Cao Xueqin

A novelist from the Qing Dynasty in China. His given name was Tian. His pen name was Qinpu. His pen names included Xueqin, Qinxi, and Mengruan. He was a Han Chinese with his registered domicile in Liaoyang, but he was from a family of Manchu Zhengbai Bannermen (a bannerman of the Qing Dynasty), and was from a distinguished family that had inherited the position of Jiangning Weaving Company (director of the imperial textile factory) in Nanjing for three generations, starting with his great-grandfather. In particular, his grandfather Yin (pen name Lenting) was a first-class literary figure at the time, and was highly trusted by his wet-brother Emperor Kangxi, but in his father's generation, the family property was confiscated in connection with the issue of Emperor Yongzheng's succession to the throne, and the Cao family fell into decline. At a young age, Xueqin moved to Beijing with his family, who had fallen into poverty, and apparently even became a 'Kongsheng' (student official) in his youth. He was a carefree man, skilled in poetry and painting, and liked to drink. In his later years, he lived in poverty in the western suburbs of Beijing, and with the advice of a friend, he devoted himself to writing the novel 'Dream of the Red Chamber', but he died of an illness, so heartbroken by the premature death of his beloved child, that he left the novel unfinished.

[Sumio Koyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、清(しん)代の小説家。名は霑(てん)。字(あざな)は芹圃(きんぽ)。号は雪芹、芹渓(きんけい)、夢阮(むげん)など。遼陽(りょうよう)を本籍とする漢族ながら満州正白旗（清朝譜代の旗本）に属す家柄で、曽祖父(そうそふ)以降3代にわたり南京(ナンキン)の江寧織造（宮廷用織物製造所の長官）を世襲した名門の出身。とくに祖父寅(いん)（号は楝亭(れんてい)）は当時一級の文人で、乳母兄弟たる康煕(こうき)帝の信任も厚かったが、父の代に至り、雍正(ようせい)帝の帝位継承問題に絡んで家産を没収され、曹家は没落した。年少の雪芹は零落した一族とともに北京(ペキン)へ移り、青年時には貢生(こうせい)（学生の官員）にもなったらしい。性は磊落(らいらく)、詩画が巧みで酒を好んだ。晩年は北京西郊に住んで貧窮し、友人の助言もあって小説『紅楼夢(こうろうむ)』の執筆に没頭したが、愛子を夭逝(ようせい)させた悲嘆のあまり、小説未完のまま自身も病没した。

［小山澄夫］

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