A Dream of Red Mansions was born at the end of China feudal society in the18th century. At that time, the Qing government closed its doors to the outside world, and the whole country was immersed in the dream of Kangxi, Kangxi and Qianlong, and went to China. This period seemed peaceful on the surface, but various social contradictions in the bones were intensifying, and the whole dynasty reached a turning point from prosperity to decline.

During the Kang Yong period, Cao Jiazu Sun San made Jiangning weaving for four generations for 58 years. In its heyday, the Cao family had done four large-scale pick-up and drop-off of drivers. Cao Xueqin grew up in Nanjing and experienced a rich aristocratic life in his youth. However, the family gradually declined. In the sixth year of Yongzheng (1728), Cao Xueqin returned to Beijing with his family.

After returning to Beijing, he worked as a handyman in charge of literature and ink in a royal school, "Right-wing Religion". His family was poor and his life was difficult. In his later years, he moved to the western suburbs of Beijing, and his life was even poorer. He is "full of wormwood" and "the whole family often eats porridge and wine on credit". A Dream of Red Mansions was written in poverty after Cao Xueqin went bankrupt. The creation time is from the early years of Qianlong to about thirty years of Qianlong.

The first paragraph of A Dream of Red Mansions is the preface of Cao Xueqin. In this preface, Cao Xueqin appears as a real person and tells readers the origin of writing. According to himself, this book was written according to his prosperous old dreams in Nanjing in his early years.

Because I lived in the western suburbs of Beijing at that time, I was mediocre and accomplished nothing. I suddenly recalled all the girls in my family when I was young, and felt that their knowledge and talents far exceeded their own. I couldn't help feeling ashamed and sorry.

My ancestors had a narrow life to establish this family business, but they were lucky, but they didn't do their job well and didn't listen to their parents and teachers' discipline, so that they had nothing since childhood and were down and out for the rest of their lives. Cao Xueqin wrote this experience and confession as a novel, just to tell readers that although their crimes are inevitable, those girls are real people in life, and their deeds must not be lost in obscurity to cover up their crimes.

Thinking of this, my heart is full of ripples, and all difficulties are not a problem. What's more, the carefree rural life and pleasant scenery made him think like a spring and write like a god. Cao Xueqin's modesty made him ignorant of learning, so he wanted to write this novel in vernacular Chinese, aiming to make a biography for the girls, relieve his distress and provide readers with fun and appreciation.

Extended data

A Dream of Red Mansions is an earthly novel with world influence. It is recognized as the pinnacle of China's classical novels, an encyclopedia of feudal society in China and a master of traditional culture.

The novel takes the rise and fall of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue as the background, the family affairs of Jia's family and the leisure of boudoir as the main line, and the love and marriage stories of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai as the main line, depicting the beauty of humanity and tragedy of lovers centered on Jia Baoyu and Jinling Twelve Chai. Through family tragedy, daughter tragedy and protagonist's life tragedy, the end-time crisis of feudalism is revealed.

The author of A Dream of Red Mansions has a preliminary democratic thought. He profoundly criticized the real society, including the darkness of the court and officialdom, the decay of feudal nobles and their families, the feudal imperial examination system, the marriage system, the handmaiden system and the hierarchical system, and the corresponding social ruling thoughts, namely, Confucianism and social morality of Confucius and Mencius, and put forward vague ideals and propositions with preliminary democratic nature.

A Dream of Red Mansions encourages itself by "talking about love with great ambition and keeping a record of events", only follows its logic, gets rid of old habits, is fresh and unique, and has achieved extraordinary artistic achievements. The special brushwork of "the truth is hidden and the village tells lies" has opened the brains of later readers and speculated for a long time. Around the study of reading A Dream of Red Mansions, an outstanding school-Dream of Red Mansions has been formed.

People's Daily Online-Experts Talk about Cao Xueqin: It is extremely difficult to live in Xishan, Beijing in his later years (Figure)

Baidu Encyclopedia-Dream of Red Mansions