When was Baoyu born in a Dream of Red Mansions?

A Dream of Red Mansions refers to Jia Baoyu's real birth year as 1706 (Xu Bing in the 45th year of Kangxi), which is also the birth year of Jia Baoyu and Cao Fu, the prototype figure of Zhen Baoyu and the real author of the novel. So when was Jia Baoyu born? Does this novel hide and imply the exact birthday of Cao Fu?

Readers familiar with A Dream of Red Mansions know that Jia Baoyu's birthday is still Zhen Baoyu's birthday, which is not clearly written in the novel, so that Jia Baoyu's birthday has become an unsolved case in the history of A Dream of Red Mansions. For other important characters in the novel, the author clearly wrote the month and date of birth, such as:

The second time: Yuan Chun's birthday is "the first day of the first month";

The 22nd time: Xue Baochai's birthday is "the 21st day of the first month";

The 26th time: Xue Pan's birthday is "the third day of May";

42nd time: Qiaojie's birthday is "the seventh day of July";

Chapter 43: Wang Xifeng's birthday is "the second day of September";

Sixty-second: Lin Daiyu and xiren's birthday is "February 12th", Mrs. Wang's birthday is "March 1st" and Jia Lian's birthday is "March 9th";

The seventieth time: Tanchun's birthday is "March 3";

7 1: Jia Mu's birthday is "August 3rd".

The author Cao Fu is very curious about Jia Baoyu's birthday. However, the novel reveals the month when Jia Baoyu was born.

Write back to the fifty-eighth time, some time before Baoyu's birthday, "This day is Qingming Day, and Jia Lian has prepared an annual sacrifice to lead Jia Huan, Jia Lan to Tiexi Temple to sacrifice and burn paper." The fifty-ninth time, shortly after Tomb-Sweeping Day, "Baochai woke up from her spring sleep, pulled up the curtain, and felt slightly cold. When she opened the door, she saw that the moss in the garden was wet, but it rained a little at five o'clock." After a while, it was the sixty-second time: "It's Baoyu's birthday. It turns out that Baoqin is on the same day, and they are the same. " Sixty-third time, on Baoyu's birthday, before the banquet in Hongyiyuan, Lin Zhixiao's family brought several women in charge to check the night. Lin zhixiao's family said to Baoyu, "The night is short today, so you should go to bed early." Now the sky is long and the night is short, which shows that Baoyu's birthday is after the long summer.

Back to the 63rd time, it was written that in the early morning of the second day of Baoyu's birthday, Jia Jing swallowed gold sand and "burned to death" to "keep Geng Shen". "It's too hot to treat each other today, so (You Shi) presided over it and ordered astronomers to choose a day for his funeral." "After three days, the funeral will be held and his filial piety will be broken." The sixty-fourth time wrote: "Please invite (Jia Jing) coffin into the city on the fourth day of the fourth year." Therefore, Baoyu's birthday should be at the end of a month in Xia Hou.

So what month is this "fourth day"? This can be analyzed according to the common sense of the 24 solar terms and the time clues provided by the novel text.

Generally speaking, there are two solar terms in each month of December in the lunar calendar, such as beginning of spring and rain in the first month, sting and vernal equinox in February, Qingming and Grain Rain in March, long summer and full summer in April, Miscanthus in May and summer solstice. The distance between adjacent solar terms and Qi is about 15 days, and the distance between two solar terms is about 30 days.

In Chapter 58 of the novel, an "old lady princess" died in front of Tomb-Sweeping Day, and died in 2 1 day of Pian Palace, while the funeral of Jia Mu and others was before the long summer. The funeral procession walked on the road for ten days and stopped for a few days after arriving at Xiaoci County. Then the Jia family went home and came back for ten days. Novel written memorial service and funeral schedule:

Who knows that the old lady's concubine mentioned last time is dead, and everyone who is ordered to enter the DPRK must follow the rules. An imperial edict was issued to the world: "Anyone who has a noble family is not allowed to have a music banquet within one year, and no ordinary people are allowed to get married in March." Grandma, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren go to North Korea with sacrifices every day, and they don't return to the rear until they are right. After twenty-one days in Dapan Palace, please enter Xianling, the place name is Xiaoci County. This mausoleum has been in contact with the capital for ten days. Now, please stay here for a few days before entering the underground palace, so it will take a month.

According to this timetable, when Jia Mu and others return to Jia Fu, it will be nearly a month after the long summer, that is, a few days before and after the "ear planting". Therefore, Jia Baoyu's birthday happens to be in April of the lunar calendar between "Long Summer" and "Mangzhong".

Back to the sixty-fourth, it was written that Jia Jing's coffin entered the city on the fourth day of the fourth lunar month, offered wine, and held a funeral. A few days later, the Lady Dowager and others came back. Just the day before Jia Jia returned to the mansion, Jia Baoyu heard Xueyan say that Lin Daiyu had set up a case of incense in her room. He thought:

Or the anniversary of menstruation's death? But I remember that every year on this day, the old lady would order another dish and send it to Sister Lin as a private sacrifice. At this time, it has passed. It must be July, because every family goes to the autumn grave on the Melon and Fruit Festival. Sister Lin was deeply touched by this, so she drank a cup of sacrifice in her private room and took the meaning of "spring and autumn food" in the Book of Rites, which is also uncertain.

From the context, the month written in this text is not reasonable at all. Grandmother Jia went home around the pre-harvest festival, but not in June, let alone in July. This is obviously the author's deliberate confusion in time sequence and concealment of the truth.

At the end of sixty-four, at the beginning of sixty-five, it was written that Jia Lian stole Second Sister You in the second month after Jia Jing's death. Back to the sixty-eighth, sour Xifeng made a scene in Ningguo Mansion, and said that "my uncle's filial piety was only five or seven, and my nephew married." Back to the 65th time, You Sanjie "laughed" Jia Lian and Jia Zhen, and Second Sister You and Jia Lian were "husband and wife" for two months. Back to the sixty-sixth, Jia Lian went to Ping 'an House to meet Xue Pan and Xue Pan. Liu said that he would "go to Beijing in the middle of the month" and make an engagement with You Sanjie. "Who knew that Xiang Lian went to Beijing in August?". From this calculation, Jia Lian secretly married Second Sister You on the third day of June, and Jia Jing's coffin entered the city on the fourth day of May.

Because "mourning" can't be on the fourth day, at the latest on the third day; It is known that the "mourning" is "three days after Jia Jing's sudden death", and Jia Jing died on April 29th at the latest. So Jia Baoyu's birthday must be before April 29th.

Since Jia Baoyu was born at the end of April, was he born on April 26th? Judging from the narrative of the novel, Jia Baoyu can't have been born on April 26th. Back to 27 wrote:

The next day is April 26th. It was not the time to cross the ear and seed. In ancient times, people used to set up various gifts to worship the flower god on the day of ear planting. It is said that as soon as the ear seeds are over, it will be summer, all the flowers will be unloaded, and the flower god will abdicate and say goodbye.

On this day, "Baochai, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Li Wan and Xifeng, as well as the elder sister, Xiangling and other maids are playing in the garden", and Daiyu is burying flowers alone sadly. Write back to the 28th, April 26th, after lunch, Feng Ziying invited Jia Baoyu and Xue Pan, "There are many small si who sing, Jiang Yuhan who sings Xiao Dan, Yuner, a prostitute in Jinxiang Garden" and others to drink tea; When Baoyu came back, he quickly went to bed. "There was nothing to say all night."

The next day, on April 27th, Baoyu woke up and heard Aron say, "Yesterday, the imperial concubine sent eunuch Xia out and gave him one hundred and twenty pieces of silver, asking him to stay in Qingxu for three days from the first day to the third day, singing and offering sacrifices, and asking Uncle Zhen to lead the gentlemen to kneel down and worship Buddha. There is also the Dragon Boat Festival. " Back to the 29th, 27th, Feng came everywhere, just for "talking about marriage in Qingxu Pavilion on the first day, and then going to the theatre with Baochai, Baoyu and Daiyu", and then described the plot of going to Qingxu Pavilion to burn incense in person on the first day of May.

As can be seen from the above three times, on April 26th and 27th, there was no sign of Jia Baoyu celebrating his birthday at all. So Baoyu's birthday can only be April 28th.

For Jia Baoyu's real date of birth, the opening of the novel provides an important time feature. I wrote for the first time that on a hot summer day, Zhen Yinshi dreamed that a monk was carrying "psychic Baoyu" and "descending to the world"; After waking up, Zhen Yinshi went to the street to "watch the fun" with a winning streak. When he came back, he just saw a monk having a meeting in the street. As we all know, at this time, the vast number of tuas and ethereal real people have "delivered the stupid things to the police fairy" and "the next life is over", that is to say, Jia Baoyu was born on this day.

The novel mentions a characteristic time here: "Later". What is "later"? "See you later" is an ancient folk custom. According to the Qing dynasty Fu Cha Deng chong wrote "yanjing age":

Attending the meeting were prodigal players in Beijing, dressed as pioneers, fans, barbecues, immortals, five tiger sticks, drums, cymbals, stilts, yangko, juggling jars and lions. In case the city god patrols the city and the temple fair and sings anywhere, the audience is blocked, which is the most likely to cause trouble.

This is the situation of the "meeting" in Beijing, but it is similar everywhere. Mr. Liu Zhongyu, director of the Chinese Religious Society and professor of philosophy department of East China Normal University, introduced the "meeting" like this:

In its own development, Taoism has formed many temples and famous mountains that have great influence both within its own religion and among the people, and some of them are holy places of a certain Sect, so they have great appeal both inside and outside the religion. The gods enshrined in these famous mountain temples can attract believers and pilgrims from nearby or even thousands of miles away to make pilgrimages, especially on important festivals such as their immortals' birthdays. Taking temples as the center and offering sacrifices to the immortals and ancestors of temples as the main content, large-scale sacrifice and celebration activities are formed. So these temple fairs often have different names. Sometimes in order to highlight the content of its fragrance, it is called the fragrance meeting; In order to highlight its characteristics of repaying the gods and taking large-scale folk art performances, it is called competition, meeting and meeting. ..... At the temple fair, people often hold various folk art activities to entertain gods and people, and sometimes invite professional troupes to perform plays to reward gods. For example, there is a custom in Beijing that during the temple fair, various folk arts and acrobatics will be performed.

In other words, "Hui" is a Taoist ceremony and celebration, in which there are various folk art performances. It is precisely because there are all kinds of cultural performances in the "meeting" that Zhen Cai took his three-year-old daughter to the streets to "watch the excitement". It can be seen that Jia Baoyu's birthday is related to a Taoist sacrifice or celebration at the end of April.

On April 28th, there was only one major Taoist celebration, namely, China Taoism, Volume III, Fairy Tales, Volume IV, Chapter VIII, Culture, Art and Taoist Festivals, and the Hong Kong Taoist culture database website (which published the Christmas date of the gods in the Jade Sagger of Christmas for the Gods).

Because the birthdays of the gods recorded in the jade sagger in "The Birthday of the Gods" ended in the Ming Dynasty and were actually added later, some birthdays of the gods could not be collected. Due to different times and regions, these Christmases have different influences on folk customs. For example, in Chapter 29 of the novel, Zhang Daoshi, who is in his eighties, said to Jia Mu, "On April 26th, the day before yesterday, I spent Christmas here." This "Christmas of the King of Heaven" is not recorded.

What is a "drug king"? "China Taoism Volume III" has a clear explanation: "The King of Medicine is the worship and deification of famous doctors and related legends with exquisite medical skills in ancient times, and then regarded it as the God of Medicine." There are mainly three: Bian Que, Sun Simiao and Wei Cizang. The way of writing:

In the Qing Dynasty, Gu Tieqing's Jia Qinglu (Volume 4) also recorded the birthday ceremony of Wu Jun (now Suzhou), saying: "On April 28th, it was the birthday of the medicine king (according to records, this was a birthday note), and many doctors prepared incense and gathered at Zhusixiang Temple, that is, medicine. County doctor's lawsuit is fragrant. Lujiaxiang and Wang Yao Temple. On the birthday, people in the drug market set up sacrifices to wish them happiness, or gathered for a meeting, and the leader was in charge. This is called Wang Yaohui. "

Jia Qinglu only recorded the situation in Suzhou. In fact, in many dynasties and places in China's history, the "Wang Yao Temple" was built, and the ordinary people respected Wang Yao very much, and there was the custom of Wang Yao's big gathering. Mr. Ceng Jun from Shangqiu City, Henan Province made a detailed introduction to the temple fair in Wang Yao in the article "Medical Temple Fair in Past Dynasties". For the lively scene during the temple fair, the article wrote:

During the temple fair, the occasion was unprecedented. Many famous doctors either went up the ancient post road or went down by boat, and gathered in the temple to follow Wang Weimin's example in treating diseases and using drugs. And get together, exchange treatment experience with each other, and explore hundreds of theories. Neighboring counties, towns, businessmen and gentry also come to borrow the meeting to do business and perform arts. The temple fair is full of colorful tents, and the temple is brightly lit and filled with cigarettes. A blowing platform was set up outside the temple, and two or three disciples of the pear garden performed in public. All day long, the sound of silk and bamboo can be heard, and the sound of gongs and drums can be heard far away; Even more, guns and firecrackers exploded, and the world jumped for joy and scrambled to climb the mountain, which was a blessing to witness the statue of Wang Sheng, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in the temple.

From this point of view, the excitement of the "meeting" that Zhen saw before he took to the streets was the grand occasion of the "Medicine King Meeting" on April 28.

There are different drug kings in different places, and there is a saying that "the north is called flat bird, and the south is called Sun Simiao". The life story of Sun Simiao, the drug king, has attracted the author's attention. He lived in seclusion in the mountains all his life, but several emperors, such as Emperor Taizong and Tang Gaozong, invited him to be an official in Beijing several times, but they all declined politely. In the second year of Chongning in the Northern Song Dynasty (1 103), Sun Simiao was regarded by posthumous title as a "wonderful real person".

A Dream of Red Mansions has written many stories about medicine. From Zhang Taiyi's 10 story about Qin Keqing's disease, the author Cao Fujing knows medical skills. Ms. Wang's book "A Talk about Red Chamber Medicine" has an in-depth and incisive analysis of this, so you can read it yourself. Judging from Jia Baoyu's discussion about Lin Daiyu's illness in the 28th time, Baoyu also knows a lot of medical knowledge. From this point of view, both the author and Baoyu inherited the mantle of "the king of medicine".

More significantly, the novel 120 wrote back:

Jia Zheng came into the room and thanked him. His Majesty gave many instructions and asked about Baoyu. Jia Zheng answered truthfully. The sage was amazed, and the will said that Baoyu's articles were exquisite and strange, so it must have been before. If you are in court, you can use it. He dared not accept the title of Holy Dynasty, so he was awarded the title of "Miao Wen Ren Zhen".

In previous episodes, Jia Baoyu kept saying that he wanted to be a monk, but "Miao Wen Zhenren" was obviously a Taoist name, and it had an amazing correspondence with the title of "Miaoying Zhenren" by Taoist immortal Sun Simiao, and both of them were "not knighted by the Holy Dynasty". It can be concluded that the author Cao Fu set the above plot only to imply that Jia Baoyu's real date of birth is April 28th, "Christmas Day of the King of Medicine (Sun Simiao)".

Check Zheng's Comparison Table of Modern Chinese and Western History Days, which is 1706, April 28th of the lunar calendar and June 8th of the solar calendar. Tell you, this day is Jia Baoyu's real birthday, which is the exact date of birth of Cao Fu, the real author of the novel.