Ts’ao Chan

Cao Zhan,
Wade-Giles romanization Ts’ao Chan, literary name (hao)
Xueqin, also called Cao Xueqin (b. 1715?, Jiangning
[now Nanjing], Jiangsu province, China—d. February
12, 1763, Beijing), author of Hongloumeng (Dream of
the Red Chamber), generally considered China’s
greatest novel. A partly autobiographical work, it
is written in the vernacular and describes in
lingering detail the decline of the powerful Jia
family and the ill-fated love between Baoyu and his
cousin Lin Daiyu.
Cao was the
grandson of Cao Yin, one of the most eminent and
wealthy men of his time. In 1727, however, his
family, which held the hereditary office of
commissioner of imperial textiles in Jiangning,
suffered the first of a series of setbacks and moved
to Beijing. By 1742 Cao’s contemporaries were
reporting him to be living in reduced circumstances
and engaged on a work that could hardly be anything
other than the Dream. The author finished at least
80 chapters of the novel before his death. The work
was said to be completed by Gao E (1738?–1815?).
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Dream of the Red
Chamber

Dream of the Red Chamber, Pinyin
romanization Hongloumeng, Wade-Giles romanization
Hung-lou-meng, novel written by Cao Zhan in the 18th
century; it is generally considered to be the
greatest of all Chinese novels.
The work, published
in English as Dream of the Red Chamber (1929), first
appeared in manuscript form in Beijing during Cao
Zhan’s lifetime. In 1791, almost 30 years after his
death, the novel was published in a complete version
of 120 chapters prepared by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E.
Uncertainty remains about the final 40 chapters of
the book; they may have been forged by Gao,
substantially written by Cao Zhan and simply
discovered and put into final form by Cheng and Gao,
or perhaps composed by an unknown author. The Story
of the Stone (1973–86) is a complete five-volume
English translation.
The novel is a
blend of realism and romance, psychological
motivation and fate, daily life and supernatural
occurrences. A series of episodes rather than a
strongly plotted work, it details the decline of the
Jia family, composed of two main branches, with a
proliferation of kinsmen and servants. There are 30
main characters and more than 400 minor ones. The
major focus, however, is on young Baoyu, the gifted
but obstinate heir of the clan. Spoiled by his
mother and grandmother, he is continually
reprimanded by his strict Confucian father, who
especially abhors Baoyu’s intimacy with his numerous
female cousins and maidservants. Most notable among
these relations are the melancholy Daiyu (Black
Jade), Baoyu’s ill-fated love, and the vivacious
Baochai (Precious Clasp), his eventual wife. The
work and the character of Baoyu in particular are
generally thought to be semiautobiographical
creations of Cao Zhan. His portrait of the extended
family reflects a faithful image of upper-class life
in the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12), while the
variety of individual character portraits reveals a
psychological depth not previously approached in
Chinese literature.
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