There are three regrets in life: first, the shad is delicious but has too many fishbones; second, the begonia is beautiful but has no fragrance; and third, the masterpiece of A Dream of Red Mansions has not been finished.

Source: Zhang Ailing's Nightmare in the Red Chamber

1966 Zhang Ailing settled in the United States until her death in 1995, during which she spent ten years studying A Dream of Red Mansions, which was the crystallization of many years' research in her later years.

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Through the comparison and contrast of various versions, Zhang Ailing examines the possible changes and trends of the author's writing ideas and plots, and even scrutinizes the possible story modification after the 1980s. For example, Jia She and Jia Jing were written to contrast Jia Zheng.

Zhang Ailing used a chapter "Three Details of A Dream of Red Mansions" to prove that A Dream of Red Mansions is not an autobiography but a novel rather than a family history. Although some plots and characters in the book are based on the author's life experience, it is by no means enough to support "autobiographies" in Zhang Ailing's view. After all, creation comes from life.

And Zhang Ailing also listed her textual research. For example, Baoyu said goodbye to Daiyu at school. Zhang Ailing pointed out that there was an annotation by Zhi Yanzhai here, but there was no such annotation in iconic scenes such as Daiyu's burial of flowers and the smell of songs.

Zhi Yanzhai and author Cao Xueqin have the same family background. Baoyu has both the shadow of Zhi Yanzhai and the author's personality. Some of their life documentaries are applied to novels, so Zhi Yanzhai will have comments such as "It's true" and "It's true", while Daiyu's outline personality is based on Zhi Yanzhai's early lovers, but most of the words about Bao Dai are fictional.

It can be seen that although Daiyu and Baoyu do have their prototypes, and the story scenes also have life facts as a reference, their creations are far more realistic than life.