? Cao Xueqin was born into a wealthy family with a distinguished family background. Three generations of ancestors were favored by Emperor Kangxi, and Cao Shi became the first family in Nanjing for a hundred years. The Cao family has a large collection of books and a profound knowledge of family studies. His grandfather Cao Yin has a book 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. Living in such a rich environment since childhood, he received the education of his father and brother, the discipline of teachers and friends, read a lot of books, searched for opera, food, health care, medicine, tea ceremony and weaving, which made him a versatile person. However, in the early years of Yongzheng, the Cao family's property was confiscated, and Cao Xueqin's family returned to Beijing to live. From flowers to brocade, they suddenly fell into a state of decline.
The decline of family fortune made him experience many misfortunes in life at once, and deeply felt the coldness of human feelings and the indifference of the world. However, for the sake of family rejuvenation, he studied hard, looked for friends from teachers, and tried many ways to meet the dignitaries in the DPRK. However, due to his criminal status or other reasons, he only held some humble small positions.
? Cao Xueqin moved to the western suburbs of Beijing in his later years and lived in poverty, reaching the point where he was "full of Artemisia" and "a family ate porridge". But with the ambition of "mending the sky", he never slackened. My friend sincerely appreciated his talent, and when he learned that he was frustrated because of his status as a guilty minister, he comforted and encouraged him in a poem in memory of Cao Xueqin: "I advise you not to beat the cymbals of diners, and I advise you not to 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 is intended to persuade him to retreat and write a book in Xishan with extraordinary talent.
? Cao Xueqin really lived up to expectations. During the ten years of seclusion in Xishan, although he was tortured by hunger, fatigue and illness, he still insisted on writing, and with tenacious perseverance, he intensively read the old work Yue Feng Baojian, which lasted for ten years, adding and deleting five times, and wrote the masterpiece A Dream of Red Mansions.
? Just as he finished writing the first eighty chapters, his beloved little son died prematurely, and he was bedridden with excessive sadness and grief. Finally, he died of poverty and illness, less than fifty years old. Unfortunately, before his death, the whole book was not finished. However, deformity is also a kind of beauty, just like Venus with a broken arm. A Dream of Red Mansions also left a lot of room for speculation and reverie because of this incomplete regret, so many sequels of A Dream of Red Mansions with high literary and artistic value appeared in later generations.
Cao Xueqin's "life experience is full of dignity, honor and disgrace, ups and downs, parting and joys and sorrows". Although he is full of difficulties and brilliant, his life is as brilliant as the masterpiece A Dream of Red Mansions, which is worth reading by later generations.