Brief introduction of Cao Xueqin

Cao Xueqin (about1765438+May 28th, 2005-about1February 763 12), whose real name is Zhan, real name, real name and real name is Qin Pu, is the author of China's classic Dream of Red Mansions.

His ancestral home is disputed (Liaoyang, Hebei, Feng Run or Tieling, Liaoning), and he was born in Jiangning (now Nanjing). Cao Xueqin was born in a paint family in Zhengbaiqi, the interior office of Qing Dynasty. He is the grandson of Cao Yin, a weaver in Jiangning, and the son of Cao Qing, the son of Cao Fu.

Cao Xueqin experienced a luxurious and romantic life in Nanjing Jiangning Weaving Institute in his early years. Great-grandfather Cao was appointed Jiangning Weaving; Great-grandmother Sun Shi was the nanny of Emperor Kangxi. Grandfather Cao Yin was the squad leader and bodyguard of Emperor Kangxi. Later, he was appointed as Jiangning Weaving, and also served as the inspection station of Huaihe Salt Affairs, which was very popular with Kangxi.

In the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), the Cao family was robbed of their property because of a deficit, and Cao Xueqin moved back to his former residence in Beijing with his family. Later, he moved to the western suburbs of Beijing and made a living by selling calligraphy and painting and helping his friends. Since then, the Cao family has been devastated and declining.

After a major turning point in his life, Cao Xueqin felt that the world was cold and had a clearer and deeper understanding of feudal society. He despised powerful people, stayed away from officialdom and lived a poor and hard life.

Cao Xueqin has an open mind and a wide range of hobbies. He has studied epigraphy, poetry, painting, gardening, Chinese medicine, darning, craft and diet. With perseverance and years of hardships, he finally created a great work with great ideological and artistic quality-A Dream of Red Mansions. In his later years, Cao Xueqin moved to the western suburbs of Beijing. Life is even poorer, "covered with wormwood" and "the whole family often drinks porridge on credit".

In the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762), his youngest son died prematurely, and he fell into excessive sadness and grief and was bedridden. In the 28th year of Qianlong (1763), he died of poverty on New Year's Eve (12 February).

Extended data:

First, life summary

After the property was robbed, Cao Xueqin moved to Beijing with his family. Cao Xueqin once met Zhang Yiquan, Dunmin and Duncheng brothers in the right-wing religious school "Humen Counting Morning and Evening" in Beishihu Hutong, Xidan Pailou, Beijing.

There are few literatures about the creation process of A Dream of Red Mansions and Cao Xueqin's life in his middle and later years. From the scattered records of Cao Xueqin's friends Zhang Yiquan, Dunmin and Duncheng in his later years, we only know that Cao Xueqin is versatile, good at painting, addicted to alcohol and crazy, and has a proud attitude towards the dark society.

Zhang Yiquan's "Shangqinxi Jushi" said: "His humanity is open-minded, he drinks good wine and is good at poetry and painting". Cao Xueqin's poetry is innovative and unique, and his style is close to that of Li He, a poet in Tang Dynasty.

His friend Duncheng once praised: "Love your poem and pen has a strange spirit, catching up with the long valley broken fence fan." He also said, "I know that your poems are as bold as iron, and they are as cold as the Taoist camp."

Cao Xueqin is also a painter and likes to paint abrupt and steep stones. Dunmin's "Painting Stone in Qinyuan" said: "Proud as a strange monarch, more jagged. Drunk as a pen swept away. Write a thunder in your chest. "

Cao Xueqin moved to the western suburbs of Beijing in his later years, and his life was even poorer. He often "porridge and wine on credit for the whole family" (Duncheng's "For Cao Qinpu"), and made a living by selling paintings and helping relatives and friends. According to research by some redologists, Cao Xueqin wrote A Dream of Red Mansions under such extremely difficult conditions. "It takes ten years of painstaking efforts to write a Dream of Red Mansions".

This masterpiece exhausted his life's hard work, but before the book was finished, Cao Xueqin "died in tears" because of poverty and lack of medical care. (There are also redologists who believe that the creation time of A Dream of Red Mansions should be when Cao Xueqin was in the right-wing religion, and the living conditions and the conditions for exchange of ideas were unparalleled.

According to Zhi Yanzhai's comment on writing, A Dream of Red Mansions should be completed completely, but the second half is only about thirty times. Leaving behind a newly married widow, she is not yet fifty years old.

Second, the relationship between Cao Xueqin and A Dream of Red Mansions

A Dream of Red Mansions is the peak of China's novels. Many scholars believe that Cao Xueqin is the author of A Dream of Red Mansions, which is an autobiographical novel, so the Jia family in the book has a lot to do with Cao Xueqin's real family story. Many redologists think that Cao Xueqin is writing the history of Cao family, but some people think that he is writing the history of Nalan Xingde, a famous poet in Qing Dynasty.

The early manuscript of A Dream of Red Mansions has been handed down to this day, and the author has never signed it. Since Hu Shi 192 1 published Textual Research on A Dream of Red Mansions, it is generally believed that the original author of A Dream of Red Mansions is Cao Xueqin.

The evidence that Cao Xueqin is the author of A Dream of Red Mansions mainly comes from the first time in the book. The book says: "Cao Xueqin mourned for Hongxuan for ten years, added and deleted it five times, catalogued it and divided it into chapters, and it was named Twelve Women in Jinling.

It is clearly pointed out in many places that the author and "Xue Qin" are the same person. For example, the first comment in the JOE edition "If Yun Xueqin adds or deletes books, who wrote this wedge?" It shows that the author's pen is very cunning. "Later, the discovery of fat criticism was consistent with the clues of Cao Jia, so it was widely accepted by mainstream Redology.

Ming Yi, a poet in Qing Dynasty, said in the preface of tihongloumeng: "Cao Zixue Qin wrote A Dream of Red Mansions to record the prosperity of romantic scenery, and his ancestor was Jiangning magistrate. Its so-called Grand View Garden is the former site of today's garden. It is a pity that his book has not been circulated, and the world knows little about it. I think his banknotes are "three quatrains written by Cao in the novel A Dream of Red Mansions".

Baidu Encyclopedia-Cao Xueqin

Baidu Encyclopedia-Dream of Red Mansions