was the nanny of Emperor Kangxi Xuan Ye.

His grandfather, Cao Yin, served as Xuanye's companion and imperial bodyguard. Later, he served as a weaver in Jiangning and concurrently served as the envoy to inspect the salt in Huaihe River. He was highly favored by Xuanye.

Xuanye made six trips to the south of the Yangtze River, four of which were picked up by Cao Yin and stayed at Cao's house.

According to Zhou Ruchang's "New Evidence of the Dream of Red Mansions": a secret record of the Cao family during the Kangxi period stored in the Palace Museum records that Cao Xueqin's father, Cao Fu (fǔ), was actually the son of Cao Yin's brother Cao Xuan - because Cao Yin and his orphan son Cao Xuan

Yong passed away one after another. Emperor Kangxi wanted the Cao family to still be in charge of Jiangning Weaving, so he ordered Cao Xuan's son Cao Fu to adopt Cao Yin's branch to support the family and take charge of Jiangning Weaving.

In this way, Cao Xueqin is actually the grandson of Cao Xuan, not the grandson of Cao Yin.

After Cao Yin died of illness, his son Cao Yong and stepson Cao Fu (the fourth son of Cao Yin's younger brother Cao Xuan) successively succeeded Jiangning Weaving.

Three generations and four of them have held this position for 58 years.

Cao Xueqin grew up in the "prosperous" life of this "Qinhuai Fengyue" place since she was a child.

In the early years of Yongzheng's reign, the Cao family suffered a series of blows due to the evil deeds of Cao Zhenyan's grandson Cao Yi and his involvement in the internal political struggles of the court.

Cao Fu was dismissed from his post on charges of "misconduct", "harassment of the station" and "deficit", and his property was confiscated.

At this time, Cao Xueqin followed his family to Beijing and lived in Suanshikou; Cao Fu was imprisoned for more than a year.

His family had a revival during the Qianlong period.

Later, Cao Xueqin met Duncheng and Dunmin in the right-wing religious school and became close friends with them.

Hong Xi, the eldest son of the deposed crown prince Yin Reng in the Kangxi Dynasty, planned to establish the imperial court and secretly assassinated Qian Long, but the plan failed.

The Cao family was implicated and confiscated again. From then on, the Cao family failed to recover and gradually declined.

After experiencing a major turning point in life, Cao Xueqin deeply felt the harshness of the world and had a clearer and deeper understanding of feudal society.

In his later years, Cao Xueqin moved to the western suburbs of Beijing.

Life is even poorer, with "paths full of basil" and "the whole family eating porridge."

With perseverance, he devoted himself to the revision of "Dream of Red Mansions".

In the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong (1763), Cao Xueqin's youngest son died in infancy. He fell into excessive sadness and grief and became bedridden.

On New Year's Eve of this year (February 12, 1764), he finally died of poverty and illness at the age of about forty.

Cao Xueqin was "fat, with a broad head and a dark complexion."

He has an arrogant character, is cynical, and is uninhibited.

He is addicted to alcohol, talented and good at conversation.

Cao Xueqin is a poet.

His poems have novel ideas and style close to that of Li He, a poet of the Tang Dynasty.

His friend Duncheng once praised him and said: "The poems written by Aijun are full of extraordinary spirit, which can directly catch up with the broken fences of Changgu." He also said: "The courage of poems written by Zhijun is as bold as iron in the past, and it can compete with the cold light of a sword." But his

There are only two lines left in the poem titled "The Legend of Pipa" written by Duncheng: "Fu Shiling was very happy when he lived in Cao Xueqin's former residence, and decided to teach Man Su ghosts to show off." Cao Xueqin was also a painter who liked to paint abrupt and steep rocks.

Dun Min's "Inscribed on Painting Stones in Qinpu" said: "It is strange to be as proud as a king in this world, and it is even more fragmented in this rugged world. When I was drunk, I swept my pen like a rafter and wrote about the pain in my chest." It can be seen that when he painted the stones, he placed his thoughts on the stagnation in his chest.

The feeling of injustice.

Cao Xueqin's greatest contribution lies in the creation of novels.

His novel "A Dream of Red Mansions" is rich in content, profound in thought and exquisite in art. It pushed the creation of Chinese classical novels to the highest peak and occupies a very important position in the history of the development of world literature.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" is a work that he "reviewed for ten years, adding and deleting five times." "Every word looks like blood, and ten years of hard work is unusual."

It is said that he had finished writing "A Dream of Red Mansions" after 80 chapters, but it has not been handed down due to various reasons.

The current popular version has 120 chapters. The last 40 chapters were compiled and printed by the bookseller Cheng Weiyuan and the bureaucratic scholar Gao E. It is generally believed that the last 40 chapters were continued by Gao E.

Editor: The mystery of Duan's life and place of origin is not only the year of his birth and death that has always been controversial, but even his given name and nickname are not very certain. According to Cao Xueqin's friend Zhang Yiquan, his surname should be Cao, his given name Zhan, and his courtesy name Meng.

Nguyen.

No. Qinxi layman.

However, some researchers believe that his given name was Qinpu and his nickname was Xueqin.

There are currently two main views on his birth year: one is that he was born in 1715 AD, and the other is that he was born in 1724 AD.

There are generally three opinions on the year of his death: one is that he died in 1763 AD, the other is that he died in 1764 AD, and the last one is that he died in the early spring of 1765 AD.