Cao Xueqin was born between about 1715 and 1763 during the early Qing Dynasty and is the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, the most successful and popular classical novel in Chinese history.

OverviewHe was born to a rich senior official family in the reign ofEmperor Kangxi, who favored the family and once stayed with them for four times during his five cruises of south China. Therefore, Cao had a very luxurious childhood living in Nanjing where his father served the Qing Dynasty as a local textile senior official. But in the sixth year during EmperorYongzheng(son of Emperor Kangxi)’s reign, the Cao family was searched and its properties were confiscated by the central government. Since then, the family had become poor and Mr. Cao had to return to the old residence of his family in Beijing, and later moved to another residence in the western suburban area of Beijing. During this downturn period, Mr. Cao fed his family by selling his calligraphic works and was financially helped by his wealthy friends, some of whom lived in prince residences. It was this period when he accomplished the novel Dream of the Red Chamber.

ChildhoodLike so many of us, Mr. Cao was a naughty boy when he was young. He hated the writing style (Ba Gu Wen) of that time, and so he didn’t like reading authoritative books of Confucianism like the Four Books and Five Classics and was not hoping to pass the exams of that time to become an official like his father and grandfather. Although he was seriously and well educated, family teachers were invited to teach him and he also had a few years of private family schooling, his grandmother spoiled him too much and protected him when he was wrongly measured by the education rules of that time during his learning period. However, his family was not only a wealthy family but also one which provided the young child with rich culture, traditional Chinese literature, art, drama, regimen, medical science, tea culture, texture and so on.

Downfall of the FamilyIn the sixth year of Emperor Yongzhe’s reign (1728) and when Mr. Cao was nearly 14 years, Cao Fu, his uncle (some think this is his father), was caught many crimes including courier station disturbance, textile deficits, property transferring and so on, and the Cao family was immediately searched and confiscated by the central government. Mr. Cao was forced to return to Beijing and gradually became depressed day by day, and had been living an extremely poor life since then. The time when he just returned to Beijing, he lived in an old house outsideChongwenmen.

Deficit Crime PardonedWhen Mr. Cao was 22 (1736, the year when Hongli (the name ofEmperor Qianlong) ascended the throne), Emperor Qianlong issued an imperial edict to remove the deficit crime of the Cao family. During the emperor’s early governance, Mr. Cao entered the governmental organs serving as a little official who assisted others in teaching, taught students and held other jobs. Since he had a good knowledge of culture, literature, art and many other areas, and could meet many higher class personalities of that time, he made friends with many of them. Some of his friends originated from prince families, and so he had experienced lots of prince residential culture.

Composure of Dream of the Red ChamberAlthough Mr. Cao had been serious hurt by his life experience, he still had some great dreams. At least, focusing on writing was one of them. One of his good friends Dun Cheng persuaded him to continue writing in spite of his terrible life experience. He accepted his friend’s good suggestion and made all efforts to compose the novel Dream of the Red Chamber during his ten-year recluse life in Xishan Mountain. The pervious name of the book was Feng Yue Bao Jian (a holy story about women, love and sex), which was later edited, partially deleted and rewritten by him five times in 10 years and finally became Dream of the Red Chamber.

End of His LifeDuring 1760 and 1759 when he was in his mid-40s, he traveled back to his young childhood home in Nanjing although no one knew why he did so during this time. After returning to Beijing from the south, he continued to write Dream of the Red Chamber. In the 27th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1762), Cao Xueqin, aged 48, fell into extremely deep sorrow because of the death of his young son, and became so ill that he couldn’t walk at all. About the time of this year’s New Year’s Eve, he passed away in Beijing.

Cao Xueqin MemorialToday tourists visiting theBeijing Botanical Gardencan tour the former study of Mr. Cao Xueqin, where he composed part of the book Dream of the Red Chamber, by visiting the Memorial of Cao Xueqin hidden inside the botanical garden. It is quiet a peaceful place for having a good rest and an ideal place for writers.

Source: baike.baidu.com