Cao Xueqin (c. 1715–c. 1763) was the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, universally regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese classical fiction. Born into the illustrious Cao family that served as Imperial Textile Commissioners in Nanjing, he experienced firsthand the dramatic fall from aristocratic splendor to poverty after the family was disgraced during the Yongzheng reign.
In his later years, living in hardship in Beijing's western hills, Cao Xueqin spent a decade writing and revising Dream of the Red Chamber. The novel weaves a tragic love story with a panoramic depiction of a noble family's decline, incorporating poetry, medicine, architecture, cuisine, and philosophy—earning its reputation as an encyclopedia of feudal Chinese society. The work spawned 'Redology,' an entire field of literary study, and influenced the development of the modern novel across East Asia.
