The life of the character
Born into a wealthy family.
In the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi (17 15), Cao Yong, who was then a weaver in Jiangning, died while on duty in Beijing. Emperor Kangxi approved Cao Qing's cousin Cao Fu to go to Cao Yin to take over Jiangning weaving. On the seventh day of March of that year, Cao Fu made a wish: "Ma Shi, the slave's sister-in-law, was pregnant for seven months." Cao Xueqin was born in Nanjing Jiangning Weaving Institute on April 26th, 2005 (Gregorian calendar1765438+May 28th).
A few days after Cao Xueqin's full moon, on the third day of June, Cao Fu made a wish: "It rained for days and the fields were full." This is an opportunity for Cao Xueqin to become famous, which is shared by the right people at the right time. The word "Zhan" is taken from the Book of Songs Xiaoya New Nanshan, which means "I am excellent and thick, and my life is full", which means "the world is grateful to the son of heaven". The word "Xueqin" comes from the third of Su Shi's eight poems: "The clay piano is rooted for a long time and is alone in one inch; When the Xueqin moves, the spring pigeon will be fine. "
Cao Xueqin's great-grandmother Sun Shi was the nanny of Emperor Kangxi, and his grandfather Cao Yin was the squad leader and bodyguard of Emperor Kangxi. Later, he served as Jiangning Weaving and concurrently served as the governor of salt affairs in Huaibei and Huaibei. During the Kang Yong period, Cao Jiazu Sun San was in charge of Jiangning weaving for 58 years on behalf of four people. His family background was prominent, he was powerful and extremely rich, and he became the first rich family in Nanjing at that time, making him a famous family in the world.
Kangxi went to Jiangnan six times, and Cao Yin took over the driving four times. But Cao Xueqin was born a few years late, and I didn't experience the grand occasion of Kangxi's southern tour. A dream of red mansions 16 episode can be used as evidence. According to the original book, Xifeng, who is older than Jia Baoyu, can only understand that period of history by listening to the dictation of Zhao DOG and other elders. ?
Qinhuai remnant dream
In his early years, Cao Xueqin relied on Tianen Zude (worshipping Emperor Kangxi and Cao He) to enjoy a luxurious and romantic life in prosperous times in Changming (prosperous times in Kang Yong), prosperous times in Liu Hua (Nanjing), aristocratic families with poetic rites (Weaving House in Jiangning) and warm and rich towns (West Garden).
"Every day, I only stay with my sisters and maids, or read, or write, or play the piano and chess, draw pictures and recite poems, or even draw a phoenix, play grass flowers, sing quietly and guess chess pieces." "I just lie in the garden and often want to serve the maids, but it takes a lot of time."
He remembered this happy life vividly all his life, and affectionately called it "dream" in the first part of A Dream of Red Mansions.
Cao Xueqin was very naughty in his childhood, and hated stereotyped writing. He didn't like reading the Four Books and Five Classics, and hated the imperial examination and career economy. Although Cao Fu strictly abided by discipline, invited a tutor and went to home school for a few days, she always protected Xiaocao Xueqin because of her grandmother Li's doting. Fortunately, the Cao family has profound knowledge, and his grandfather Cao Yin has a collection of poems. In Yangzhou, he was responsible for the engraving of all Tang poems and more than 20 hardcover books, and was also in charge of Yangzhou Poetry Bureau.
Cao Jia has a large collection of books, including 3287 kinds of fine books. Cao Xueqin lived in such a rich literary and artistic environment since childhood. He was educated by his father and brother, disciplined by teachers and friends, and read a lot of books. He especially loves reading poetry, drama, novels and other literary books, such as opera, diet, health care, medicine, tea ceremony, knitting and other encyclopedic cultural knowledge and skills.
Suzhou Weaving and Hangzhou Weaving Sun Wen and Chengdu are related to Cao's family, and they also served as the salt administration of Huaibei (Yangzhou is where he lived, and Cao Xueqin's grandfather also held this position before his death). When Cao Xueqin was a child, he visited relatives and friends and traveled to Suzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Changzhou and other places many times. He was very fond of the mountains in the south of the Yangtze River. The poems of his good friends Duncheng and Dunmin are called "The Remnant Dream of Qinhuai" and "The Old Dream of Yangzhou".
This family has suffered a lot.
Yongzheng five years (1727), Cao Xueqin thirteen years old (nominal age). /kloc-in 0/2, Cao Fu, the uncle of Mr. Wailang (referring to his father) of Jiangning Weaving Company, was dismissed from his post and sent to prison for crimes such as harassing the post station, weaving deficit and transferring property. And was robbed of property before the Lantern Festival in the first month of the following year (family number: 1 14). Cao Xueqin moved back to Beijing with his family. Since then, the Cao family has been devastated and declining.
When I first returned to Beijing, there were 17 semi-old houses and three pairs of servants in the garlic market outside Chongwenmen, making ends meet. However, in order to repay the money owed by the case of harassing the post station and supplement the family, it is necessary to temporarily sell thousands of dollars of land mu. Some domestic slaves took advantage of this and borrowed a part of Dongzhuang tax under the pretext.
Later, the deficit became more and more serious, and it was inevitable to sell the house. Thieves broke into houses, so that they had no money for several days and were forced to take out their house documents as collateral.
Finally, it became the death of the portal and the population was scattered. After a few years, it is even worse than rubble. Cao Xueqin became more and more speechless because of the bad family. "Although I dare not say that I have experienced hardships, I have learned more about the world."
Make friends with celebrities
At the end of Yongzheng, Cao Xueqin became older and older and began to shoulder the burden of family. Gradually, he was able to help Cao Fu with the housework.
Because Cao Fu was an official at home, he was too lazy to socialize. Cao Xueqin came out to receive him and met some political and business celebrities and literary predecessors. Under their influence, he set up a lofty ambition to write a book, gradually eliminated his infatuation when he was young, and worked hard for family rejuvenation. At one time, he studied hard, looked for friends from teachers, and paid tribute to the dignitaries in the DPRK in various ways.
Humen Chenxi
In the first year of Qianlong (1736), Cao Xueqin was twenty-two years old and was ordered to forgive the Cao family's deficit.
In the early years of Qianlong, Cao Xueqin worked as an errand in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then entered the right-wing religious school (formerly known as Humen) in Shihu Hutong, Xidan as a humble small post. Cao Xueqin's specific work in religious studies includes teaching assistant, teacher, husband, servant and running errands. Cao Xueqin's circle of friends in Beijing is all Wang Sun, such as Duncheng, Dunmin, Fu Peng and others. In the contact with them, Cao Xueqin was able to appreciate the culture of Wang Fu.
Qianlong nine years (1744), Cao Xueqin is thirty years old. Duncheng (1734- 179 1) was eleven years old, and Dunmin (1729- 1796) was sixteen years old, and entered the religion. The two brothers greatly admire Cao Xueqin's talent and demeanor, and appreciate his open-minded personality and broad mind. In the long winter night, they sat together and listened to Cao Xueqin's interesting and energetic On Heroes, which was often attracted and moved by Cao Xueqin's "fantastic talk" and "eloquent talk".
Duncheng's poem "In Memory of Cao Xueqin (Zhan)" said: "It was a few mornings and evenings in Humen, and the west window was cut by candles." Record and deeply remember this unforgettable day.
Cao Xueqin wrote the first draft of A Dream of Red Mansions during this period.
Yan Shi Kuang ge
In the twelfth year of Qianlong (1747), Cao Xueqin was thirty-three years old and moved to the western suburbs of Beijing around 1000. In the following years, I lived in Penalty Street in Xidan, Beijing, the Sleeping Buddha Temple outside Chongwenmen, Siwangmi and Dongyu Village in Zhengbaiqi, Xiangshan, and Baijiatuan (about 50 miles outside Xizhimen) on the north slope of Huang Qi.
During this period, Cao Xueqin lived in a thatched cottage, enjoying wild flowers, living in seclusion, looking for poems, waving flowers, singing harmoniously, selling paintings, getting drunk, singing wildly, reminiscing about the past, writing books and enjoying the popular culture of Beijing. On the one hand, I make a living by selling calligraphy and painting and the relief of friends and relatives such as Fu Peng, Duncheng, Dunmin and Zhang Yiquan. Duncheng's poem "To Cao Qinpu" reads: "Full path. ?
Cao Xueqin hated being down and out all his life and accomplished nothing. "He felt very dissatisfied and depressed in that poor situation, so he had to indulge in drinking and singing to find his own vent." His true nature derived from the contributions of good and evil is becoming more and more distinct.
Yellow leaves for writing books
Cao Xueqin's ambition of "mending the sky" has never slackened. Until his later years, his friend Duncheng's "In Memory of Cao Xueqin (Zhan)" still comforted him: "Don't beat the cymbals of diners, don't knock on the doors of the rich. It is better to write a book about Huangye Village than to write a book about Huangye Village. "It means that Cao Xueqin's personal struggle has encountered difficulties and obstacles because of his status as a guilty minister. He sincerely advised him to retire and concentrate on writing.
Cao Xueqin also lived up to expectations. During his ten years in seclusion in Xishan Mountain, Cao Xueqin wrote his old work "A Treasure Mirror of Yue Feng" into a masterpiece "A Dream of Red Mansions" with perseverance.
Revisit your hometown.
In the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong (1759), Cao Xueqin was forty-five years old and arrived in Jiangning in the south about that year. The reason for traveling south is unknown. It may be to visit the lost people, or it may be for other family matters (it is said that Cao Xueqin was the staff of Yin Jishan, the governor of Liangjiang at that time). During my southern tour, I experienced the mountains and rivers, looked at the old traces and listened to the past. Zhang Yiquan's poem Huai Xi is considered to be a work of this period. ?
In the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong (1760), Cao Xueqin was forty-six. In the early autumn, Dunmin wrote a poem "Sitting Behind Closed Doors", saying, "Long friendship is a dream." It may refer to Cao Xueqin's trip to the south and his failure to return after many years. After traveling to the south for more than a year, I returned to Beijing around the Double Ninth Festival. Shortly after the festival, Dunmin ran into Cao Xueqin in Xuan Shi written by his friend Lin Mingjia, and wrote a poem "Feeling and Growing Up" to remember him.
Die of poverty and disease
After Cao Xueqin went south to Beijing, he continued to write A Dream of Red Mansions. In the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (Renwu 1762), Cao Xueqin was forty-eight years old. Due to the early death of his young son, he was bedridden with grief. He died in Beijing on New Year's Eve. Duncheng wrote "Holding Cao Xueqin", Dunmin wrote "Drinking by the River and Hanging Xueqin on the Wall", and Zhang Yiquan wrote "Hurting a Buddhist in Qinxi".
In the forty-fourth year of Qianlong (1779), Cao Xueqin died of illness in the seventeenth year. Duncheng wrote "Letter to Big Brother (Dunmin)" in memory of Cao Xueqin.
Extended data
Literary features
Born in wealth, he finally declined. Cao Xueqin's family background fell from the prosperity of flowers to decline, which made him deeply realize the sadness of life and the ruthlessness of the world, and also got rid of the vulgarity and intolerance of the primitive class, and saw the irreversible decline of feudal aristocratic families, but it also brought disillusionment and sadness. His tragic experience, his poetic feelings, his spirit of exploration and his sense of innovation are all integrated in A Dream of Red Mansions.
Love the dream of life and be born after entering the WTO is a contradiction in Cao Xueqin's exploration of life. Cao Xueqin is not a person who hates the world. He doesn't really think that everything in the world is empty, nor does he really explore the world of mortals. He really wants to persuade people to wake up from the so-called dust dream. Otherwise, he will not shed bitter tears for the sorrow of the world, nor will he be so attached to real life.
It is with a deep feeling and his own personal experience that he wrote the desire to enter the WTO and be born, the truth of life obsessed with pain and longing for liberation, and the contradictory emotional world and realistic life experience.
A dream of red mansions was opened for the first time, and two authors introduced themselves. In these two prefaces, Cao Xueqin described the origin, experience and experience of writing, and clearly expressed his literary thoughts and creative principles.
He first criticized those formulaic, conceptual and unrealistic creative tendencies, thinking that this kind of creation is far less fresh and unique than the works created according to his own body and senses, and those works that are "too inconsiderate and contradictory" are "not as good as these women I have personally heard for half my life". "There are ups and downs, so I follow the traces and dare not walk through them at all."
He does not rely on any historical stories, nor does he rely on any folk creation, but directly draws materials from real social life, which is "every word is like blood" and permeates the author's personal feelings of blood and tears. The works are "truthfully described, not taboo", which keeps the diversity of real life and the richness of phenomena.
From all kinds of characters, it shows the absurdity, weakness, isolation and decline of the rich family. The characters he wrote broke the writing style of "the good guys are completely good and the bad guys are completely bad" in the past, and "the characters described are all real characters", which changed the characterization of ancient novels from typology to personalization and shaped typical characters.
Cao Xueqin perceives life with the poet's sensitivity, focuses on his own life experience, and consciously creates poetic artistic conception, making his works graceful and subtle, so vivid and unattainable.
Different from the previous novels, which condescended to judge life, set up moral courts and strictly judged personnel, he wrote about the characters' inner trembling, incomprehensible psychology, unavoidable bitterness and ruthlessness in life, and let readers taste the situation of life.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Cao Xueqin