The
writer, Cao Xueqin, was born in early 1720s and lived for only forty years.
Cao devoted the last ten years of his life to the writing of this novel.
According to the novel , Grand View Garden was the residence of the wealthy
Jia family. The leading male character of the novel was Baoyu. He and
his two cousins and some other family members shared the home. Xue Baochai
, one of Baoyu's cousins, was morally and intellectually superior to the
others. Later she became Baoyu's wife. The other cousin , Daiyu was deeply
in love with Baoyu until she died.The tragic love affairs among the three
characters was the result of the feudal society. This amorous and sensitive
couple are China's Romeo and Juliet.
The
success of the novel is derived from the brilliant characterisation of
the four hundred or so people who have their being in it. By capturing
the grandeur of a lost era the novel still has the power to bring to life
the nuances of family life as it affected those who lived during the Qing
Dynasty.
It
is interesting to note that Cao was ten years older than George Washington.When
Cao was twenty,Montesquieu, Diderot and Voktaire had just started publishing
their works. The steam engine was invented one or two years after Cao's
death. The United States of America became independent about thirteen
years after Cao's death. Cao wrote during the period of the Enlightenment.
It was about the time China closed its door to the outside world and
was increasingly controlled by the last feudal dynasty. The feudal kingdom
was in its last stage of prosperity. It is interesting that in his novel,
Cao used the quick bankruptcy of a family to indicate that the crisis
- riven feudal society was already on its last legs and to foretell
the final collapse of the Chinese feudal society.
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The
writer, Cao Xueqin, was born in early 1720s and lived for only forty years.
Cao devoted the last ten years of his life to the writing of this novel.
According to the novel , Grand View Garden was the residence of the wealthy
Jia family. The leading male character of the novel was Baoyu. He and
his two cousins and some other family members shared the home. Xue Baochai
, one of Baoyu's cousins, was morally and intellectually superior to the
others. Later she became Baoyu's wife. The other cousin , Daiyu was deeply
in love with Baoyu until she died.The tragic love affairs among the three
characters was the result of the feudal society. This amorous and sensitive
couple are China's Romeo and Juliet.
It
is interesting to note that Cao was ten years older than George Washington.When
Cao was twenty,Montesquieu, Diderot and Voktaire had just started publishing
their works. The steam engine was invented one or two years after Cao's
death. The United States of America became independent about thirteen
years after Cao's death. Cao wrote during the period of the Enlightenment.
It was about the time China closed its door to the outside world and
was increasingly controlled by the last feudal dynasty. The feudal kingdom
was in its last stage of prosperity. It is interesting that in his novel,
Cao used the quick bankruptcy of a family to indicate that the crisis
- riven feudal society was already on its last legs and to foretell
the final collapse of the Chinese feudal society.