From the nineteenth year of Qianlong (1754) to the fifty-sixth year (179 1), before the publication of Cheng Jiaben, the first eighty manuscripts of The Story of the Stone (generally with the annotations of Zhi Yanzhai and others) were not Cao Xueqin's manuscripts, nor were they copied by Zhi Yanzhai and others. At present, there are 1 1 kinds of fat batches, and there are other Beijing editions with batches but no books. The number of people in favor is mostly red inkstone and grotesque, with more than 3,000 comments. ), at first it was only circulated among a few relatives and friends of Xueqin, and then it expanded slightly, so there were also rich children and scholars. "Every good person, put in the temple city, is also worth thousands of dollars." See Cheng Weiyuan's Preface to a Dream of Red Mansions. . The price is so expensive that most people can't afford it or understand it. This is a ... Secondly, readers who saw the manuscript of "The Story of the Stone" were deeply sorry for its "no complete treasure" and "no definitive edition". It is against this background that Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E collected, revised and supplemented 120 volumes of A Dream of Red Mansions in Xiu Xiang, which was published in the fifty-sixth year of Qianlong (1791)191year. In February of the following year, Cheng and Senior Two "reassembled the original works, carefully examined and corrected them" (with 265,438+0,000 words changed), and they were still printed and published in wooden movable type, which was later called Cheng Yiben.
Cheng Weiyuan, named Koizumi, was born in Guwu (now Suzhou). Born in the 10th year of Qianlong (1745) and died in the 23rd year of Jiaqing (18 18). Born in a scholarly family, he is good at poetry and calligraphy. Jin Chang, the general of imperial clan Shengjing, praised: "You are a romantic and chic guest, and you have forgotten your bones since ancient times." See Jinchang's "Poems of Qiejia Caotang Returning to Jingshi in Winter, and Koizumi's Poems are presented in the following rhyme and inherited by others". Cheng is indifferent to fame and fortune, obsessed with poetry, calligraphy and painting and A Dream of Red Mansions. Friends call him "Gao Shi", "Hermit" and "Leng Shi", and he is by no means an ordinary calligrapher. In the fifty-five years of Qianlong (1790), Cheng Weiyuan has been waiting for the exam in Beijing. At this time, he is working with Gao E to sort out, repair and publish A Dream of Red Mansions. See preface to a dream of red mansions and introduction to a dream of red mansions by him and Gao E for details.
Gao E, whose name is Lan Shu, lives in Tieling, Liaoyang, and is a Han soldier in Huangqi, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Born in the 28th year of Qianlong (1763) and died in the 21st year of Jiaqing (18 16). "Genius is bright and sensitive". He is familiar with classics and history and devoted to making art and poetry. In fifty-three years (1788), Qianlong was a native of Shuntian, and in sixty years (1795), he was a scholar. At the invitation of Cheng Weiyuan, he engaged in the sorting, editing and supplement of A Dream of Red Mansions, starting from middle school and continuing until he became a scholar. Gao E likes A Dream of Red Mansions for a long time. In the same year, Zhang Wentao, a poet of his brother-in-law, gave Gao Lanshu a poem about mountains, which also revealed the news. When A Dream of Red Mansions was written, Gao E wrote a quatrain called Redefining the Novel of A Dream of Red Mansions. The poem says, "When you get old, you lose your amorous feelings, and you fall asleep among the flowers. Holding the moon last night, I realized that Zen was clear and comfortable. "