How was Dream of the Red Chamber written

Author: Cai Yijiang
Publisher:
Publishing Time: 2004-10-01
Features: This book is a new work by the renowned Red Scholar Cai Yijiang. The author examines and investigates the issue of the creation of Dream of the Red Chamber from various perspectives, including Cao Xueqin's birth and death years, the fate of the Cao family and Cao Xueqin personally, the reality and fiction of Dream of the Red Chamber, its critics, and the authors of the later forty chapters. The language of the book is witty and natural, and its argumentative perspectives are novel and unique, making it an innovative work in the study of the creation of Dream of the Red Chamber. In the process of its circulation, the actual situation of Dream of the Red Chamber was quite similar. Not everyone knows who the author of Dream of the Red Chamber is. Some say it's unclear, while others speculate it might be Cao Xueqin. But who was Cao Xueqin? Not many people knew. This understanding only came about in the early 20th century when the new Red School, led by Hu Shi, began historical research on the family background of the author and learned some about it, especially about his ancestors. To this day, it remains unclear who his father was, and the entire Red Scholarship community is divided on the issue. Some say he was the son of Cao Yong, others say he was the son of Cao Xun, and some even propose that Dream of the Red Chamber was not written by Cao Xueqin. So, when was Cao Xueqin born? How old did he live to be? These questions also vary in their answers. In this context, some opinions and prejudices, lacking sufficient evidence, are formed, which I believe are important prejudices. , it is commonly believed that Cao Xueqin must have experienced a life of luxury and pleasure like Jia Baoyu, and without such a life, how could he have written it? This is a common prejudice. Therefore, Jia Baoyu is seen as the shadow or embodiment of Cao Xueqin, with few directly equating the two. If the character of Jia Baoyu in the novel is basically the same as Cao Xueqin and the author, then the story depicted in the novel, although concealing the real events, is fundamentally the family history of the Cao family. This is another prejudice. The second prejudice is that a work as rich and encyclopedic as Dream of the Red Chamber cannot have been written by an author too young, lacking enough life experience and knowledge. If someone were to write Dream of the Red Chamber at a young age, say in their twenties, people would think it's not enough, and it would be more likely that they would need to be in their thirties or older to write it. In my opinion, this is also a prejudice. The third prejudice is that Cao Xueqin wrote Dream of the Red Chamber in a mountain village in the western suburbs of Beijing, known as "Writing Books in Huangye Village," a phrase from a poem. In Du Chen's poem, "It's Better to Write Books in Huangye Village," it is believed that Dream of the Red Chamber was written in Huangye Village in the western suburbs. However, later on, he didn't finish writing it and died suddenly due to circumstances beyond his control. Therefore, Dream of the Red Chamber remained unfinished, and Cao Xueqin died. I consider this to be another prejudice. The fourth point is that although the later forty chapters of the novel were written by others, they must contain remnants of Cao Xueqin's drafts, some outlines, or even just some chapter titles that inspired the completion of these forty chapters. In my opinion, this is also a prejudice. These are just some familiar opinions, and if they are to be confirmed as true, they must be based on reliable materials. However, in my view, these opinions do not stand up to strict scrutiny. The second issue I want to discuss is the determination of Cao Xueqin's birth and death years, which is a key factor in judging whether he could have experienced the prosperous days of the Cao family. This issue is actually very crucial. Some people are not interested in the question of his birth and death years; they say, "You red scholars can argue about it. Whether he died a year earlier or later, whether he was born a few years earlier or later, what does it matter? It has nothing to do with Dream of the Red Chamber." This relationship is actually very significant. Because of different perspectives, the birth year of Cao Xueqin differs by ten years. Some say he was born ten years earlier, while others say ten years later. However, one major event that occurred after Cao Xueqin's birth was the downfall of the Cao family, with Cao Xun's father being confiscated, convicted, and all their property seized, leading to their decline. They moved to Beijing to live. If Cao Xueqin was three or four years old at that time, like a child in kindergarten, compared to when he was thirteen or fourteen, it would be very different. If he was thirteen or fourteen, he would have memories, especially of his childhood, but if he was only three or four years old when the confiscation occurred, he would have no chance to experience a life of luxury and pleasure. Do you think this makes a big difference? I think it does. His birth year is not recorded in historical records. It is deduced based on the year of his death and his age. If you know the year he died, you can calculate his age and thus his birth year. There are only two records of his age. One is from a friend of Cao Xueqin, Du Chen, who was ten years younger than Cao Xueqin and very young. In the Jia Shen year, which is February 2, 1764, he wrote a poem in memory of Cao Xueqin. In the poem, he wrote about how many years old Cao Xueqin was. The poem was revised, so there are two drafts. One draft says, "Forty years old, too thin to live," a rather desolate description, and he was certainly seen at his funeral. The second draft says, "Forty years of youth, given to the unknown," meaning he lived to be forty years old and then passed away into the unknown. In both revisions, the word "forty" at the beginning remained unchanged. Therefore, Cao Xueqin should have been forty years old. The second material comes from another friend of Cao Xueqin, Zhang Yixquan, who did not attend Cao Xueqin's funeral, probably because he didn't know about it. Cao Xueqin was not a famous person or a high-ranking official, and he died in the western suburbs. Zhang Yixquan lived to the southeast, so the distance was quite far, and he probably learned about it later. Therefore, he wrote a poem titled "Imitating Qinxiu Jushi," "Qinxiu" being Cao Xueqin's pseudonym. The poem was a lament for him, and at the beginning, he added a preface. In the preface, he wrote, "He died before reaching fifty." His age was less than fifty when he died. These two materials are not contradictory; both say he died before fifty, but one is very specific and certain, while the other is more general and uncertain. Generally speaking, the first material is more reliable and should be used as the basis. Why? First, the relationship between Du Chen and Du Min, and Cao Xueqin, was relatively early, before they lived in the western suburbs, and they had interactions. More importantly, when he wrote the eulogy, he knew the exact age of the deceased. In our daily lives, people might estimate my age as around sixty or ask if I've reached seventy. We might not know much about each other, but when someone dies, it's usually known how old they were. If they were forty and lived to be in their eighties or nineties, it would be known. From this perspective, his material is accurate. Second, some people say it's fiction; sometimes people round up to a whole number, so forty doesn't necessarily mean exactly forty; it could also be in the forties. This might appear in other poems, but in the eulogy, when it's clear that he was in his forties or fifties, you wouldn't necessarily reduce his age to forty, and it's unlikely that both revisions would be to forty. "Forty years of youth" is "forty years of youth," but many people now agree with, use, and value Zhang Yixquan's statement, "He died before fifty." He said this was a prose phrase, not reaching fifty. Since he didn't reach fifty, you could guess he was in his early twenties or late forties. Most people guess he lived to be in his late forties, hoping Cao Xueqin lived longer, so it would better explain that he was in his teens during the confiscation and had a period of life. This is the perspective from which I argue it's wrong. We must start from the facts, and we must evaluate the credibility of each piece of evidence. In the second year of Yongzheng, by the end of the fifth year, an edict was issued to confiscate the family. If the confiscation started in the sixth year of Yongzheng, his age would be four in the lunar calendar, but around three in the solar calendar. At that age, how could he understand anything? He wouldn't have memories, and he couldn't have experienced a life of luxury and pleasure. Moreover, by the time Cao Xun came later, his life had become unbearable, and he had to sell things to buy vegetables every day. How could he see what was confiscated at the time? There were account books and official documents. By the end of the thirteenth year of Yongzheng and the first year of Qianlong, because the emperor changed, all convicted individuals were pardoned. This is correct. One document mentioned that Cao Xun, his father, was confiscated because of "youthful arrogance and suppression," which was the direct reason for his confiscation. He should pay a certain amount of silver. As for his public debts, of course, they didn't matter, they were in the millions. When the family was confiscated, all their property was confiscated and confiscated. The only thing that had to be paid was the amount of silver, which was 433 taels and 2 cash. This isn't much. 433 taels and 2 cash. In Dream of the Red Chamber, Wang Xifeng asks for 2,000 to 3,000 taels of silver from an old nun to move 3,000 taels of silver, saying it's just to send her off. So, 400 to 500 taels of silver isn't much. Moreover, if you have the money, you have to pay it; if you don't, you can't. During the eight years from the confiscation of Cao Xun to the end of Yongzheng and the beginning of Qianlong, he paid some, but how much? He paid 141 taels, and he still owed 302 taels and 2 cash. That is, the money that had to be paid, he paid less than one-third of it each year, and two-thirds of the money was still unpaid. At that time, the newly ascended Emperor Qianlong exempted him from paying, just like a student who couldn't afford tuition fees but was given a scholarship for their tuition. His family was in extreme difficulty, especially in this situation. If he started writing Dream of the Red Chamber at that time, how could it be the modern Dream of the Red Chamber? It was simply impossible. Therefore, my conclusion is that Cao Xueqin could not have experienced a life of luxury and pleasure. This might sound too bold to some people. Can't we think of ways for him to experience such a life? He didn't have this experience. This is what I said in the second point. My statement differs from the current popular or many authoritative views. You can study it or criticize it, but I can only express my own views. The third point I want to discuss is that his unfortunate fate forged him into a great literary figure. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns, there was a person whose pen name or alias was "Er Zhidao Ren." "Er Zhidao Ren" said what? He said, "The Solitude of Pu Liao Zhai," Pu Liao Zhai being Pu Songling who wrote Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. His solitude, "Solitary" being solitary, "Frustration" being frustrated, solitude, frustration, meaning the accumulation of grievances in one's heart, frustration, "He used ghosts and foxes to vent it," ghosts and foxes in the stories, "He used ghosts and foxes to vent it," to vent his frustrations, "He used bandits to vent it," bandits, then it's about the 108 heroes of Liangshan, the heroes of Liangshan, to vent his inner frustrations, "The solitude of Cao Xueqin is to use children and lovers to vent it," to vent his story of children and lovers, "The same is a tearful sorrow," they all have an unequal heart, all have inner frustrations, which led them to write such a novel. I think this statement is also very profound. You say what is Cao Xueqin's greatest hatred, his greatest regret? I think it's not just about life, like being able to eat big fish and meat in the past. The best dishes in the Red Chamber Banquet are now only coarse tea and simple meals, not this. The most important thing is that he feels his environment and path are blocked, that the path for him to make a difference in this life, to achieve great things, is blocked. Why does the novel start with a "Nuwa Mending the Sky" stone? It lists hundreds of thousands of pieces, thirty-six thousand and one, everyone goes to mend the sky, but this piece is not used. You should carefully consider these words, "Who knew this stone, after being tempered," tempering actually means learning. In the comments of Zhi Yan Zhai, it is said that one cannot avoid learning. If you are afraid of learning, then the stone, after being tempered, has its spiritual nature awakened, and after learning, its spiritual nature is awakened, and troubles come, its spiritual nature is awakened, "Because he saw that all the stones had gone to mend the sky," because he saw that all the stones could go to mend the sky, "But he had no talent and was not selected," he was not selected, he had no talent, "He was full of self-pity, and lamented day and night," "Mending the sky" means establishing the state and governing the country, in the eyes of the ancients, this was the great cause of a man, Tanchun said, "If I were a man, I would have done something great to establish the state and govern the country," in fact, it means becoming an official and doing something for the country, "Being selected" actually means participating in the imperial examination and being selected and employed by the court, only then can you establish the state and govern the country. In this regard, Zhi Yan Zhai once commented, saying, "He had no talent to mend the sky, he took on a human form in the world," these eight characters are the author's lifelong regret, regret, regret, lifelong regret. There is another comment that I find particularly interesting, I think it was probably made by his ancestors, he said, "The remaining piece," the remaining piece, it's useless, "It gave birth to so many stories," so many stories, and wrote the story of Dream of the Red Chamber, "Even if he couldn't take the exam and become an official, do something great, even if he couldn't mend the sky with this," even if he couldn't mend the sky with this, "He should have learned to mend the earth's," he should have farmed, done some practical work, to mend the earth's, the earth is full of, to do some good things, to make the earth more flat, to make the earth a little flatter, "And he wouldn't have written this ghostly talk," he wouldn't have written this ghostly talk, calling Dream of the Red Chamber a ghostly talk, a ghostly talk, you can interpret it as absurd words, nonsense, in fact, it is also a story, the story of many ancestors who have become ghosts, and he wouldn't have written this. It shows that Cao Xueqin couldn't mend the sky, this was his great regret. On the one hand, in the past, if you wanted to take the imperial examination, you couldn't think like today, Cao Xueqin wrote so well, why didn't he take the exam? Was he not good enough? This is also mentioned in Dream of the Red Chamber, when it comes to Jia Baoyu, it says, these are two paths, he didn't go through the systematic training, this systematic training, the training that meets the imperial examination requirements, the feudal orthodox literary training, he didn't go through it, he had to memorize the Four Books and Five Classics very well, read the classics thoroughly, and be able to write eight-legged essays, only then could he pass the exam, self-taught, he liked what he read, this thing Hu Shi also said he didn't go through the literary training very well, although he was a genius, it can be seen that he didn't go through training, self-taught. But in this way, it increased his knowledge of various subjects, especially his philosophy, he knew a little bit of everything, medicine, architecture, textiles, food, this was very beneficial for writing a novel. Another fundamental point is that his family environment and political conditions were not qualified, which we can also understand today. We no longer emphasize this when applying for university. I haven't heard of a case where a father committed a serious crime and his son went on to become a top scholar a few years later. How is that possible? It has to be investigated, what the father does. So, this path was blocked for him, both in terms of the preparation he made and the objective conditions, he didn't go through strict training under a master teacher, and objectively speaking, he didn't have any hope of passing the exam and being selected, so this path was blocked for him, he couldn't go to establish the state and govern the country, do other great things, but if he were to work or farm, Cao Xueqin wouldn't be satisfied with that, so he had to write articles to let people know his talent, and he chose the path of writing a novel.