Cao Xueqin, whose real name is Zhan, is also known as Qin Pu, Fu Shi and so on. His ancestral home is Xiangping (now Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province), and he is also said to be a rich family in Hebei. Originally Han Chinese, it became the "coating" of Zhengbaiqi (Manchu, meaning slave) in the interior office long before Manchu entered the Central Plains. Cao Yanzhen, his ancestor, was a hero who entered the customs from the Dragon, and belonged to the Dourgen system. His great-grandmother Sun Shi was Kangxi's wet nurse and his grandfather Cao Yin was Kangxi's "servant" when he was young. After Kangxi ascended the throne, Cao Jiaxuan was in turmoil in the ruling and opposition circles. In the second year of Kangxi (1663), great-grandfather Cao took the lead in weaving in Jiangning. Later, his grandfather Cao Yin, uncle Cao Yong and father Cao Fuxian succeeded three generations of grandparents and grandchildren. As an important export that the emperor's cronies could not serve, they earned foreign exchange for more than 60 years, which was the heyday of the Cao family. However, in the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), due to the infighting of the incident, the property was confiscated. In the second year, the whole family returned to the north, and their fortunes fell. It is said that in the early years of Qianlong, the Cao family suffered a greater disaster and never recovered.
Cao Xueqin's life happened to experience the ups and downs of Cao's family. He was born in Nanjing. Born in the 54th year of Kangxi (17 15) or the 2nd year of Yongzheng (1724), he moved back to Beijing with his family in the 6th year of Yongzheng (1728). There is little biographical information about his life, only some sporadic records and poems of his good friends Duncheng, Dunmin and Zhang Yiquan can reveal his poverty in his later years and the embarrassment that "the whole family often pays for porridge and wine". His immortal masterpiece A Dream of Red Mansions was written at this time. Because of poverty and illness, his youngest son died, and he died at the moment when the manuscript was still to be polished. About the year of his death, it is called the New Year's Eve at noon in the 27th year of Qianlong (1762), or the New Year's Eve in the 28th year of Qianlong (1763), or Shen Jia in the 29th year of Qianlong (1764).
The first eighty manuscripts of A Dream of Red Mansions are called "The Story of the Stone" (or "The Re-evaluation of the Story of the Stone by Zhi Yanzhai"), which is also called "Fat Review Edition" or "Fat Edition" because of the comments of Zhi Yanzhai and others. At present, there are eleven kinds of "fat storytelling", and Cao Xueqin copied three kinds before his death, namely Xu Jiashu (1754), Matou Shu (1759) and Chen Geng Shu (1760), all of which are incomplete books. The other eight books are Biography of Qi State, Chen Jiashu, Mongolian Book, Dream Manuscript, Shu Shuxu, Leningrad Book, Nanjing Library Book and Zheng Zhenfeng Book. These manuscripts are closer to the original novel because they are closer to the writing time of Cao Xueqin. At the same time, the book also retains the comments of Zhi Yanzhai and others who are closely related to Cao Xueqin, which is of great reference value to the study of Cao Xueqin's family background and life, the creative basis and process of A Dream of Red Mansions, and the general outline of the lost story in the last thirty chapters, and is an important material for the study of A Dream of Red Mansions.
The novel was written in ancient times, and Nu Wa tried to mend the sky by refining stones, leaving a stubborn stone unused and abandoned at the foot of Qinggan Peak. Since this stubborn stone has been tempered and become psychic, I implore immortals and mysterious real people to send it to "a prosperous country, a home of poetry and propriety, a land of prosperous flowers and willows, a land of wealth and gentleness". The second fairy had no choice but to turn it into a "spiritual treasure jade" that can be worn and taken, and sent it to the police station in the dreamland. At that time, Shen Ying, the waiter of the Red Defect Palace, watered the dying crimson pearl grass on the bank of Sansheng Stone in Xiling River with the water of dew, and finally made the crimson pearl grass "delay the years" and become a female shape. Shen Ying, a waiter, is eager to be a man in his next life. The crimson pearl grass felt his kindness and vowed to repay him with tears of his life, and followed him down to earth to rob him. This is the so-called "wood-stone alliance" and "paying debts with tears". The psychic Baoyu, transformed from a hard stone, was "brought into the world of mortals" by the waiter. I don't know how many times I've been robbed, but the empty Taoist passed by Geng Qingfeng. When he saw a big stone engraved with handwriting, he copied it from beginning to end. Cao Xueqin read it, added and deleted it, and it became this book.
There is a gourd temple in Gusu City, next to which lives a township official, Yin Shi. Out of sympathy for the poor Confucian scholar Jia Yucun who lived in the temple, he gave money to help him take the imperial examination. Unexpectedly, on the night of the Lantern Festival, my daughter was abducted, and the Hulu Temple caught fire, which affected the Zhen family. When I was in poverty and illness, I was enlightened by the lame Taoist "good song" and fled into an empty net. Jia Yucun chose a county magistrate after the imperial examination, and was dismissed for being greedy for money, so he went to Lin Ruhai's house in Yangzhou Salt Administration. One day, I ran into my good friend Leng Zixing and listened to his speech about the rise and fall of Rongning House. He said, "Although the shelf didn't fall very badly, the internal capsule came up." At that time, Jia Yucun turned to Fu Rong's son-in-law Lin Ruhai for help because the court was rehabilitated. Lin Ruhai also wanted to entrust her daughter Lin Daiyu to her grandmother Jia Taijun because of her wife's death, so she asked Jia Yucun to send her daughter back to Beijing and wrote a letter of recommendation with her brother-in-law, Jia Zheng.
When Daiyu first entered Fu Rong, she was very careful. Seeing Baoyu, both of them felt deja vu, and they felt deja vu. Baoyu saw that Daiyu didn't psychic Baoyu, so he took off his own and fell to the ground, which made him unhappy. One day, plum blossoms in Ningfu were in full bloom, and Jia Zhen's wife You invited Jia Mu and others to enjoy them. Baoyu slept in Jia Zhen's daughter-in-law Qin Keqing's bedroom for a while and fell asleep. He read the Atlas of Twelve Women in Jinling, listened to the tune of A Dream of Red Mansions, and bid farewell to the fairy Ke Qing. After waking up, pretty maid and I led xiren to sleep.
With the help of Jia Zheng, Jia Yucun was appointed as Yingtianfu in Jinling. As soon as Jia Yucun arrived, he accepted a winning kidnapping and murder case. The man who robbed and won in a row and killed the original owner was Xue Pan of the Xue family in Jinling. Afraid of the influence of the four big families, I didn't expect the money sent by Zhen Yinshi to solve the case. Xue Pan took it and went to Beijing with his mother, Aunt Xue, and his sister Baochai. After entering Beijing, Xue Baochai lived in Jiafu temporarily, and was loved by people because of her dignified appearance and modest personality. Baochai was beheaded because of illness when she was young. The monk gave her a golden lock to ward off evil spirits, and she will take it with her in the future. One day, I saw that Baoyu also had a treasure, which coincided with his golden lock. I pondered for a long time. This is the so-called "golden marriage". Because Daiyu and Baoyu are childhood friends, they love each other, so Daiyu often takes the opportunity to ridicule the so-called "golden marriage".
On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, Qin Keqing died of illness. Jia Zhen is heartbroken, such as losing his wife. In order to make the funeral scene more beautiful, he donated a five-product dragon card to his son Jia Rong, and invited Fu Rong Jia Lian's wife Wu Xifeng as his assistant. Xifeng is smart and capable, and the scenery on the funeral day is infinite. That night, she lived in Tiexier Temple in the suburbs. Because of her lust for silver, Feng forcibly separated a pair of young people who loved each other and made them angry and committed suicide. Next year, Jia Zheng's eldest daughter was awarded the title of princess at the beginning of Yuan Chun, and the emperor allowed her to go home to "visit her relatives". The Jia family then built a garden, and Baoyu wrote an equal amount in each door of the garden. On the night of Lantern Festival, Yuan Feiluan drove into the mansion, titled the Garden "Grand View Garden", and invited Baoyu and other sisters to write poems. Daiyu wanted to show her talents, but as a result, she only wrote one article, which is a little regrettable. Princess Yuan returned to the palace and ordered Baoyu and other sisters to live in the garden. Baoyu played with the girls in the garden all day after he entered the park, so he was very happy. Buddhist nun Yan Ming brought The Romance of the West Chamber into the garden, and Baoyu and Daiyu enjoyed the masterpiece together. Baoyu takes Zhang Sheng and Yingying as metaphors, while Daiyu is extremely salty, but she is also associated with them. At that time, Lin Ruhai was already dead, and Daiyu lived in other people's homes and often shed tears. In the late spring, when I saw the fallen flowers, I felt deeply about my life experience. I buried the flowers with my hoe and recited "Flower Funeral Words", and the injury was revealed. Daiyu is sensitive by nature and has deep feelings. She is often misunderstood and often argues with Baoyu. The girl was considerate and Baoyu valued her very much, so he advised Baoyu to study and do business. On this day, Shi Xiangyun, the granddaughter of Jia's family, also advised Baoyu to pay attention to his economic career. Baoyu confessed to her: Sister Lin never said such nonsense. Daiyu happened to pass by and was very happy to hear this. At this point, Baochai and Daiyu "live in two places with one heart and one mind".
One day, Jia Baoyu's mother, Mrs. Wang, summoned Baoyu. Baoyu took advantage of his mother's maid to sleep sideways and teased her. Mrs. Wang heard this and angered Jin Chuaner. Jin Chuaner was humiliated and drowned. Jia Huan lied that he committed suicide because of Baoyu's attempted rape. At the same time, Zhongshun sent someone to Jia's house to find Qi Xianren, an actress closely related to Baoyu. Jia Zheng flew into a rage, thinking that he would "kill his father" in the future, and slapped him hard until the grandmother heard the news and the storm subsided. Aaron therefore gave advice to Mrs. Wang, who regarded Aaron as an aunt. The autumn wind is gradually rising in the Grand View Garden. Baoyu's sister Tan Chun advocated the establishment of Haitang Poetry Society, and Jia Zheng's daughter-in-law Li Wan recommended herself. The two sisters wrote twelve poems about chrysanthemums, and Daiyu was superior and overwhelmed the public. At that time, Xing Xiuyan, Wen Li, Xue Baoqin and other cousins all lived in Jiafu, and the Grand View Garden was very lively. Granny Liu, an old village girl, has a close relationship with Mrs. Wang. At the end of the year, she went to Jia's house to blow the autumn wind, and the grandmother left her to gossip. There was a big banquet in the Grand View Garden, and everyone made fun of Granny Liu. Granny Liu is experienced and willing to act as a joke. Later, she returned to her hometown with a silver gift from the Jia family. Before leaving, she named Xifeng's daughter "Qiaojie". Grandmother Jia likes to be lively, so she gave a banquet for Xifeng's birthday. Xi Feng got drunk and went home early. She found that her husband Jia Lian was having an affair with her servant girl, and she made a scene in Fu Rong, forcing the daughter-in-law of Bao Er, the servant girl, to death.
The extravagance in Fu Rong is getting worse and worse. Jia Zheng's younger brother Jia She takes a fancy to the maid Yuanyang around the old lady and wants to marry him as a concubine. Mrs. Xing, Jia She's wife, dared to tell the old lady this story. Yuanyang wanted to die, and the old lady was furious. She scolded Mrs. Xing, and Jia She's extravagant hopes fell through. Xue Pan has been dissolute all day since he entered Beijing. One day, I molested Liu Xianglian and was lured to the suburbs by Liu Xianglian to beat him up. Xue Pan felt uncomfortable and went out to do business. Daiyu's maid Zijuan lied that Daiyu was going back to her hometown in Gusu. Baoyu got a fright and was very ill. He also ordered Zi Juan to explain in many ways that Baoyu was still ill. Everyone knows what the Baodai couple are thinking, and everyone thinks they are a good couple. On Baoyu's birthday, the sisters celebrated in the Grand View Garden, and Miaoyu, a Taoist who took care of her practice in the garden, also wrote a post congratulating her on being an outsider. Jia Jing Tundan of Ningfu was killed, presided over by you personally, and invited his mother and two sisters to help. Jia Lian has coveted your sister for a long time, and so has Second Sister You. Jia Rong arranged that Jia Lian secretly married Second Sister You outside. Although You Sanjie misbehaved, she was strong-willed and vowed not to get married unless Liu Xianglian intervened. After Jia Lian went out, Lu asked Xiang Lian what your third sister meant. Liu Xianglian readily promised. After Liu Xianglian returned to Beijing, he chatted with Baoyu. Knowing that You Sanjie was Jia Zhen's wife and sister gave birth to the meaning of breaking the contract. When You Sanjie heard about it, he committed suicide. Liu Xianglian regretted it and fled into an empty net. Jia She's daughter Yingchun's maid Siqi had an affair with her cousin Pan Youan. One day, Yuanyang accidentally bumped into her, and Pan Youan hurriedly left the embroidered spring bag in the Grand View Garden. Maid silly elder sister picked up the sachet and was seen by Mrs. Xing. Mrs. Wang was furious when she learned that she had copied the Grand View Garden. Wang Shanbao's wife, Feng Jie, copied the Grand View Garden at night, and the chess was driven out. Tanchun is full of energy, and when he is angry, he hits the servant; Cherish the spring and the world, to a corner. Seeing Qingwen's charming appearance, Mrs. Wang suspected that she had harmed Baoyu, so she ordered Qingwen to be driven out of the Grand View Garden. Qingwen was driven away and died with a grudge. Baoyu wrote Lotus to pay homage to her and express his infinite nostalgia and sadness.
Xue Pan married Jingui, and Xiangling was tortured and finally trampled on, "causing Xiang to return to her hometown". After Yingchun got married, she was bullied by her husband "Zhongshan Wolf" and died a year later. Tanchun married overseas, "Qingming tears sent to the river to see", desolate and resentful. The Grand View Garden is getting colder and colder. Dai Yu wrote "Ten Crossing Songs" and sighed all day long. There are rumors in the Jia family that Daiyu has misbehaved and Baoyu has "incompetence". In the "wind knife and frost sword", Daiyu "cherishes others but doesn't know self-pity", and her condition is aggravated. Grandmother Jia died of illness, and the tree that Lin Daiyu relied on for shade fell down. Mrs Wang conveyed Yuan Chun's wishes and chose Baochai as Baoyu's wife. Daiyu "died in tears" and finally "proved the front". Baoyu's "bereavement" is very painful. After marriage, Baoyu turned a deaf ear to "Baochai borrowed words with irony and advice" and just missed Daiyu.
Yuan Chun died, and Jia Fu was very sad. At that time, historians and Wangs who were "connected with the Jia family" suffered one after another. Jia Baoyu "dismissed" the maids around him and went home. Aroma went to ask "at least keep the musk moon." Jia Lian abandoned Wang Xifeng, Mrs. Xing, Aunt Zhao and others to secretly rejoice. Wang Renhe, a cruel uncle, and Jia Rong, a treacherous brother, sold Qiaojie to Goulan. The misdeeds of the second mansion in Rongning finally suffered a great disaster, and the "Ji Mei" was confiscated. All civil servants in the government were detained and punished for crimes. Jia Yun, Xiaohong and others generously visited the house, and many lords tried to rescue Baoyu, Baochai and Xifeng. Desperate, Xifeng cried to Jinling with her sick body in her arms and died in her hometown. Granny Liu lost all her money, redeemed Qiaojie, who lived in the hometown of fireworks, and made Banel marry Qiaojie. Aroma and chess officials "sacrificed" Baoyu and Baochai. Baoyu walked through the cold world, finally abandoned Baochai and Sheyue, and "pulled back from the cliff" and left. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, a fire razed Jia's house to the ground. "It's so clean when it's white!"
The fairy in the dreamland revealed the "emotion expression", Baoyu was "emotion or not" and Daiyu was "emotion". Shen Ying waiter and crimson pearl grass finally meet. The stubborn stone has also returned to its former appearance, returned to the green stalk peak, and engraved its half-life experience on the body, letting the wind and rain erode and letting the years pass. ...
A Dream of Red Mansions is the insurmountable peak of China's novel literature, which has been controversial since its publication. Mr. Lu Xun once said: "Scholars see the Book of Changes, Taoists see lewdness, talented people see lingering, revolutionaries see full rows, and gossips see secret things in the palace." Cao Xueqin himself seems to know that this is not easy to understand. There is a quatrain in the book: "Full of absurd words, a bitter tear! Dou Yun's author is stupid, who knows the taste? " Although there is a famous saying in the west: "A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets", it doesn't mean that you can comment at will. In any case, it is the only way to understand the taste of the novel from its content and publishing background.
A Dream of Red Mansions was written in the middle of Qianlong period, which coincided with the "prosperous period of Kangxi and Qianlong" in Qing Dynasty. However, Cao Xueqin was keenly aware of the ugliness of that era and the sadness of life because of his bumpy experience and down-and-out situation. His Dream of Red Mansions is his unique taste and feeling of social life at that time. A Dream of Red Mansions, centered on the love and marriage tragedies of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai, describes the whole process of Jia Fu's prosperity and decline, and exposes the darkness and ugliness of society under the feudal system. At the same time, the novel reveals the hopelessness and sadness of life from the tragic situation of "a thousand red flowers crying" and "Wan Yan mourning together". The novel seems to mourn the decline of old things and the strangulation of new things, and the whole novel is always filled with a pessimistic nostalgia. It can be said that the novel has the meaning of elegy of feudal system, but at the same time, the author praises the rebels of feudal system who are still in infancy and have preliminary democratic thoughts, and expresses new hazy ideals.
In this encyclopedic work at the end of feudal society, Jia Baoyu's rebellious life and the life tragedy of twelve women in Jinling constitute a great and regrettable tragedy, in which the love and marriage tragedies of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai are the main body of the whole novel tragedy, while Jia Baoyu is the center, as Mr. Lu Xun said in A Brief History of Chinese Novels: "The sadness and fog spread all over the forest, but it is understood by breathing."
Jia Baoyu is a direct descendant of the government. He was born with the title of "psychic Baoyu", which can be described as a natural anomaly. He is clever and witty. Although he doesn't do "serious work", his poems and songs are excellent in everything. Even Jia Zheng, who doesn't like him, secretly applauds him, and he is outstanding among the children of Jia's family who are arrogant and extravagant. Jia Baoyu is the natural heir of the Jia family. It is precisely because of the unique position of his heir that he can "hang out" with innocent girls for a long time. The special living environment and atmosphere he lived in made him deeply disgusted with the hypocrisy, decay and spiritual and moral decay of feudal nobles. He refused to "attach importance to the relationship between Confucius and Mencius and devote himself to the economic way" and told him to study, so he made a scene in the study and was very dissatisfied with the "four books and five classics" He is "stupid and afraid of reading articles", and his homework is to ask his sister to let others do it for him. But he is infatuated with Zhuangzi, and he can't let go of the West Chamber smuggled into the mansion by buddhist nun, and "he doesn't even want to eat rice". He is the person who hates socializing most. Whenever his father asks him to go out to meet guests, he looks lifeless and has no intention of flying in the sky at all. But he often sneaks out, drinking and reciting poems with Feng Ziying, who is good at fist hunting, and Liu Xianglian, who is simple and generous. He also fell in love with Guan Qi, a player named Shun Wang Fu, and he was killed. He pinned all his enthusiasm and ideals on the girls who were insulted and hurt in the Grand View Garden. He believes that "the beauty of heaven and earth is only for women, and men are not just scum." He also said, "My daughter is made of water and my man is made of mud. I feel refreshed when I see my daughter, and I feel smelly when I see a man. " He is willing to serve the maids and help them change their makeup and skirts. Even the story of a girl smoking firewood made up by Grandma Liu made him "think all night". His love for girls is almost abnormal, such as eating red rouge on the maid's mouth. Essentially, these grotesque words and deeds are the result of reactions to people like "bearded people" and "traitors". These rebellious behaviors are naturally intolerable to feudal defenders. Jia Baoyu was called "the black sheep of his family" and "the devil on earth", for which he was almost killed by his father. It should be noted that Jia Baoyu's rebellion is not firm and thorough. He also has many playboy habits. He was furious because of Qingwen's contradiction. He once kicked xiren for opening the door late. When he abandoned feudal morality, it was inseparable from the prosperity of Zhumen embroidery households. He is a "rich and idle man". Boundless emptiness always bothers him. He can frolic in the Grand View Garden all day, or indulge in poetry and songs with Liu Xianglian and Jiang Yuhan, but he can't get rid of the pessimism of feudal eschatology. He likes to get together, but he doesn't like to leave. Seeing the flowers in full bloom, he thought that the flowers withered and withered, and his pessimism reached the extreme. His heart is dead. He has left the cliff.
On the road of rebellion, Jia Baoyu got sympathy and support from Lin Daiyu, who was with him since childhood and never told him "those bastards". Based on their common interests, they have a deep love. When Lin Daiyu was a child, her parents died and she lived in Jiafu. Being withdrawn by nature, but relying on others makes her sensitive and suspicious. She often uses the words "interests outweigh knives" to fight back and ridicule others in order to maintain her purity and elegance. All this is regarded as "stingy" and "narrow-minded", which does not conform to the gentle and honest boudoir. In Jia's family, "360 days a year, the wind and sword and first frost pressed each other". What supported her life was her love with Baoyu and the love of this rebel, which made her live in infinite pain and depression. Because of the intervention of Xue Baochai's "golden marriage", Lin Daiyu had to test Baoyu again and again. When Jia Baoyu told her the truth, she was "speechless with anger". It's not that Lin Daiyu can't see Baoyu's true feelings. It is only in this environment that she is extremely demanding of love. She is torturing Baoyu and herself, and she has tasted the noblest, strongest and most personal pain in this torture. Compared with Baoyu, she prefers parting to gathering. She would like to bury a delicious grave in the corner of the garden with a small hoe and cry. She is willing to lie quietly in the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, with uneven bamboo shadows and dark moss marks, crying in the wind. She always struggled with the hypocrisy and affectation of feudalism with a sincere heart, and finally her heart was crushed in the dark environment of "wind, knife, frost and sword pressing each other" Leng Yue Buries Flowers Soul should be the best annotation of Lin Daiyu's lonely life.
Another unforgettable girl image in the novel, Xue Baochai and Lin Daiyu, complement each other. Like Daiyu, she looks as beautiful as flowers and jade, but she is different from Lin Daiyu in style, temperament and interest in life. Xue Baochai is gorgeous, dignified, virtuous, elegant and knowledgeable, which can be described as "perfect" for her and has always had many admirers. As early as then, some people "waved old fists" to argue about her rivalry with Daiyu. Before liberation, some even shouted "Marry like Xue Baochai". It's hard to see which is better, Baochai or Daiyu, from the novel. They represent two types respectively, showing a state of "two peaks are opposite". The beauty in Baoyu's heart is "bright and moving, like Baochai, charming and graceful, like Daiyu". Xue Baochai abides by feudal ethics and has a strong sense of feudalism. Baoyu once called her "a clean and white woman, and she also learned to get fame and became a traitor." However, because of this, she has always been deeply loved by people. When Jia Mu asked her what she liked to listen to and eat, she tried to verify what Jia Mu liked to listen to and eat. When Princess Yuan sent a riddle that was "nothing new" from the palace, she was "full of praise and deliberately thought about it", and even Aunt Zhao, who seemed to hate everyone in the Jia family, praised her for being a man. At that time, people who knew how to be human could not help being hypocritical, but Baochai's hypocrisy and sincerity were no different. She did what seemed hypocritical in good faith. Perhaps it is because of the snack Lengxiangwan that Baochai seems indifferent to everything. She doesn't like "pollen", and even the bedroom is decorated with "no toys of one color" and "like a snow hole" Even the tragedies of You Sanjie and Liu Xianglian only brought her a faint sentence: "This is also the fate of their previous lives." Ruthless about everything is the reason why she is good to everyone. "Let no one be heartless", and the label of the wine list she drew by herself happens to be her own truth. It should be said that this "perfect" beauty did not deliberately compete with Daiyu for Baoyu, nor did she seek the position of "Bao Er Grandma" by any means. She knew that Baodai was sentimental and that she and Baoyu were unhappy marriages, but feudal ethics made her swallow the bitter fruit silently. She is also a tragic figure, but she is not the tragedy of rebels, but the tragedy of defenders.
A Dream of Red Mansions' description of love and marriage tragedy is exquisite and profound, which has touched readers from generation to generation. The new brilliance and anti-feudal significance that flashed in it profoundly reflect that era, making people feel more and more emotional as they read it.
The novel centers on Jia Baoyu's rebellious life path, the tragic experience of twelve women in Jinling and the love and marriage tragedy of Bao, Dai and women, and also exposes the decay and moral decay of feudal aristocratic families. The second mansion of Rongning, the so-called "home of poetry, ceremony, hairpin and tassel", is extremely dirty in its bones. They spend a lot of money, and eating a crab is enough for the country people to live for a year; For Ke Qing's funeral, the ranks are like "pressing the silver mountain". They have no sense of shame. Jia forgave her age, but she wanted to marry Yuanyang, a maid, as a concubine, and threatened that she could not escape his hand. Jia Zhen and his wife can get married; People like Jia Rong and Jia Lian, even if they are "affectionate and filial", don't forget to "go whoring and gamble wildly". They are so shameless that they can't speak. Jiao Da scolded while drinking: "I'm going to the ancestral temple to cry. How dare you give birth to these animals now! I don't know anything about stealing dogs and playing with chickens every day and climbing ashes to raise my brother-in-law? " Mutual hatred and suspicion caused by property and power in the family occur every day, or you Shi said a sincere word: "all the people in our family only talk about hypocrisy and decency outside, and what they have done is enough." This is a zombie who exudes decadent atmosphere under the gentle cover of feudal ethics.
Cao Xueqin really felt the suffocation of the last feudal days, and he vaguely realized the social roots of the tragedy of A Dream of Red Mansions. But he attributed it all to the pain and impermanence of life. In the novel, the sad story of waiters and crimson flowers in Shen Ying, fairyland on earth and fairy tales of personnel directors, as well as a monk who comes and goes without a trace and Zhen Baoyu who has nothing, all cast a layer of sadness and nihilism on the novel, and the whole story is filled with empty and dreamy sadness.
A Dream of Red Mansions is the highest peak of China's ancient realistic literature. Her great achievements are not only reflected in profound ideological significance, but also in her extraordinary artistic achievements. "Since the publication of A Dream of Red Mansions, traditional thinking and writing have been broken." This sentence by Mr. Lu Xun undoubtedly points out the unique position of A Dream of Red Mansions.
Structurally, A Dream of Red Mansions completely broke the traditional single-line structure of China's classical novels and adopted many linear structures. With Jia Baoyu and Twelve Women in Jinling as the main line and the rise and fall of Jia Fu as the secondary line, she organically organized many figures and events to form a main network structure, showing us a picture of historical life in the last days of feudalism in all directions and at multiple levels. It is a unique step in the history of China literature that Cao Xueqin holds a multitude of things in one hand and shows them clearly and completely at the same time. No wonder Qi Kuisheng sighed in the preface to A Dream of Red Mansions: "I heard two songs, one in my throat and the other in my nose; Huang Hua has two letters, the left wrist can open letters, and the right wrist can grass. It's amazing! I don't know. There are two songs today, regardless of voice and nose, two songs, one song and two songs. This is an impossible thing, it is amazing, but it has won the book "Stone". Hey! Not the same. "
The characterization of A Dream of Red Mansions contradicts the typology of "all good people are good and all bad people are bad", which truly describes the richness and complexity of the characters. This can be seen clearly in Wang Xifeng. Wang Xifeng is sinister and vicious, setting up a lovesickness bureau with poison, playing politics in Tiejian Temple, and forcing Second Sister You to death with a fake knife, all of which are her actions, but she has a beautiful face and a bright personality, as Wang Kunlun said in "On Characters in a Dream of Red Mansions": "I hate cursing Feng, but I don't see Feng thinking about Feng." Jia Baoyu is a figure admired by the author, but he is also a wan ku who refuses to change his habits, forcing him to kneel and throwing teacups indiscriminately. The combination of beauty and ugliness like this is not the distinction between beauty and ugliness, but the true reproduction of beauty and ugliness, making beauty more beautiful and uglier.
A Dream of Red Mansions is good at describing daily life delicately and realistically, which is "better than a golden jar", but compared with the trivial complexity in Jin Ping Mei, it is more typical and tendentious. Jia's eating and drinking can be said to be a trivial matter, but the author took pains to write it again and again, but each time he wrote it, it had its own characteristics, revealing the author's unusual meaning. For example, seventy-five times when Jia Mu and others celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was still delicious food, still playing and singing, but there was no lively atmosphere in the past. Finally, it ended only after a month of silence, showing signs of Jia's decline.
The language of A Dream of Red Mansions is of high artistry, "characterized by simplicity and purity, accuracy and vividness, simplicity and diversity". She is outstanding in the personality and movements of the characters' language. For example, as soon as Xifeng appeared, she said, "I came late and didn't meet a distant guest", which is enough to show that Xifeng's birthday is not limited and her special position in this family. In addition, the novel's rich vocabulary and numerous proverbs also add a lot of color to the novel.
A Dream of Red Mansions is a great realistic work, reaching the pinnacle of China's classical novels both ideologically and artistically. Huang Zunxian, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, said that she was "the first good novel since ancient times, which should win glory with the sun and the moon and never be erased", and she was right. A Dream of Red Mansions, as a dazzling pearl in the history of China literature, will shine forever.
There are many sequels to A Dream of Red Mansions (Forty after the elevation, Dream of Red Mansions, Dream of Red Mansions (1), Dream of Red Mansions (1), Mirage Dream, Dream of Red Mansions (1) and Dream of Red Mansions (2). A Dream of Red Mansions (2), Dream of Red Mansions, Fantasy Wonderland, Dream of Red Mansions Shadow, Continued Dream of Red Mansions, Fantasy Wonderland, Story of New Stone (1), Story of New Stone (2), Remnant Dream of Red Mansions, True Dream of Red Mansions, Stone-filling, Another Dream of Red Mansions, Mushiyuan, Baodai karma, and Newly Continued Dream of Red Mansions have been added. A Dream of Red Mansions Supplement, Dream of Red Mansions Doubt, Dream of Love in a Dream of Red Mansions, Dream in a Dream of Red Mansions, Dream in a Dream of Red Mansions, Dream in a Dream of Red Mansions with Broken Recipes, Dream in a Dream of Red Mansions in Sanliuqiao, The Original Dream of Red Mansions as Seen by Chen Mi, The Original Dream of Red Mansions as Seen by Dai Chengfu, and The New Supplement to a Dream of Red Mansions) are the most famous. Whether these 40 poems were written by Gao E remains to be verified, but what is certain is that the author is not the same as the author of the first 80 poems in A Dream of Red Mansions. These 40 scripts were forcibly grafted after the first 80 scripts and edited by Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E to become 120, so they were called "Cheng Gaoben" or "120". Cheng Jiaben was first printed and published in 56th year of Qianlong (179 1 year)191year, and was revised and reprinted in 57th year of Qianlong (1792). In addition, there are Cheng Bingben, Wang Pingben (that is, Wang, the owner of flower protection), Zhang Pingben (that is, Taiping idlers), Yao Pingben (that is, Yao, a villager in Damou Village who was published in Guangxu period) and so on. The last forty chapters of Cost are not just a sequel. In order to unify the first eighty chapters with the last forty chapters, its authors Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E unscrupulously abridged and deleted the first eighty chapters, maliciously changing the original appearance of Cao Xueqin's original work. The so-called "forty-three volumes" is based on the "elevation following forty times" and added three times before it, making it a complete story with a beginning and an end. This is a good way of the original dream of red mansions. With these forty-three volumes of gold and jade, Forty Times After Elevation was cut out from the original Dream of Red Mansions, giving readers an original Dream of Red Mansions. Therefore, we attach importance to this sorted "Yu Jin Yuan". Other sequels of A Dream of Red Mansions are of little artistic value, and most of them are sequels of 120, which are not worth mentioning. Therefore, not a research expert, the best way to read A Dream of Red Mansions is not to read all sequels including Forty Times After Elevation.