Cao Xueqin lives in a big bureaucratic landlord family with a "century-old family". Starting from my grandfather and uncle, three generations of Jiangning weaving have been passed down for 60 years. Grandfather Cao Yin was Kangxi's "servant" and great-grandmother was Kangxi's wet nurse. The Cao family has a very close relationship with the royal family. As a teenager, he lived a luxurious life as a rich son. In the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), his father Cao Fu was implicated and dismissed. Since then, the power and property of the family have been lost. His family moved from one place to another, and his life was extremely unstable. Sometimes he even has to rely on relatives and friends to make a living, and he is often discriminated against and humiliated. He experienced the vicissitudes of the poor from luxurious food to "porridge for the whole family", which made him feel personally about the decline of the feudal ruling class and have a comprehensive and profound understanding of the darkness and evil of society.
Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Xi was a weaver in Jiangning. Great-grandmother Sun Shi was the nanny of Emperor Kangxi Michelle Ye. Grandfather Cao Yin worked as a squad leader and bodyguard in Michelle Ye, and later as a weaver in Jiangning, who also served as an inspector of salt affairs in two Huai provinces, winning the favor of Michelle Ye. Michelle Ye visited the south of the Yangtze River six times, was taken back four times, and lived in Cao's home. After Cao Yin's death, his sons Cao Qing and Cao Fuxian succeeded him as Jiangning Weaving. Their three generations and four grandchildren have held this position for 60 years. Cao Xueqin grew up in the "prosperous" life of this "romantic place of Qinhuai" since childhood.
In the early years of Yongzheng, the Cao family suffered a series of blows because of the political struggle within the feudal ruling class. Cao Fu was dismissed on charges of "misconduct", "harassing the Post" and "deficit", and his property was confiscated. Cao Fu was imprisoned and punished, and the "cangue" lasted for more than a year. At this time, Cao Xueqin's family moved back to Beijing. 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.
In his later years, Cao Xueqin moved to the western suburbs of Beijing. Life is even poorer, "covered in wormwood" and "porridge for the whole family". He devoted himself to the writing and revision of A Dream of Red Mansions. In the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762), his youngest son died prematurely, and he fell into excessive sadness and grief and was bedridden. On the New Year's Eve of this year (1763 February 12), he finally died of poverty due to illness (there are two versions about the year of Cao Xueqin's death: 28 years and 29 years of Qianlong).
Cao Xueqin is "fat, with a wide head and black color". He is arrogant, cynical and unrestrained. Alcoholic, talented and talkative. Cao Xueqin is a poet. His poems are novel in conception and close in style to Li He, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. His friend Duncheng once praised him and said, "Love your poem is wonderful, and you can catch up with the long valley broken fence fan." He added, "I know that your poems are as bold as iron and as cold as the Taoist camp." However, there are only two lines in his sincere poem Pipa Xing: "The White Fuji Mausoleum should be very happy and will teach barbarians to put on airs."
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. " It can be seen that when he painted stones, he put his chest on the grievances. Cao Xueqin's greatest contribution lies in his novel creation. His novel A Dream of Red Mansions is rich in content, profound in thought and exquisite in art, which pushes China's classical novel creation to a peak and occupies a very important position in the history of literary development.
After fifteen years of Qianlong, he left Beijing and moved to the western suburbs. Cao Xueqin's life in his later years was even more bleak and miserable. "The whole family often eats porridge and drinks on credit." He is poor and has no medical care. In addition, his young son died, and his novel A Dream of Red Mansions was not finished, so he died, which left us with many regrets.
Cao Xueqin was influenced by literature and art from an early age. His grandfather, Cao Yingong, was a famous bibliophile at that time because of his poems and calligraphy. Influenced by his grandfather, Cao Xueqin is good at painting and has many artistic talents. After moving to the western suburbs of Beijing, under difficult circumstances, he "studied for ten years, added and deleted five times" and created the immortal realistic masterpiece A Dream of Red Mansions. The current version of A Dream of Red Mansions *** 120 times, and the last 40 times are generally considered to be Gao E's continuation [website].
Cao Xueqin's Dream of Red Mansions is world-famous, and his other work, Collection of Waste Art Studio, is a work that records Chinese crafts, so it is only circulated among people who love skills. In this book, Cao Xueqin broke the old idea of China literati that "those who work hard are despised by gentlemen", and recorded in detail eight major techniques, such as epigraphy, flying kites, weaving, printing and dyeing, cooking and garden design, so as to enable the disabled to keep healthy and make up for their congenital and acquired deficiencies. Cao Xueqin once enthusiastically taught the disabled to tie kites in Shudu and helped him to support his family with this industry. In the prefaces of Kite Flying in the South and Kite Flying in the North, he said: It's New Year's Eve, and I always braved the snow. Full of ducks, wine and fresh vegetables, I happily said to the sun, "I didn't want to fly three or five kites, but I got a heavy reward;" The income is * * * exclusive ... "This not only reflects the friendship between Cao Xueqin and his uncle, but also reflects Cao Xueqin's noble feelings of helping the weak and helping the poor.
A Dream of Red Mansions takes the aristocratic feudal family life as the material, takes the love tragedy of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu and the marriage tragedy of Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai as the warp, and vertically analyzes the profound social roots that caused the tragedy. At the same time, taking the rise and fall of Jia Fu as a parallel, through the conflict between Jia, Shi, Wang, Xue and other defenders and rebels, the broad social living environment composed of many characters is horizontally displayed. This reveals all kinds of evils in feudal society and their insurmountable internal contradictions. It broadly and profoundly reflected the social reality of China at that time, strongly criticized the debauchery and corruption of feudal families, and showed the historical trend that feudal system was on the verge of collapse and inevitable demise.
Brief introduction of Cao Xueqin's life
In the second year of Yongzheng (Chen Jia 1724), he was born on April 26th.
In the third year of Yongzheng (Yisi 1725), on April 26th, Mangzhong ushered in its first birthday, so it was marked by Mangzhong.
In the sixth year of Yongzheng (Wu Shen 1728), his father Cao Fu was convicted of theft and returned to Beijing. Live in the mouth of garlic market.
In the first year of Qianlong (Chen Bing 1736), all kinds of "sinful money" were pardoned and the family recovered well-off. Thirteen years old (in the book, I will visit my mother on the Lantern Festival until New Year's Eve. Baoyu is thirteen, too. It happened on April 26, 2008, which happened to be the Ear and Seed Festival (the flower party in the book).
In the second year of Qianlong (D 4 1737), in the first month, Kangxi City fell. Chen is the biological mother of Wang Yinxi in the county (the "old princess" in the book has passed away).
After five years of Qianlong (1740), Hongxi, the eldest son of Yin Renliu, the Prince of Kangxi, tried to establish a court and stabbed Qianlong in the back without success. Qin Xue's family was dragged down again, and it was stolen, so the family broke up. Xueqin is poor and wandering. He used to be a writer in the internal affairs department.
In the 19th year of Qianlong (Jiaxu 1754), the final version of Re-evaluating the Stone Story in Red Flame Zhai was copied (unfinished).
Twenty years after Qianlong (Yihai 1755), the story of the stone continues.
In the twenty-first year of Qianlong (Bingzi 1756), the fat batch before the seventy-fifth session recorded: "In the twenty-first year of Qianlong, Bingzi was cleared on the seventh day of May. Lack of Mid-Autumn Festival poetry, as soon as Xueqin. " For the progress of the manuscript at that time. Written by Zhi Yanzhai and Tamenosuke.
In the 22nd year of Qianlong (Ding Chou 1757), my friend Duncheng wrote a poem in memory of Cao Xueqin. Looking back at the night talk of the right-wing religion, I advised not to be a rich foodie. "It is better to write a book in Huangye Village." At this point, Xueqin has gone to Xishan and left Liang's home in Dunhuibo (Shihu Hutong in Xicheng).
In the 23rd year of Qianlong (Wuyin 1758), his friend Dunmin naturally wrote poems from Xiacun to Guiwei and sang many poems about Xueqin.
In the 24th year of Qianlong (1759), there is a copy of Trade Fair and Stone Story, and the date of "Yan Zhi" has been recorded.
In the twenty-five years of Qianlong (Chen Geng 1760), Chen Geng Edition and The Story of the Stone were reviewed by Yan Zhai four times.
After twenty-six years of Qianlong (Xinsi 176 1), he returned to Jinling and Beijing. Every time a friend's poem says that "the old dream of Qinhuai still exists" and "the official is depressed and dreams of returning to his hometown", it implies the writing of A Dream of Red Mansions.
In the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (Renwu 1762), Dunmin wrote "Wine Song with Knife" to record the drinking situation when Xueqin visited in late autumn. Fat criticism: "Chongyang in the afternoon" has the saying that "it is urgent to ask for books". No more comment on writing after Chongyang. When there is a story.
In the 28th year of Qianlong (Imperial concubine 1763), in late spring and February, Dunmin invited Xueqin to get together in early March (for Duncheng's birthday). Not yet. In autumn, I love my son with acne, and my sadness becomes ill. Fat criticism: "... Qin cried to death before the book was finished;" I cried for Xueqin, but my tears are still waiting to run out ... "It was recorded as the death of" Renwu Eve ",which was proved to be a mistake by textual research. He died at the age of forty.
In the 29th year of Qianlong (Shen Jia 1764), Duncheng wrote a poem: "Xiaofeng brushed an inscription yesterday" and "Forty years is too thin", all of which are historical evidences.