Beijing: the Birthplace of the Great Novel - A Dream of Red Mansion

A Dream of Red Mansion is one of the four Chinese classical novels. It can be said as the first masterpiece through the ages. The writer Cao Xueqin suffered many setbacks during his life. In the early years, his family was rich and powerful, and after his family fortunes declined, the family withdrew from the officialdom and secluded in western hills of Beijing, living a simple and poor life. But he still devoted himself to the writing and revision of the novel A Dream of Red Mansion with his strong will.

His representative work A Dream of Red Mansions was written in the latter half of the 18th century, which is not only a great Chinese novel but also a gem of world literature. The work is named as one of the Great Four Works, together with The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Pilgrim to the Westand, Outlaws of the Marsh.

According to textual research of experts, the place where Cao Xueqin secluded and complete the novel is situated in the Huangye Village in today’s Xiangshan Botanical Garden, while some scholars don’t seem to concur, therefore, the place was opened up as the Memorial Hall for Cao Xueqin instead of being called “the Former Residence of Cao Xueqin”.

Perhaps exactly because of the twists and turns in his life, Cao Xueqin could see through the corruption of the officialdom and the inconstancy of human relationships, and wrote the great masterpiece, which makes him rank the first in Chinese writers.