The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Cao Xueqin, also spelled Ts’ao Hsüeh-ch’in, was born as Cao Zhan, into a wealthy and influential family of Nanjing Bannermen, the descendants of the bondservants to whom the Manchus had entrusted administrative positions when they established the Qing Dynasty in 1644, was a painter, poet, writer, best known as the author of The Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. For three generations the family held the post of commissioner of imperial textiles, first in Suzhou and later in Nanjing, effectively controlling a large part of the silk trade. The clan was so wealthy that they were able to entertain the Emperor Kangxi four times. But calamity overtook them and their property was confiscated. Cao Xuegin was living in poverty near Peking when he wrote his famous novel The Story of the Stone (also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber).

Family

Cao was born to a Han Chinese clan that was forced into slavery (as bondservants) to the Manchu royalty in the late 1610s, his ancestors distinguished themselves through military service in the Plain White Branch of the Eight Banners and subsequently held posts as officials.

During the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the clan's prestige and power reached its height. Cao's grandfather, Cao Yin, was a childhood playmate to Kangxi while Cao Yin's mother, Lady Sun, was Kangxi's wet nurse. Two years after his ascension, Kangxi appointed Cao's great-grandfather, Cao Xi, as the Commissioner of Imperial Textiles in Jiangning, and the family relocated there.

When Cao Xi died in 1684, Cao Yin, as Kangxi's personal confidante, took over the post. Cao Yin was one of the era's most prominent men of letters and a keen book collector. By the early 18th century, the Cao clan had become so rich and influential as to be able to play host four times to the Kangxi Emperor in his six separate itinerant trips south to the Nanjing region.

When Cao Yin died in 1712, Kangxi, still in power, passed the office over to Cao Yin's only son, Cao Yong. Cao Yong died in 1715. Kangxi then allowed the family to adopt a paternal nephew, Cao Fu, as Cao Yin's posthumous son to continue in that position. Hence the clan held the office of Imperial Textile Commissioner at Jiangning for three generations.

The family's fortunes lasted until Kangxi's death and the ascension of the Yongzheng Emperor to the throne. In January of 1728, when Xueqin was thirteen or fourteen, the Caos lost favor with the emperor, and their estate in Nanjing was subjected to an imperial confiscation. Cao Fu was thrown in jail for their mismanagements of funds. Many believe this purge was politically motivated. The impoverished family then moved north to Beijing, where they were to spend the rest of their days in poverty, probably in the role of poor relations to a wealthier and more fortunate branch of the family. Here Xueqin wrote poetry, painted, and earned a meager living at least in part by selling paintings.

Life

Almost no records of Cao's early childhood and adulthood survive. Redology scholars are still debating Cao's exact date of birth, though he is known to be around forty to fifty at his death. Cao was the son of either Cao Fu or Cao Yong. It is known for certain that Cao Yong's only son was born posthumously in 1715; some Redologists believe this son might be Cao Xueqin.

Most of what we know about Cao was passed down from his contemporaries and friends. Cao eventually settled in the western suburbs of Beijing where he lived the larger part of his later years in poverty selling off his paintings. Cao was recorded as an inveterate drinker. Friends and acquaintances recalled an intelligent, highly talented man who spent a decade working diligently on a work that must have been Dream of the Red Chamber. They praised both his stylish paintings, particularly of cliffs and rocks and originality in poetry, which they likened to Li He's. Cao died sometime in 1763 or 1764, leaving his novel in a very advanced stage of completion. (The first draft had been completed, some pages of the manuscript were lost after being borrowed by friends or relatives.) He was survived by a wife after the death of a son.

Cao achieved posthumous fame through his life's work. The novel, written in "blood and tears", as a commentator friend said, is a vivid recreation of an illustrious family at its height and its subsequent downfall. A small group of close family and friends appears to have been transcribing his manuscript when Cao died quite suddenly in 1763-4, apparently out of grief owing to the death of a son. Extant handwritten copies of this work – some 80 chapters – had been in circulation in Beijing shortly after Cao's death and scribal copies soon became prized collectors' items.

In 1791, Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E, who claimed to have access to Cao's working papers, published and edited a "complete" 120-chapter version. This is its first moveable type print edition. Reprinted a year later with more revisions, this 120-chapter edition is the novel's most printed version. Modern scholars generally think the authorship of the 1791 ending – the last 40 chapters – to be in doubt.

Sources:
cn.hujiang.com
enotes.comt

This has been a very interesting read. I've been reading English and French, occasionally Russian, 18th and 19th century novels for decades. So when I came across this five volume set which makes up this novel of Chinese life in the 18th century, I decided to see what it's about.
The five volumes are as follows:
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 1: The Golden Days;
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 2: The Crab-Flower Club;
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 3: The Warning Voice;
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4: The Debt of Tears; and,
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 5: The Dreamer Wakes.
The novel has a great many stories going at once, and the cast of characters is incredibly extensive, so that you could use a score card to keep track of them,
If you plan on reading this momentous story, be prepared for a long journey of 2,563 pages. It will take some time to get through.

Gilbert wrote: "This has been a very interesting read. I've been reading English and French, occasionally Russian, 18th and 19th century novels for decades. So when I came across this five volume set which makes u..."

We read this a few years ago. Feel free to find the discussions in the archives and post if you wish. The rest of us will see new posts come up.