First, let’s explain the meaning of “Red Mansion”. In ancient times, red represented "daughter", that is, women; Lou refers to a boudoir house; Honglou refers to women who live in a boudoir house, and mostly refers to young ladies from official families. There is a paragraph of commentary that says: "The so-called 'The skeletons in the Qingzhong are the people hiding their faces in the Red Tower' is true. The author has worked hard."
Secondly, Red Tower and Zhulou are synonyms. In ancient times, "Red Mansion" refers to the gorgeous building where the women of rich and powerful families lived. For example, Bai Juyi's "Marriage Proposal in Qin Zhongyin" contains the sentence "The rich girl in the Red Mansion is embroidered with gold thread and Luo Ru". And Du Fu is known as "the wine and meat in the rich family smells bad, and the roads are frozen to death". Literally understood, Red Mansion means a wealthy family, which is synonymous with a wealthy family. It is unknown whether the author borrowed it from the book.
Third, red mansion and brothel are antonyms. The original meaning of "brothel" is a building decorated with green lacquer. It is generally a more ornate house. It mainly refers to the residence of the emperor, and sometimes it is also used as a synonym for a wealthy family. However, because gorgeous houses are associated with gorgeous and luxurious life, the meaning of brothel unknowingly changed and began to be associated with prostitutes.
Fourth, alluding to the fate of the feudal dynasty. Although the time when the story took place is never stated in the work, we can infer from the plot that it is either writing about the late Ming Dynasty, or the Qing Dynasty, or the author mixed the Ming and Qing Dynasties into one row, but this is definitely not the case. It's about other dynasties.
However, as everyone knows, the capitals of the Ming and Qing dynasties were the Forbidden City, which is now the Forbidden City. The overall architectural tone of the Forbidden City is red. That is to say, although the author explicitly writes about the fate of the woman in the Red Mansion, in fact, the author is alluding to the historical fate of the feudal dynasty at that time.
In fact, the author uses a lot of lingo throughout the text in order to avoid the literary constraints of the times. From the perspective of the title, the author also used this technique.
In short, the author only proposed the concept of "Dream of Red Mansions" in the book, but did not use it as the title of the book at first, purely for the purpose of "hiding the true story and relying on the theory of channeling". However, the author's good intentions were finally understood by future generations, and the title "Dream of Red Mansions" that the author wanted to use but failed to use was finally adopted. I think if the author had knowledge underground, he would be able to rest in peace even under the Nine Springs.
Extended information:
The creative background of the writing process of "A Dream of Red Mansions"
"A Dream of Red Mansions" was born at the end of China's feudal society in the 18th century. At that time, the Qing government implemented a secluded country. The whole country was immersed in the dream of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong and the heavenly kingdom. On the surface, this period seemed peaceful, but underneath, various social conflicts were intensifying and developing, and the entire dynasty had reached a turning point of prosperity and decline.
During the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, four generations of the Cao family worked together in Jiangning weaving for 58 years. When the Cao family was at its peak, they had four missions to pick up people. Cao Xueqin grew up in Nanjing and experienced a wealthy and prosperous aristocratic life in his youth. However, the family gradually declined, and in the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign (1728), it was confiscated due to a deficit, and Cao Xueqin's family moved back to Beijing.
After returning to Beijing, he worked as a clerk in charge of literature and calligraphy in a royal school, the "Right Wing Zongxue". His situation was poor and his life was difficult. In his later years, he moved to the western suburbs of Beijing, where his life became even poorer. "The paths were full of basil" and "the whole family often had porridge and wine on credit." The book "A Dream of Red Mansions" was written by Cao Xueqin in poverty after he went bankrupt and lost his family. The creation period was from the early to the thirtieth year of Qianlong's reign.
The first paragraph of the first chapter of "A Dream of Red Mansions" "The author says it" is Cao Xueqin's preface. In this preface, Cao Xueqin appears in her true identity and tells readers about the origin of writing. According to his own words, he wrote this book based on his old dream of prosperity that he experienced in Nanjing in his early years.
As I was living in the western suburbs of Beijing, doing nothing and accomplishing nothing, I suddenly recalled all the girls in my family when I was young. I felt that their knowledge and talents far exceeded my own, and I couldn't help but feel guilty. My ancestors narrowly escaped death to create this family fortune. At that time, I was blessed, but I did not do my job properly and did not obey the discipline of my parents and teachers. As a result, when I grew up, I accomplished nothing and spent half my life in poverty.
Cao Xueqin wrote this experience and repentance into a novel to tell readers that although he is unavoidable, those girls are real people in life and must not be used to cover up his crimes. Their deeds are unknown. When I think of this, my heart is filled with excitement, and all difficulties are out of the question. What's more, the leisurely life in the countryside and the pleasant scenery made his thoughts flow like a spring and his writing became like a god.
Cao Xueqin was modest about his talent and lack of knowledge, so he had to write this novel in the vernacular of the people. He intended to create biographies for those girls, relieve his own depression, and provide readers with the opportunity to play and appreciate.
Reference material 1: Baidu Encyclopedia: A Dream of Red Mansions
Reference material 2: People's Daily Online: Let's start with the translation of "A Dream of Red Mansions"